According to Amnesty International’s lat­est report on exe­cu­tions around the world, China, Iran, the United States, and Vietnam account­ed for 84% of the 1,146 known exe­cu­tions car­ried out in 21 nations in 2003. China car­ried out at least 726 exe­cu­tions, Iran exe­cut­ed 108 peo­ple, the United States car­ried out 65 exe­cu­tions, and Viet Nam report­ed 64 exe­cu­tions last year. Among those exe­cut­ed in 2003 were two juve­nile offend­ers, 1 in China and 1 in the United States. The report not­ed that 77 coun­tries around the world have abol­ished the death penal­ty, includ­ing Samoa and Bhutan in 2003. Amnesty International shared its find­ings with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which is cur­rent­ly in ses­sion in Geneva, and asked the Commission to sup­port a res­o­lu­tion call­ing on all nations to imple­ment a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. A sim­i­lar mea­sure was passed in 2003. (Amnesty International Press Release, April 6, 2004). See International Death Penalty.

Citation Guide