United Nations experts joined people across the globe on Monday in marking the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty by calling for an end to capital punishment. Despite more than 170 states having repealed the death penalty or adopted moratoriums, there was a reported 20% increase in the number of executions last year. At least 579 people were killed by 18 countries that used four methods: beheading, hanging, lethal injection, and shooting.
"Abolition of the death penalty is the only viable path," asserted Alice Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Morris Tidball-Binz, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, stated, "The death row phenomenon has long been characterized as a form of inhuman treatment, as has the near total isolation of those convicted of capital crimes and often held in unlawful solitary confinement,"
UN Experts Say Abolishing Death Penalty 'Is the Only Viable Path' (commondreams.org)
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