Amnesty International is opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.

It's a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and has no place in today’s justice system.

Yet at the end of 2010, nearly 18,000 people were on death row

On 28 March , we released our report, Death Penalty and Executions in 2010, which documents the use of the death penalty around the world last year. If there can be a positive angle, it’s that over the last decade we've seen significant progress made towards its abolition across the globe.

Download the report (PDF 6.1 mb)

2010: A snapshot

Use of the death penalty in 2010

2010 in numbers:

  • 23 countries carried out executions in 2010, compared to 19 countries in 2009 and 41 in 1995
  • 58 countries are classified as "retentionist" - but less than half of them executed
  • 96 countries have now abolished the death penalty for all crimes - 31 of which have abolished the punishment in the last decade
  • 138 inmates sentenced to death in the USA have been exonerated since 1973
  • 252 people in Iran were executed; one person committed a crime when he was under 18 years old
  • At the end of 2010, nearly 18,000 people worldwide were waiting on death row.
Download the report(PDF 6.1 mb)

The progress

In the last 10 years alone, a huge amount of progress has been made towards the abolition of the death penalty, with 31 countries abolishing the punishment in practice or in law.

By the end of 2010, 139 countries had ceased its use in law or in practice. In the 1990s, 40 countries were known to carry out executions year. By 2008, this figure dropped to 25 countries.

In December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its third resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. More UN member states supported it than ever before, with 109 votes in favour, 41 against and 35 abstentions.

In focus: Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific region still accounts for the highest number of executions in the world.

The continued use of the death penalty for drug-related offences and the lack of adequate legal representation and due process remained a matter of concern throughout the region.

Our research confirmed that at least 82 executions were carried out five countries in the region, including Bangladesh (at least 9), Japan (2), North Korea (at least 60), Malaysia (at least 1) and Taiwan (4).

Figures from China are not able to be confirmed because executions often go unreported and are carried out in secret. We believe that thousands of people in China were executed in 2010, representing more state-sanctioned killings than in the rest of the world put together.

The global movement to kill the death penalty

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"The global trend towards abolition is clear. But the fight is far from finished."


Read the full blog by Salil Shetty.

But progress has been made. On 14 January 2010, Mongolia's President Elbegdorj announced an official suspension of the implementation of existing death sentences, with a view to its total abolition. And a positive step by the Chinese auithorities could see the death penalty removed from 13 of the 68 crimes to which is it currently applied.

Around the world

The USA was the only country to carry out executions in the Americas. At least 110 death sentences were imposed during 2010, representing a third of the number handed down in the mid-1990s. In March 2011, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty.

Belarus was the only country in Europe and Central Asia to continue the use of the death penalty in 2011. The country carried out two executions in 2010, and imposed three sentences.

Fewer death sentences and executions were recorded in total in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010 than in 2009. However, where the death penalty was imposed it was frequently used after unfair trials.

One more country in sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon, abolished the death penalty, bringing the total number of abolitionist countries to 16.

Kill the death penalty

"A world free of the death penalty is not only possible, it is inevitable. The question is how long will it take?"

Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Amnesty International is completely opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

Whatever form it takes – electrocution, hanging, beheading, stoning or lethal injection – the death penalty is an affront to the right to life that must end.

Support for a global abolition of the death penalty has become stronger over the last decade. And once a country has abolished the death penalty, it’s hardly ever re-introduced.

We've appealing to authorities to abolish the death penalty since its creation in 1961. Since our campaigning began, 80 countries have abolished its use.

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