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World Day Against the Death Penalty – October 10

21st World Day Against the Death Penalty – The death penalty: An irreversible torture         

Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. The day encourages and consolidates the political and general awareness of the worldwide movement against the death penalty.

On 10 October 2023, World Day will continue to reflect on the relationship between the use of the death penalty and torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment and build on the momentum started in 2022!

As encountered last year, the types of torture and other ill-treatment experienced when sentenced to death are numerous: physical or psychological torture has been applied to force confessions to capital crimes; the death row phenomenon contributes to the long-term psychological decline of a person’s health; harsh death row living conditions contribute to physical deterioration; and methods of execution that cause exceptional pain. Further discriminations based on sex, gender, poverty, age, sexual orientation, religious and ethnic minority status and others can compound cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of individuals sentenced to death.

While the death penalty is currently tolerated by strict international law standards, and torture is entirely forbidden, it is more and more evident that the death penalty is inherently incompatible with the prohibition of torture.

Scroll down and find more information about torture and the death penalty in our leafletdetailed factsheetfacts & figures sheet, and more!

THE DEATH PENALTY IN PRACTICE

(Statistics from Amnesty International)

  • 112 States have abolished the death penalty for all crimes
  • 9 States have abolished the death penalty for common law crimes
  • 23 States are abolitionists in practice
  • 55 States are retentionists
  • The 5 States that executed the most in the world in 2022 are, in order: ChinaIranSaudi ArabiaEgypt and USA.
  • 28,282 individuals are known to be under a sentence of death around the world at the end of 2022, of which less than 5% are women (statistic on women sentenced to death by Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide).
Source: Text & Image : https://worldcoalition.org/campagne/21st-world-day-against-the-death-penalty/

World Radio Day – 13 February 2023

The theme for the 12th edition of the World Radio Day, to be celebrated on 13 February 2023, is « Radio and Peace« . 

War, as an antonym to peace, signifies an armed conflict between countries or groups within a country, but may also translate into a conflict of media narratives. The narrative can increase tensions or maintain conditions for peace in a given context – for instance weigh in on the rough or smooth conduct of elections, the rejection or integration of returnees, the rise or tempering of nationalistic fervour, etc. In reporting and informing the general public, radio stations shape public opinion and frame a narrative that can influence domestic and international situations and decision-making processes.

Radio can indeed fuel conflict but in reality, professional radio moderates conflict and/or tensions, preventing their escalation or bringing about reconciliation and reconstruction talks. In contexts of distant or immediate tension, relevant programmes and independent news reporting provide the foundation for sustainable democracy and good governance by gathering evidence about what is happening, informing citizens about it in impartial and fact-based terms, explaining what is at stake and brokering dialogue among different groups in society.

“… since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

That is the reason why support to independent radio has to be viewed as an integral part of peace and stability. On World Radio Day 2023, UNESCO highlights independent radio as a pillar for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

 

Source: Text & Image: https://www.unesco.org/en/days/world-radio