Moving Away from the Death Penalty

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) organised six public events over the last three years in support of efforts towards the abolition of the death penalty. Financed through contributions from the Governments of Italy and France, this publication presents a compilation of articles contributed by the participants of these events, with the foreword from the Secretary-General. It contains articles by the world's foremost academics and experts in the field from all regions, trial lawyers, judges, victimes of wrongful convictions, human rights defenders and anti-death penalty activists, leaders including Heads of State/Government, as well as UN officials. Articles cover a wide range of topics, from the discriminatory application of the death penalty, wrongful convictions, proven lack of deterrence effect, to legality of the capital punishment under international law and the morality of taking of human life.