Around the world countless men, women and children wait on death row for their state to kill them – among them is China's Yang Jia and Viet Nam's Tang Thi Ba.

Yang Jia and Tang Thi Ba are unlucky enough to live in two of the 14 Asian countries that still carry out executions – despite the growing worldwide opposition.

In Viet Nam last year at least 83 people were sentenced to death for drug trafficking offences alone, some after unfair trials. While in China our research estimates at least 470 people were put to death for a range of crimes.

But in both countries the actual figures are likely to be much higher. We don’t know the official execution statistics, because in both China and Viet Nam they’re classified a state secret.

And in both countries the standards of justice and fair treatment are questionable.

Political interference

In China, nobody sentenced to death gets a fair trial in line with international standards. The system doesn't presume innocence, it uses evidence extracted under torture, it restricts defendants' access to lawyers and it’s subject to political interference.

We continue to get reports of relatives not being allowed to visit condemned prisoners, and of executions being carried out without relatives even being informed of the failure of final appeals.

In Viet Nam international standards for fair trials are not followed in practice, legal counsel is often assigned to defendants at the last minute and the defence is not always allowed to call or question witnesses.

Executions are carried out by a five-person firing squad, reportedly sometimes in public. And the families of prisoners are not informed beforehand.

Systems make mistakes

The death penalty is irrevocable, but all legal systems make mistakes and as long as it continues to be used innocent people will be executed.

Whatever form it takes – electrocution, hanging, beheading, stoning or lethal injection – the death penalty is a violent punishment that has no place in today’s criminal justice system.

Research shows it's used against people who have been tortured into confessing, it’s part of corrupt criminal justice systems and it is used after unfair or politically motivated trials. And there is no evidence that it deters criminals.

Take action for justice

China's Yang Jia could be executed within weeks, after being sentenced to death at a closed trial, for the premeditated murder of six police officers. His case attracted widespread public sympathy and debate about the police treatment of suspects and the fairness of the justice system.

You can sent an email to China’s Minister of Justice calling for his sentence to be commuted.

Viet Nam's Tang Thi Ba is a former post office treasurer who was convicted of embezzlement. It's likely she will be will be executed by a five-person firing squad, and her relatives won,t be told until afterwards.

We are writing to Viet Nam's President urging him to commute Tang Thi Ba's sentence and to do away with capital punishment altogether. You can join us.

Tide for change

In Asia 27 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federal States), Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are abolitionist for all crimes. Fiji is abolitionist for ordinary crimes only. Brunei, South Korea, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Tonga are abolitionist in practice.

Now it is time for China and Viet Nam, along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, North Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, to do the same.

Worldwide the tide against the death penalty is growing; last year the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a global moratorium and more countries than ever have chosen to abolish capital punishment. In 1977 only 16 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes, but now, 30 years on, that number had grown to 90.

Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty. Add your voice to the call to do away with this brutal, inhuman and unjust practice. Execution is never the answer.