The participants of the first World Congress Against the Death Penalty, instigated and organised by the NGO Together Against the Death Penalty, adopted the Strasbourg Declaration on 22 June 2001 in the hemicycle of the Council of Europe. In paragraph 9, the signatories pledged to “create a world-wide co-ordination of abolitionist associations and campaigners, whose first goal will be to launch a world-wide day for the universal abolition of the death penalty”.

After several preparatory meetings in Paris and Brussels, most of the initiative’s protagonists met in Rome on 13 May 2002 to officially create the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. An 11-member Steering Committee was selected and subsequently renewed at each AGM.

In 2003 and 2004 the World Coalition backed the efforts of the European Union at the UN Commission for Human Rights to encourage more States to support and vote for the resolution condemning the death penalty.

World Days and Congresses

In 2003 the World Coalition created the first World Day Against the Death Penalty. This initiative was expressed through more than 180 local initiatives across the world. Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Belgium, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the European Union officially supported the World Day.

Since then, the 10 October date has continued to attract new initiatives. Since 2005, when more than 260 events were held, the World Day Against the Death Penalty has highlighted a particular theme each year.

Having previously been involved in the organisation of the 2nd World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Montreal in 2004, the World Coalition now co-organises the important international meetings of abolitionists instigated by the French NGO Together Against the Death Penalty every three years. The last congress was held in Paris in February 2007.