Amnesty International recently published its annual report on death sentences and capital punishment which found that the death penalty is declining worldwide. The report revealed that the number of countries carrying out executions is down by more than a third when compared to a decade ago.
At least 682 executions were confirmed to have been carried out in 2012, two more than in 2011. However the number does not include executions carried out in China. Amnesty International have declined to release estimates on the number of executions carried out in China, which is believed to be in the several thousands, more than the rest of the world combined. There was a steep rise in the number of executions that took place in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Latvia was the 97th country last year to remove capital punishment from its legislation. The USA remains the only country to carry out executions in the Americas with 43 carried out in 2012.
To see the death penalty statistics, country by country, please click here
Colm O’Gorman, Director of Amnesty International Ireland stated
“The vast majority of countries have abandoned the death penalty. A tiny, and increasingly isolated, group of governments continue to put their own people to death. Even among the small group of countries that executed in 2011, we can see gradual progress. The number of crimes for which you can receive the death penalty in China decreased. The US state of Illinois became the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty.
The momentum around the world is towards ending executions. The leaders of the death penalty states must end the use of the death penalty and the international community must keep up the pressure on those governments to abandon this cruel and inhuman punishment.”
Click here to read the report
Click here to read an article by thejournal.ie
Click here to read an article by The Guardian
Click here to read an Amnesty International Ireland news article