During 2004, at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries. At least 7,395 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries. These figures are only reported cases - the true figures were certainly much higher - many countries continue to execute people in secret.Secrecy undermines safeguards that can prevent errors and abuses. According to Amnesty International, the numbers are believed to be only the tip of the iceberg, as many countries do not provide official figures. The vast majority of those executed around the world did not have fair trials and many were convicted on the basis of 'evidence' extracted under torture.
ACADP is opposed to the use of the death penalty worldwide, including those countries where little is known about the application of the death penalty and those countries where the death penalty is a closely guarded secret.
Capital punishment today has two faces - the USA is in the international spotlight and all other countries seem hidden from view. The death penalty in America is highly publicised. On the other hand, the death penalty in Asian and Middle Eastern countries is shrouded in secrecy and generally ignored.
Not surprising, every American anti-death penalty movement and most European anti-death penalty movements (who should know better) remain focused on the death penalty only in America - their work is geared towards abolishing the death penalty in America only. This attitude implies that those prisoners condemned in America are more worthy of campaigns to save them from execution.
Sadly, condemned prisoners in totalitarian, authoritarian and illiberal regimes (which make up 98% of all prisoners executed around the world every year) are not even worthy of note.
There are literally thousands of nameless, faceless and hopeless human beings on death row in many countries around the world - most have been condemned for non-violent crimes - incarcerated in overcrowded windowless cells 24/7 - in the most inhuman squalid conditions where prisoners suffer from poor nourishment and disease such as tuberculosis, which flourishes in fetid and insanitary conditions.
Death row prisoners are chained and shackles - often abused, beaten, humiliated and tortured by officials - while they constantly wait in fear to be executed on short notice.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a mentality of 'first class and second class' category of death row prisoners among most anti-death penalty activists. It's as if the death penalty in America is an aggravating circumstance, whereas the death penalty in illiberal regimes seems to be low-ranking - ignored and tolerated.
The death penalty around the world is applied for over 100 non-violent crimes and is used as a tool of political repression and to eliminate 'troublesome' individuals.
ACADP campaigns for total abolition of the death penalty worldwide - regardless of a person's guilt or innocence, alleged crime, race, color, national, ethnic and/or social origin, country of abode, culture, sex, language, health, religion and/or beliefs, political or other opinion, property, birth or other status. Moral decency requires humanity to respect and protect all human life - unconditionally.
"We should work to diminish the number of executions in all countries."
------- Irene Khan,
Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Second World Congress Against the Death Penalty, 2004.
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AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
© ACADP Incorporated ¨
ACADP@ACADP.com
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The Premier Australian Internet. Resource on Capital Punishment
Illustrations: Dodsstraffet i varlden 03, Ratification of international treaties - 03
States parties: AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, AZERBAIJAN, BELGIUM, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, BULGARIA, CAPE VERDE, COLOMBIA, COSTA RICA, CROATIA, CYPRUS, DENMARK, DJIBOUTI, ECUADOR, ESTONIA, FINLAND, GEORGIA, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, ICELAND, IRELAND, ITALY, LIECHTENSTEIN, LITHUANIA, LUXEMBOURG, MACEDONIA, MALTA, MONACO, MOZAMBIQUE, NAMIBIA, NEPAL, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY, PANAMA, PARAGUAY, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, SEYCHELLES, SLOVAK REPUBLIC, SLOVENIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TIMOR-LESTE, TURKMENISTAN, UNITED KINGDOM, URUGUAY, VENEZUELA. (total: 52)Signed but not ratified: ANDORRA, CHILE, GUINEA-BISSAU, HONDURAS, NICARAGUA, POLAND, SAN MARINO, SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE. (total: 8)
By ACADP posted 23 May 05
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Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.
