International

Additional Resources

Archival DPIC Content

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley answers a ques­tion from the audi­ence dur­ing DPIC’s pre­sen­ta­tion on Politics, Human Rights, and the Death Penalty in the U.S. at the Eighth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Berlin, Germany in November 2022. Also on the pan­el, from left to right, are for­mer U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham, and human rights lawyer Sandra Babcock, the founder and fac­ul­ty direc­tor of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.
Virginia Sloan (Constitution Project) and Robert Dunham (DPIC) dur­ing their pan­el pre­sen­ta­tion at the Sixth World Congress in Oslo (2016).
Elizabeth Zitrin, Richard Dieter (DPIC), and Michael Radelet at Fifth World Congress in Madrid (2013).

Eighth World Congress Against the Death Penalty

The Eighth World Congress Against the Death Penalty was held in Berlin, Germany from November 15 to November 18, 2022, renewing the organization’s call for a global moratorium on capital punishment. Despite the COVID pandemic, more than a thousand participants from 90 countries attended.

Although the Death Penalty Information Center is not a member of any abolition organizations, DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham and Managing Director Anne Holsinger attended the Congress. DPIC presented an official side-event, Politics, Human Rights, and the Death Penalty in the U.S., moderated by Mr. Dunham and featuring former Wisconsin U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, the executive director of the American Constitution Society; former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, a commissioner on the World Commission Against the Death Penalty; and human rights and capital appeal lawyer Sandra Babcock, the faculty director of the Cornell Center for the Death Penalty Worldwide.

The Sixth World Congress Against the Death Penalty met in Oslo, Norway from June 21 to June 23, 2016. The event was attended by more than 1300 representatives from 80 countries, with participants including human rights officials from the United Nations and European Union, Justice Ministers from both abolitionist and retentionist countries, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, global death-row exonerees, non-governmental human rights organizations, attorneys, journalists, and activists from dozens of countries.

Executive Director Robert Dunham was invited to the Congress to address the state of the death penalty in the U.S. You can see the slides accompanying Mr. Dunham’s presentation here and read the Final Declaration of the Sixth World Congress here.

The Fifth World Congress Against the Death Penalty was held in Madrid, Spain from June 12-15, 2013. Richard Dieter, then DPIC’s Executive Director, was invited to the Congress to address developments in the death penalty in the U.S. since the Fourth World Congress. Read more about the Fifth World Congress here.

The Fourth World Congress was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 24-26, 2010. Read Bianca Jagger’s speech to the World Congress, Feb. 24, 2010.

Read about the Third World Congress held in Paris, France, in February 2007.

First International Congress on Prison Systems in the 21st Century

The conference was held July 31- August 2, 2015, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Presenters included: Alvino de Sá, Ana Conduto, Taurino Araújo, Brent Turvey, Roger Greco, and Richard Dieter (DPIC, speaking on U.S. death penalty), among others. Click here for Mr. Dieter’s presentation.

Global Panel at the UN Human Rights Commission

On April 24, 2014, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights at the UN conducted a panel on “Moving Away from the Death Penalty – Discrimination against marginalised groups.” Among the participants was Stephen Bright (l.) of the Southern Center for Human Rights. His remarks can be found here. See a video of the program.

United Nations’ Death Penalty Conference in Minsk, Belarus.
EU Rendez-vous: The Death Penalty in the US: On the Cusp of Repeal

United Nations’ Death Penalty Conference in Minsk, Belarus. The United Nations, with the cooperation of the Belarus Foreign Ministry, held an international death penalty conference, The Death Penalty: Transcending the Divide, in Minsk, Belarus on March 10, 2016. Belarus is the only country in Europe that still carries out the death penalty. The conference featured presentations by Stavros Lambrinidis, the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights; Andrea Rigoni, a member of the Italian Parliament and representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; former Czech Republic Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg; and Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Makei, among others. DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham presented to the conference on using a multidisciplinary approach to analyze policy issues relating to the administration of capital punishment. (Photo courtesy U.S. Embassy, Minsk: DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham (DPIC) speaks at the UN death penalty conference in Minsk.)

EU Rendez-vous: The Death Penalty in the US: On the Cusp of Repeal This event was a panel discussion on the status of the death penalty in the United States. Former Executive Director Richard C. Dieter was asked to sit in on a panel to answer the question, “What is happening to the death penalty in the U.S.?” Mr. Dieter was joined by Sarah Turberville of the Constitution Project and Diann Rust-Tierney of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The event took place on October 21, 2014 and was sponsored by the European Union. This event was held at the residence of the Ambassador from the Netherlands. The video of the event is available here.

“Fighting Crime in the U.S. and Internationally: Is the Death Penalty Necessary? A Unique Conversation Between U.S. and European Law Enforcement.” A panel of law enforcement officials from the U.S. and Europe discussing the merits of the death penalty in reducing violent crime. The officers also addressed whether capital punishment actually helps to keep citizens safe, assists healing for victims, and uses crime-fighting resources efficiently. (National Press Club, Wash., D.C., Oct. 13, 2010).

“The Status of the Death Penalty in the United States,” by Richard C. Dieter, prepared for the Subcommittee on Human Rights, European Parliament, January 29, 2007.

“Cross-Cultural Death-Penalty Experiences,” panel presentation, remarks by Richard C. Dieter, International Leadership Conference on Human Rights and the Death Penalty, Dec. 6-7, 2005, Tokyo, Japan; published at 28 Thomas M. Cooley Law Review 23 (2011).

“International Influence on the Death Penalty in the US,” Foreign Service Journal, October 2003.

“A Response to the Initial Report of the United States to the United Nations on the Race Convention.” Richard Dieter’s Ford Foundation Symposium Presentation, October 17, 2000.

DPIC Report: “International Perspectives on the Death Penalty: A Costly Isolation for the US” (1999).

“The United States Death Penalty and International Law: US Compliance with the Torture and Race Conventions,” Richard Dieter’s Ford Foundation Symposium Presentation, November 12, 1998.

Related Books:

The Death Penalty in Iran: the Road to Abolition is Paved with Paradox, Sanaz Alasti, January 1, 2021.