Skip to main content arrow-down arrow-tail-right arrow-triangle-right calendar camera compass download email eye facebook flag mail phone pin play send square-right tag twitter youtube badge message

Death Penalty Project Celebrates International Human Rights Day

  • News
  • 10 Dec 2013

Today is the 65th year anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The UDHR recognises the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people, including the right to life. As we celebrate International Human Rights Day, we reaffirm our commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of those facing the death penalty.

During the last twelve months, we have witnessed important developments in the restriction of the use of the death penalty. In December 2012, 110 states- an unprecedented number- voted in favour of a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty at the United Nations General Assembly. We have also witnessed important legislative reforms, for example in Singapore, where the mandatory death penalty was abolished for certain categories of drug trafficking and homicide offences. The new laws provide judges with a discretion to impose a lesser sentence than the death penalty and provide an opportunity for all those under sentence of death in Singapore (who meet the necessary requirements) to seek a review of their sentences.

Since the introduction of legislative reforms in November 2012, six prisoners in Singapore have had their death sentences reduced to life imprisonment with caning. This includes Yong Vui Kong, a young Malaysian who we have been assisting since 2009. Mr Yong was 19 at the time of his arrest. He was convicted of trafficking 47.27 grams of heroin and the mandatory death penalty was imposed. Having endured four years on death row, on 14th November 2013, Yong Vui Kong’s death sentence was quashed and he was resentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane by the High Court of Singapore.

As we approach a new year, the Death Penalty Project will continue to advance and protect the human rights of those facing the death penalty and to promote the restriction of the death penalty in line with international minimum legal requirements. We will work to highlight miscarriages of justice and breaches of human rights and above all we will seek to save the lives of individuals facing the death penalty who are least able to protect themselves.

 

 

Photo credit: United Nations Photo (Flickr, Creative Commons), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/legalcode

Latest news

Attorney to Government: Make up your mind about the death penalty
Read More
Longest serving death row prisoner in T&T released by High Court
Read More
Death row inmate released after resentencing - FREED AFTER 30 YEARS
Read More
Longest serving death row prisoner in T&T released by High Court
Read More
Longest serving death row prisoner in Trinidad & Tobago released by High Court
Read More
UK Pro bono week – interviews with DPP’s network
Read More
Pressure mounts for Kenya to abolish death penalty
Read More
2023: 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty
Read More
“Serious breach of procedural fairness” - excessive manslaughter sentence quashed in The Bahamas
Read More
Ghana Web: Alban Bagbin praised for repeal of death penalty
Read More
IBAHRI commends abolition of the death penalty - Ghana
Read More
CLA Statement: Commending the Zambian and Ghanaian Governments for Abolishing the Death Penalty
Read More
The Week: Ghana abolishes the death penalty
Read More
The Guardian: Ghana abolishes death penalty, with expected reprieve for 176 condemned prisoners
Read More
DPP INTERVIEW: Francis-Xavier Sosu, the Ghanaian MP whose private member’s Bills have abolished the death penalty in Ghana
Read More
DPP interview with TRT - "Why are executions on the rise in a number of countries?"
Read More
Jurist: Ghana Parliament votes to end death penalty
Read More
Ghanaian Parliament votes to abolish the death penalty
Read More
The Washington Post: Ghana votes to remove the death penalty, calling it sign of ‘inhumane’ society
Read More
NGO welcomes abolition of the Death Penalty in Ghana
Read More

Stay up-to-date with our work