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International Death Penalty Abolition Day (1 March 2003)
1 March is International Abolition Day, a day that marks the occasion in 1847 when the state of Michigan became the first English-speaking territory in the world to abolish capital punishment. The death penalty is a violation of human rights. Abolition of the death penalty is an evolving standard of international law. Below you will find links to information on the status of the death penalty worldwide, abolition of the death penalty campaigns and learning materials to be used in classrooms or public education campaigns.
News
Council of Europe calls for international rejection of the death penalty (28 February 2003)
China: Execution of Tibetan Lobsang Dhondup after unfair trial (28 January 2003)
Amnesty International campaigns against death penalty in English speaking Caribbean (20 January 2003)
Turkey signs protocol banning death penalty in peacetime (15 January 2003)
USA: Historic Illinois decision must be a first step towards abolition of the death penalty (13 January 2003)
Largest commutation of death sentences in modern U.S. history (11 January 2003)
USA: Indecent and internationally illegal, the execution of child offenders (25 September 2002)
Jamaica: Death penalty should not be an election issue (18 September 2002)
OSCE report confirms trend towards abolition of death penalty (10 September 2002)
USA: Time to rethink the death penalty - 30 years after landmark court ruling (28 June 2002)
Worldwide executions doubled in 2001 (9 April 2002)
Jamaica: Attorney General's brave stance against the death penalty (22 March 2002)
Useful Links
Declaration by Senator Feingold in the United States Congress marking the first International Abolition Day, 1 March 2000
The Death Penalty: Questions and Answers 
International Treaties to Abolish the Death Penalty:
- Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty (1989)
- Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights (1983)
- Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty (1990)
Council of Europe Theme File on Death Penalty
Amnesty International Website Against the Death Penalty
Amnesty International-USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty
The Death Penalty in the United States (Human Rights Watch)
Death Penalty Information Center
European Coalition Against Death Penalty
Selected learning materials
Death
Penalty Curricula for High School
This curriculum addresses history of the death
penalty, arguments for and against, court cases on the death penalty
and additional resources. The site includes two sample units plans for
teachers. Each of the units involves an extensive amount of group work,
simulations, persuasive and individual essay writing, and class participation.
International standards on the death penalty (by Amnesty International)
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