International Commission Against the Death Penalty

The International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP or Commission) was founded in Madrid in October 2010,[1][2] as a result of a Spanish initiative.[3] ICDP is an independent body composed of 16 commissioners who have experience in international law and human rights, and are committed to global abolition of capital punishment. Their experience, background, geographical representation and personal involvement towards abolishing the death penalty, enables them to engage with senior officials from different countries.

Supporting group

The Commission is supported by a diverse group of 19 countries from all world regions (Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland,[4][5] Togo and Turkey). ICDP opposes capital punishment in all situations, and urges the immediate establishment of a universal moratorium[3] on executions as a step towards total abolition of the death penalty.

ICDP commissioners
  • Federico Mayor (Spain) President of ICDP. Former Director General of the UNESCO and Former Minister of Education and Science of Spain.[6]
  • Giuliano Amato (Italy). Former Prime Minister of Italy.
  • Louise Arbour (Canada). Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.[7]
  • Robert Badinter (France). Former Minister of Justice of France.
  • Mohammed Bedjaoui (Algeria). Former Foreign Minister of Algeria, Former Judge and President of the International Court of Justice.
  • Ruth Dreifuss (Switzerland). Former President and Minister of Home Affairs of the Swiss Confederation.
  • Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis (Haiti). Former Prime Minister of Haiti.
  • Hanne Sophie Greve (Norway). A judge and Vice President of the High Court for Western Norway and has served as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
  • Asma Jilani Jahangir (Pakistan). President of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Former UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions.
  • Ioanna Kuçuradi (Turkey). UNESCO Chairperson of the Philosophy and Human Rights Department and Director of the Centre of Research and Implementation of Human Rights in Maltepe University (Turkey).
  • Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Philippines). Former President of the Philippines.
  • Rodolfo Mattarollo (Founding Member 1939-2014) (Argentina). Ambassador for UNASUR in Haiti and Former Deputy Secretary for Human Rights in Argentina.
  • Ibrahim Najjar (Lebanon). Former Minister of Justice.
  • Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (South Africa). Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and well-known judge in the ICC and President of the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda.
  • Bill Richardson (USA). Former Governor of New Mexico.[8][9]
  • Horacio Verbitsky (Argentina). Journalist and writer, current member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch/ America and chair of the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS).
  • Honorary member Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Spain), Former Prime Minister of Spain.

Work and country missions

The work of ICDP is varied: letters and statements[10] about specific cases are issued urging States not to carry out executions and condemning executions carried out.[11][12] ICDP organizes and attends meetings and events to promote abolition of the death penalty.[10][13]

ICDP’s members conduct country missions (so far: California and Delaware in the USA, Japan, Suriname, Tajikistan, Commonwealth Caribbean, Tunisia and Lebanon) and engage dialogue with different stakeholders[13][14] working on the abolition, such as NGOs, government representatives, and members of parliament. For example, Commissioner Ruth Dreifuss visited Tajikistan in 2011 and 2013 "to advocate for full abolition of the death penalty in the national law".[15][16] Several reports and opinion pieces have been published by ICDP, including a report on how States abolish the death penalty "which reviews the processes towards abolition of capital punishment by analysing the experiences of 13 States".[17]

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-03-15. Retrieved 2014-05-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Abolition of the Death Penalty – New 'De Facto' Millennium Goal | Inter Press Service". Ipsnews.net. 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  3. "The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2011". OSCE. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20131016065807/http://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/recent/dossie/tod.html. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved May 18, 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. "Minister calls for 'world without death penalty' - SWI". Swissinfo.ch. 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  6. "Calls for end to death penalty". Ohchr.org. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20140328171529/http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/president/louise-arbour-extended-biography.aspx. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "Ex-N.M. Gov. Richardson pushes death penalty repeal in Del". Delaware Newszap. 2014-04-06. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  9. "State House delays vote on Markell tax increases". Delaware Newszap. 2014-03-25. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  10. "The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2012". OSCE. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  11. "Outrage Across Ideological Spectrum in Europe over Flawed Lethal Injection in US". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  12. "Edgar Tamayo Arias News: International Commission Against The Death Penalty Condemns Planned Execution". Latintimes.com. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  13. "Where global solutions are shaped for you | News & Media | HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS HIGH-LEVEL PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE QUESTION OF THE DEATH PENALTY". Unog.ch. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  14. "Working Group on Death Penalty and Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary killings in Africa / Intersession Activity Reports / 50th Ordinary Session / ACHPR". Achpr.org. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  15. "The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2013". OSCE. 2013-10-02. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  16. "Meeting with member of the International Commission against the Death Penalty Ruth Dreifuss » "Khovar" - National Information Agency of Tajikistan". Khovar.tj. 2010-03-22. Archived from the original on 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  17. "Human Rights Documents". Ap.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
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