World Day Against the Death Penalty 2026

Ahead of the World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October, UN experts* reiterated their call for the complete abolition of the death penalty, by issuing the following statement:

“The right to life is the most fundamental of rights. Yet, around the world, individuals continue to face the irreversible punishment of death, often following proceedings that fall short of international human rights standards.

This year's World Day invites us to look beyond labels, crimes, and sentences and to recognize the humanity of those affected by the death penalty. Too often, capital punishment is discussed as an abstract concept, detached from the human beings whose lives are at stake. In reality, the death penalty is imposed on people with families, life stories, aspirations, talents, struggles, and inherent dignity.

According to available data, in 2025, at least 25,508 people were on death row worldwide, 2,334 people were newly sentenced to death, and 2,707 people were executed, representing the highest number of recorded executions globally since 1981 and a 78 per cent increase compared with the previous year. Nearly half of all known executions were reportedly carried out for drug-related offences, while 93 per cent of recorded executions took place in just two countries. At the same time, 145 States have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, confirming the steady progress towards universal abolition.

We are deeply concerned that many people on death row have been convicted in cases marked by serious violations of fair trial and due process guarantees. Allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and enforced disappearance, reliance on coerced confessions, lack of access to effective legal representation, restrictions on the right to appeal, discriminatory treatment, and politically influenced judicial proceedings continue to be reported in capital cases. While wrongly imprisoned people can be freed, wrongly executed people cannot be brought back to life. International law requires the strictest observance of fair trial guarantees wherever the death penalty may be imposed. Where these safeguards are absent, executions amount to an arbitrary deprivation of life.

Over the past five years, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that the deprivation of liberty of at least 16 individuals sentenced to death or executed was arbitrary in 15 opinions: Abdullah al-Howaiti; Abdullah Ahmed Faleh Ahmed al-Taei; Hussein Abo al-Kheir; Mohamed Baba Nadjar; Shahzad Masih; Muhammad al-Ghamdi; Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali al-Faraj; Yahaya Sharif-Aminu; Toomaj Salehi; Abdullah al-Derazi, Jalal al-Labbad, Yusuf Muhammad Mahdi al-Manasif, Jawad Abdullah Qureiris and Hassan Zaki al-Faraj; Tayeb Benabderrahmane; Bilal Mohammed and Yusufu Mieraili; Mohammad Labbad and Mohammad Abdulah al-Faraj; Essam Shazly Ahmed Mohamed, Farhat Fathi Abdel Maksoud Abu al-Saud and Mohamed Kamel Salah Kamel; and Muhammad Rehman and Ali Rehman. In relation to these cases, we urge the governments concerned to immediately and unconditionally release those who remain on death row and to provide them and bereaved families reparations in accordance with international law.

We are also alarmed that many individuals remain under sentence of death for offences that do not meet the international standard of the "most serious crimes", understood as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. In some jurisdictions, the death penalty continues to be imposed for political offences, blasphemy, drug-related offences, and other conduct that falls outside this narrow threshold. Human lives must never be instrumentalized to suppress political or religious dissent or to advance punitive policies that disregard international human rights law. Moreover, the widespread or systematic use of the death penalty in violation of fundamental rules of international law may constitute a crime against humanity of murder.

We further recall that many people sentenced to death come from situations of poverty, marginalization, trauma, mental health challenges, discrimination, or experiences of gender-based and other forms of violence. Justice systems that fail to understand and take account of such circumstances risk compounding existing inequalities. Those who are most vulnerable in society are often those least able to secure effective legal representation and full protection of their rights.

The human impact of the death penalty extends far beyond those sentenced to death. Victims and their families, relatives of condemned persons, lawyers, judges, prison personnel, and entire communities are all affected by the profound consequences of State executions. The botched execution on Christa Pike on 30 September 2026, which took place despite pleas to commute her death sentence, showed why the death penalty should be prohibited everywhere.

On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we call on all States that retain capital punishment to establish an immediate moratorium on executions, in compliance with General Assembly resolution 79/179 (2024), ensure full compliance with international fair trial guarantees, review convictions obtained through proceedings that fail to meet international standards, prohibit the death penalty for crimes which do not constitute intentional killing and for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18 or individuals with psychosocial disabilities, and take concrete steps towards abolition and the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

We also call on prosecutors to refrain from seeking the death penalty and courts to use their power of judicial review to weigh the constitutionality of capital punishment, including mandatory death sentences. The duty to comply with international human rights standards rests with all State organs, officers and agents, as well as with all other natural and legal persons.

We further remind States that they should take every possible measure in their power to protect their nationals abroad from being sentenced to death or executed, including through diplomatic and consular protection. Moreover, they must not expel, return or extradite anyone to another State or a non-State actor exercising government-like functions or de facto control over territory and population where he or she is likely to face the death penalty.

Justice cannot be reduced to punishment alone. It requires respect for human dignity, recognition of our shared humanity, and unwavering commitment to the right to life.”