The Australian Government reaffirms its opposition to capital punishment on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

The death penalty is a violation of the most fundamental human right, the right to life, and it constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment regardless of how it’s carried out. The imposition of the death penalty is rendered senseless as there is no credible evidence that it is an effective crime deterrent.

I continue to call on all countries which still support capital punishment to abolish the death penalty. I particularly encourage those countries and jurisdictions considering whether to abolish or reintroduce the death penalty to join the growing majority of countries that reject this most cruel form of punishment.

Use of the death penalty is regularly associated with miscarriages of justice, the inadvertent execution of innocents, and the disproportionate execution of poor, ethnic and religious minorities.

There are 55 countries that actively retain the death penalty, including some that execute hundreds of people each year.

Australia will continue to advocate strongly for the global abolition of the death penalty, including through the United Nations Human Rights Council, should we be elected for a 2018-20 term.