As France Prepares to Assume Presidency of European Union, Emmanuel Macron Announces Initiative for Worldwide Abolition of Death Penalty

At a cer­e­mo­ny com­mem­o­rat­ing the 40^th anniver­sary of France​’s abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty, French President Emmanuel Macron (pic­tured) announced an ini­tia­tive to advance world­wide abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The announce­ment also coin­cid­ed with World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is observed annu­al­ly on October 10.

In January 2022, France will assume the rotat­ing pres­i­den­cy of the Council of the European Union. Macron said, ​“As part of the French pres­i­den­cy of the European Union, we will orga­nize … a meet­ing in Paris at the high­est lev­el, bring­ing togeth­er civ­il soci­eties from coun­tries that still apply the death penal­ty … in order to con­vince their lead­ers of the impor­tance and urgency of abol­ish­ing it.” Macron spoke of France’s role as a leader in end­ing the death penal­ty, say­ing that, in 1981, it became the 35^th nation to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Today, he said, ​“106 states have so far tak­en this path, while 50 oth­ers have a de jure or de fac­to mora­to­ri­um on executions.” 

Macron lament­ed that at least 483 exe­cu­tions were car­ried out world­wide in 2020, describ­ing them as, ​“483 state killings car­ried out by 33 regimes that most­ly share a taste for despo­tism, a rejec­tion of the uni­ver­sal­i­ty of human rights.” Noting that the 483 exe­cu­tions were ​“almost cer­tain­ly an under­es­ti­mate,” he also announced efforts to pass a United Nations res­o­lu­tion requir­ing coun­tries to report the num­ber of death sen­tences and exe­cu­tions. Amnesty International reports on death sen­tences and exe­cu­tions each year, but notes that China, North Korea, and Vietnam con­sid­er exe­cu­tions and death sen­tences to be state secrets and do not release infor­ma­tion on their use of the death penal­ty. China alone is esti­mat­ed to exe­cute over 1,000 peo­ple per year.

Macron spoke along­side Robert Badinter, who served as jus­tice min­is­ter in the admin­is­tra­tion of President François Mitterrand and led the suc­cess­ful effort to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in France. Badinter said, ​“I want to share with you my absolute con­vic­tion that the death penal­ty must dis­ap­pear from the entire world as it is a shame for human­i­ty. The death penal­ty does not pro­tect soci­ety, it dishonours it.”