Today, registration opens for our 8thWorld Congress against the death penalty, which will take place from 15 to 18 November 2022 in Berlin. Those wishing to participate, either on site or online, can now registerviaour new application 8th World Congress. The Congress is free and open to all, but registration is still required to access the event and exclusive information.
Over a thousand participants from 90 countries are expected in the German capital this autumn for the world’s largest abolitionist meeting: during four days, political figures, activists, committed citizens and young people from around the world will come together to discuss the situation of capital punishment.
HOW TO REGISTER?
- Download the 8TH WORLD CONGRESS free app now or go towww.congress.ecpm.org
- Sign up free
- Access all the usefull information for the event!
The Congress will be launched on 15November by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in the presence of several of her European and foreign counterparts.
Numerous key witnesses, former death row prisoners and civil society figures will take the floor during the Congress,whose epicentre will be Berlin’s cultural centre (Radialsystem) which will host the Abolition Village attended by numerous human rights organisations, as well as a wide range of cultural and educational activities.
“When the youth of Iran rise up, when war rages in Europe, when injustices continue in Afghanistan, Belarus and elsewhere, when China seals up the system to the point of total non-transparency, it is all the more urgent to come together. This is exactly what we will do at this 8thWorld Congress Against the Death Penalty, which is firmly focused on young people and a new generation ready to commit to defending our rights.”
Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, ECPM Executive Director.
The Congress will mark the culmination of the mobilisation of the world’s youth led by ECPM over the past year through itsAbolition Now Tour.More than fifty young people from six countries will participate and share their hopes and their work to advance the rights of all and to forcefully reaffirm their efforts to achieve universal abolition.
On the agenda
Read the full programme
Downlaod the communication kit
DEBATES & WORKSHOPS AT THE BERLIN’S RADIALSYSTEM
Over three days,more than a dozen conferences and debates, in the presence of numerous witnesses and experts, will address the major issues concerning capital punishment in Asia, Africa, Europe, the United States and the Middle East. The high point will be a major debate on the theme:Death row prisoners and their lawyers: a unique relationship.
With the participation of:
- Debra Milke, who spent 23years on death row in the United States before being declared innocent;
- Hank Skinner,sentenced to death in1995 in Texas for a triple murder he has always denied. He has been on death row for 27years;
- Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, activist and wife of Hank Skinner;
- Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir, Mauritanian blogger, initially sentenced to death for apostasy in December2014 and released in2019 after six years in prison;
- Fatimata M’Baye, Mauritanian lawyer and long-standing advocate for human rights in her country.
The full programme can be accessed on theCongress applicationand bellow. Several conferences will be broadcast live on the various Congress and ECPM platforms.
CULTURAL EVENTS
- The Congress will include aspecial concert by poet-writer Keith LaMar, who will be singing from his U.S. prison cell and will be accompanied by two musicians on stage in Berlin. Detained on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in the United States, this literature and jazz enthusiast is calling for a review of his case, supported by a group of musicians, coordinated by the Catalan pianist Albert Marquès, who are determined to prevent his execution, scheduled for November 2023.
- Final Moments on Death Rowis anexhibitionthat sheds light on the death penalty in the United States. It combines the writings of renowned New York photographerMarc Asnin, “Final Words”, composed of the last statements of executed prisoners in the state of Texas, withScott Langley’s photo documentary,Timeline of an Execution, which captures the inside and outside of a prison during an execution. This exhibition will take place at the Henry Ford Pavilion at the Free University of Berlin.
- The exhibitionFaces of Abolitionwill be displayed in the heart of Berlin, at the entrance to Humboldt University. ECPM outlines the history of a struggle that started more than two centuries ago and continues to this day, on all continents. The exhibition highlights emblematic abolitionists, presenting their portraits and their messages, which remain as powerful as ever.
- TheBarenboim-Saïd Akademie Orchestrawill perform at the opening of the Congress, at the Pierre Boulez Saal.
- The German-Nigerian singerDiana Ezerexwill perform at the Witnesses’ event, with theMondëna Quartet.ECPM is also a partner of theBerlin Human Rights Film Festival, which will dedicate part of its 2022programme to films addressing capital punishment.
STATUS OF THE DEATH PENALTY WORLDWIDE
Read the map
As of2021, 108countries and territories had completely abolished the death penalty.
80% of UN member states no longer perform executions and 60% of them are abolitionist.
The African continent is moving towards abolition: 45of the 55African countries are de jure or de facto abolitionist.
The five countries with the highest number of executions in2021 were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria.
