World Day Against Death Penalty

Today October 10th, 2001, the 9th World Day against the Death Penalty is to raise awareness on the inhumanity of the death penalty throughout the entire process, from sentence to execution.

When Amnesty International was founded in 1961, only nine countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Fifty years on, the trend towards worldwide abolition of the death penalty is unmistakeable. Every year on 10 October Amnesty International joins other activists in the abolitionist movement to celebrate the World Day Against the Death Penalty, calling for the abolition of this inhuman punishment worldwide.

At least 17,833 people were on death row around the world at the end of 2010.
At least 67 countries imposed death sentences in 2010. Belarus is the last country in Europe that allows the death penalty.