World Day Against the Death Penalty 2024
Recognising the 22nd World Day Against the Death Penalty: The death penalty protects no one
Each year on 10 October, Capital Punishment Justice Project joins the global abolitionist movement in marking World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year is the 22nd World Day, led by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. In recognition of the 2024 World Day, CPJP and Eleos Justice are hosting a screening of the award-winning Iranian film Ballad of a White Cow in Melbourne, where we are based.
This year’s World Day theme is The Death Penalty Protects No One. It emphasises the far-reaching, and often indirect, social risks associated with the death penalty. Authorities often justify the existence or, worryingly, the expansion, of capital offences as a means of making communities safer and more secure. However, it is not that simple: definitions and causes of human security are highly disputed. When determining ‘who’ and ‘what’ constitute a threat to human security, one should consider deeper social and political dynamics.
The death penalty is often cited by authorities as having a deterrent effect: if a person faces a threat of punishment for committing an act, that person will refrain from committing the act. This argument oversimplifies the human psyche. It assumes that decisions to commit crimes arise from rational choice and informed decision-making. Yet, those committing crimes often rely on personalised perceptions of certainty and severity about being caught and punished. These perceptions often diverge substantially from reality.
The death penalty fails to address social issues by harshly penalising the symptom without understanding the cause. Capital drug offences reflect this public policy short-sightedness. Amnesty International reported that drug-related offences constituted the basis of 508 executions in 2023 – 44% of total executions recorded globally last year. In Singapore, for example, the state has long identified and portrayed drugs as a national ‘problem’ that destabilises the nation. A ‘war on drugs’ is the political frame used to justify the executions of people convicted of drug offences, including for small quantities of drugs and for drugs that have been decriminalised elsewhere.
Such strategies often disproportionately impact the poor, foreign nationals, minorities and women. Out of the reported 50 people on Singapore’s death row in August 2023, 47 were convicted of non-violent drug offences. Since March 2022, at least 20 executions have been carried out in Singapore – all but one for drug-related offences. Most of those executed were from ethnic minority communities.
This disproportionate impact on marginalised groups is reflected within other societies that retain capital punishment. Namely, the Islamic Republic of Iran has implemented an alarming rise in drug-related executions over recent years: 471 people were executed for drug-related charges in 2023. This is 18 times higher than the figures recorded in 2020. Marginalised communities and ethnic minorities, particularly the Baloch, are grossly overrepresented among those executed. Executions continue at a terrible rate in Iran, with at least 516 people executed so far this year. Of the executions known to have been carried out in the first six months of 2024, at least 59% were for drug-related offences.
Despite the growing number of international drug-related executions, there is no evidence that the death penalty deters drug-related crimes more than other methods of punishment, or that it affects crime reduction. While CPJP advocates for the total abolition of the death penalty, we note that the use of the death penalty for drug offences does not align with international human rights standards. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) requires that countries that retain the death penalty use it only for the ‘most serious crimes’, which has long been widely recognised as applying ‘only to crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing.’ A number of UN bodies, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), have repeatedly confirmed that drug-related offences cannot possibly meet this threshold.
The failure of capital punishment to address the root causes of complex social issues has harmful knock-on effects throughout communities. A 2022 report by Eleos Justice, the Anti Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) and the SAME Network challenges the policy decision taken in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka which assumes that the death penalty is the solution to endemic rape. The report, titled A Deadly Distraction: Why the Death Penalty is not the Answer to Rape in South Asia found capital rape laws are not only a superficial response to a crisis, motivated by a political desire, but also produce further social harms. Namely, in most cases, victims are raped by people they know. They may be unwilling or pressured not to report when punishment could result in a family member being executed. Such a policy decision not only fails to facilitate ‘justice’ for survivors but can create further risks to communities.
Human security is not just about protecting people from war or violence. It is certainly not about enforcing capital offences. It is about making sure people have food, water, shelter, good health and an opportunity for a decent life. The death penalty poses a far-reaching threat to human security and dignity.
Public awareness that capital punishment serves no positive function is a necessary step towards a world without the death penalty. This is the main objective of World Day – to encourage critical thinking and mobilise support and solidarity for a growing international abolitionist movement.
Stay up to date on the 2024 World Day Against the Death Penalty to grow your understanding and hear stories from across the globe. And show your solidarity using the hashtag #NoDeathPenalty.
The death penalty protects no one.