The World Coalition is holding its General Assembly between 20-22 June in San Juan, Puerto Rico and invites the public to take part in the event.
5pm - Inter American University, School of Law Theatre
A talk on representing people that are facing the death penalty with a focus on the Caribbean. The ‘Representing Individuals Facing the Death Penalty: A Best Practices Manual’ will also be presented.
Speakers: Juan Matos (Capital Defense lawyer and Chairman of the Puerto Rico Bar Association); Parvais Jabbar (Capital Defense lawyer and Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project); Anne Souléliac (Lawyer and Head of the Human Rights section of the Paris Bar).
Friday 20 June
2.30pm - Documentary “Juan Meléndez - 6446”, ‘Cinema Bar’, Ballajá, Old San Juan
This screening will be hosted by the Civil Rights Commisssion with former death row inmate Juan Meléndez in attendance.
WCADP General Assembly
6-8pm - Opening Session:
Welcoming remarks by Florence Bellivier (President of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty)
Speakers: Ana Irma Rivera-Lassén (President of the Puerto Rico Bar); Hon. David Bernier (Puerto Rico Secretary of State); Edgardo Román-Espada (Former General Coordinator of the Puerto Rican Coalition Against the Death Penalty); Kevin Miguel Rivera-Medina (Chair of the Puerto Rico Bar Committee on the Death Penalty).
Saturday 21 June
9-11am - Plenary Session 1: The Death Penalty in the Caribbean
Panel: Parvais Jabbar (Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project); Leela Ramdeen (Chair of the Greater Caribbean for Life network); Dr Ruth Wijdenbosch (Parliamentarians for Global Action Executive Committee Member and Vice-Chair of the National Assembly of Suriname); Hon. Miguel Pereira (Senator and Former Police Chief of Puerto Rico). Hon. Pedro Pierluisi (Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to Washington DC). Moderator and concluding remarks: Carmelo Campos (Vice Chair of the Greater Caribbean for Life network).
11-11:15am - Coffee Break
11:15-12:45pm - Round table: Innocence and the Death Penalty
Panel: Ray Krone (former death row inmate and Director of Membership and Training for Witness to Innocence); Rosalyn Park (Advocates for Human Rights); Juan Meléndez (former death row inmate and member of Witness to Innocence).
Moderator: Elizabeth Zitrin (Vice-President of the World Coalition against the Death Penalty).
11:15-12:45pm - Round table: Role of Parliamentarians towards Abolition
Panel: Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan (Executive Director of ECPM and Vice-President of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty); Hon. Pedro Pierluisi (Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to Washington DC); Renny Cushing (New Hampshire Parliamentarian and Executive Director of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights).
Moderator: Dr Ruth Wijdenbosch (Parliamentarians for Global Action Executive Committee Member and Vice-Chair of the National Assembly of Suriname).
12:45-2pm - Lunch
2:15-3:15pm - Workshop: Teaching Abolition
Panel: Irma Lugo (Amnesty International-Puerto Rico); Marianne Rossi (Program officer of ECPM).
2:15-3:15pm - Workshop: Working with Journalists
Panel: Rafael Lenin López (President of the Puerto Rico Journalist Association); Thomas Hubert (Web-editor of Worldcoalition.org and journalist).
3:15-3:30pm - Coffee Break
3:30-5:30pm - Plenary Session 2: Mental Health and the Death Penalty
Panel: Dr. Terry Kupers (Psychiatrist); Dr. Steve Greenspan (Expert on intellectual disability and the death penalty); Parvais Jabbar (Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project).
Moderator: Maria Donatelli (Director of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty).
5:30-6:15pm - Bomba Dance lesson
Sunday 22 June (Open to members of the World Coalition only)
9:30-2pm - Statutory Meeting
2–3pm - Lunch
3–4pm - Workshop: Using the World Coalition’s online ‘Library’
Thomas Hubert (Web-editor of Worldcoalition.org and journalist).
3–4pm - Workshop: Monitoring and Evaluation
Dr. Arnaud Gaillard (RAIDH and internal evaluator for the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty).
4-5pm - Workshop: Developing tools for Abolition
Marianne Rossi (Program officer of ECPM)
4-6pm - Steering Committee meeting (Steering Committee members only)