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Emergency assistance to evacuate Afghans at risk of death

Capital Punishment Justice Project is working to support specific individuals who are at risk of death or harm if they are not transported to the airport and evacuated from Kabul.

In July 2021, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said in areas controlled by Taliban, women, government officials, journalists, and human rights defenders (among others) were facing targeted killings.

Join us in assisting them and helping to shine a spotlight on their urgent situation here.

    CPJP Virtual Experience Program in partnership with Forage


    CPJP has launched a free virtual experience program, in partnership with Forage, that enables participants to learn more about CPJP’s mission for a world without the death penalty and start building skills and experience directly relevant to volunteering with CPJP. 

    The program consists of a series of tasks that closely mirror the type of work you could expect to do while volunteering at CPJP. It is recommended for participants who have studied or are interested in law, international relations, diplomacy, human rights, policy, advocacy and communications, and those who are interested in the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. 

    The program is free and open to anyone around the world. The program takes approximately 6 hours to complete and is entirely self-paced. 

    Get started here: CPJP Virtual Experience Program

      Save the date: World Day Against the Death Penalty

      Save the date: CPJP’s World Day Against the Death Penalty Event on Thursday, 7 October 2021 @ 18:00 Perth/21:00 Melbourne and Sydney/11:00 UK. More information to follow.

        Urgent call to protect human rights defenders in Indonesia

        CPJP has joined civil society organisations calling on the Indonesian authorities to put an end to any attempts to thwart freedom of speech and expression against Haris Azhar, the Executive Director of Lokataru and Fatia Maulidiyanti, the National Coordinator of The Commission for Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), and all other human rights defenders in the country. 

        KontraS is CPJP’s closest partner in work to abolish the death penalty and extra-judicial killings in Indonesia. Their role is fundamentally important for death penalty abolition in the region. The subpoena will have a chilling effect across all areas of human rights work, including for our mission. This is the fundamental reason for our intervention.

        Please share our joint statement here.

          Human Rights Day: open letter to the Australian government

          The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) reached in principle by Japan and Australia provides a legal framework for the Australian Defence Force and the Japanese Self-Defence Force to operate in each other’s territories.

          However, there has been no public guarantee to date that Australian military personnel would not be subject to the death penalty in Japan.

          Click here to read and sign our open letter to the Australian government.

          Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP) stands for a world without the death penalty.

          We work with our volunteers, interns, and board to develop legal and policy solutions that will help save lives.

          LEGAL REPRESENTATION
          RESEARCH
          VOLUNTEERING

          WHO WE ARE

          Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP) stands for a world without the death penalty. We work with our partner organisations, volunteers, interns, and board to develop legal and policy solutions that will help save lives.

          CPJP (formerly Reprieve Australia) was founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 2001 by criminal barristers Richard Bourke and Nick Harrington to provide legal representation and humanitarian assistance to those at risk of execution. Initially, our task was to provide volunteer assistance to capital defence centres in the US and while we remain committed to this essential work, our focus is on challenging the death penalty in Asia. CPJP’s Australian base offers strategic advantages for the work, despite our regional outlook. Australia has identified abolition of the death penalty as one of its human rights priority areas, and there is much that can be done to ensure that Australia is a leading voice on abolition.

          Our Board is led by Stephen Keim SC and comprises 7 voluntary Board members. We operate on a small budget comprised of donations and grants, which covers our casework, research, policy work, advocacy and educational work.

          CPJP strives to be practical and effective.  We give our time for free, so we have no time to waste.  Our approach is to be flexible in the ways we assist.  Our strategies focus on providing sensible and sophisticated assistance and support to those working for change, with a particular focus on countries in our region.

          Expressions of interest for volunteers

          Learn More