Press Conference on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty
Thursday 12 October 2023, at 09:30 am, at the headquarters of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) in Rabat, Morocco
The 21st anniversary of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is celebrated on October 10 of each year, will be commemorated under the slogan “Death Penalty: Road Paved by Torture.”
On this occasion, the Moroccan Coalition Against the Death Penalty, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), the Moroccan Observatory of Prisons, and the Together Against the Death Penalty Association (ECPM), along with the MPs, lawyers, journalists, professors and entrepreneurs networks against the death penalty, reiterate their determination to continue their advocacy for the abolition of this punishment and call on the government to vote for the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty.
This advocacy calling for the abolition of the death penalty will continue. The next phase will be distinguished by a debate on criminal law reform. This advocacy seeks to defend the priority of the right to life and call on the Moroccan authorities to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which aims to abolish the death penalty.
The dominant global pattern is moving towards abolishing the death penalty. Over two-thirds of the countries in the world (144) have abolished this punishment, whether in law or practice. The number of countries that have ratified the ICCPR has reached 90 countries. 33 out of 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have abolished the death penalty or committed to a practical moratorium on its application.
The World Day Against the Death Penalty is an occasion to draw attention of the public opinion and politicians to the cruelty of this inhuman punishment and its ineffectiveness in combating crimes. It also represents an opportunity to raise awareness about the principle of justice without the death penalty and strengthen it, mainly among younger generations.