Video of Gavin, Nick and Nathan Speaking on Behalf of Kids Against the Death Penalty in Geneva Switzerland at World Congress

The young nephews of an American death row inmate started Kids Against the Death Penalty and recently traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to attend and speak at the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty.

Gavin, Nick and Nathan Been (12, 13 and 15) are just like any American teenagers – teasing their mom Terri about growing taller than her and asking her to drive them around to meet up with their friends.

Except their uncle Jeff Wood is on Texas death row convicted under the Law of Parties even though he did not kill anyone.

Watch an extract from Gavin's speech at the "Words of Victims" evening during the World Congress:

Kids Against the Death Penalty from ECPM on Vimeo.

World Coalition Delivers 90,000 Petitions Against Juvenile Executions

A morning with the World Coalition in Paris. Activists preparing to visit the Embassies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen in order to hand over more than 90,000 signatures on the petition demanding the complete stop of juvenile executions. Three of these countries have ratified the convention on the rights of the child, but do not follow it. The Iranian Embassy refused to accept the petitions. However it will be mailed directly to the authorities in Teheran.

7th World Day against the Death Penalty

Initiatives of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty mark the 7th World
Day against the Death Penalty on Saturday, 10 October 2009. Every year since
2003 abolitionists have organized events around the world on this day to say No to
the death penalty. This year, across five continents, petitions, round tables,
discussions, debates and exhibitions are planned. To see the complete program of
scheduled events, visit: www.worldcoalition.org/worldday

The World Coalition against the death penalty decided to devote the 2009 edition of
World Day to the theme “teaching abolition”. By encouraging debates on the death
penalty on 10th October, the members of the World Coalition would like pupils and
students to understand the state of the world they are living in: the severity, and
sometimes cruelty, but also the beauty of the human rights ideal. The aim is for them
to acquire fundamental knowledge and understand why the death penalty is an attack
on basic rights.

This campaign will focus on teaching abolition to the citizens throughout the world
and particularly students between 14 and 18 years of age. Several mobilization tools
have been developed and are available on the World coalition website: a
pedagogical guide and a law school curriculum on Capital punishment.

Every year the world takes another step towards universal abolition. In 2009: new
countries have abolished the death penalty -Burundi, Togo, the State of New Mexico
(USA); or commuted all death sentences –Kenya, Morocco; others have reduced the
range of crimes punishable by death –Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Nicaragua and
Brazil have ratified the UN Protocol to abolish the death penalty. Today 139 States
have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the
child, the World Coalition calls on the four countries which are still executing
juvenile offenders: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen, to stop their executions. A
Petition to End All Juvenile Executions is available on the World Coalition website.
According to Amnesty International, 24 juvenile offenders were executed between
January 2007 and June 2009.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
Created in Rome in 2002, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty brings together 99
bar associations, trade unions, local governments and non-governmental organizations. It
aims at strengthening the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty and
at contributing to put an end to death sentences and executions. In 2003, The WCADP has
established the World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October. This event is followed
all aver the world and especially in countries that continue to use the death penalty. It is
now also officially the European Day against Death Penalty.

China refuses to consider 250,000-strong petition

A World Coalition delegation found the door closed on June 16 when they attempted to handover to the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong a petition urging for changes in the death penalty system in China.

Stopped at the outside door of the building, it was refused the chance to be met by any official on the explanation that ‘this is a political issue’.

The petition, calling for the lift of state secrecy on the practice of the death penalty and a moratorium on executions, was signed by 256,457 persons from all around the world.
Earlier in the morning, the WCADP held a press conference in Hong Kong to present its demands and compare the death penalty situation in China with global trends in Asia and the rest of the world.
Death penalty remains a particular concern in China, where thousands of people continue to be sentenced to death and executed each year, often after hasty and unfair trial.

“They've destroyed my future”

“I just had one son, all my hopes rested on him. They’ve destroyed my future […] Without my son, my family and I can’t go on”, said the mother of an innocent who had been wrongfully sentenced to death and executed on the basis of confessions made under torture.
Mark Allison, China researcher for Amnesty International, reminded that important reforms were needed to improve the Chinese criminal justice system and preclude miscarriages of justice. However, he recognised the importance of a recent reform requesting the Supreme People’s Court review of death penalty sentences, which has led to a significant reduction in the number of executions, according to the Chinese authorities. He regretted that this statement could not be supported or assessed by any figure as the death penalty remains classified as a state secret.

“Polite and transparent dialogue”

“We ask for China to make transparency part of its death penalty”, said Speedy Rice, an American law professor talking on behalf of the World Coalition. “We hope that through a polite and transparent dialogue, China will restrict the number of crimes eligible for death, afford greater legal protection for the accused and, ultimately, respect its public statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council that China will one day end its use of the death penalty.”
Abolition is possible in China as it is in the rest of the world. Emily Lau, member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, reminded that Hong Kong has abolished the death penalty in 1993 and that the crime rate has been decreasing in the past ten years.

“Changes in China would have a great impact on the rest of the world and especially in Asia” said Maiko Tagusari, a lawyer from Japan and member of the Anti Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN). She spoke after a two-day meeting of the ADPAN network clearly indicated that the momentum towards abolition is growing in the region.

The press conference had opened with a video message from Robert Badinter, French Senator, former Minister of Justice and former member of the Ethics Commission of the International Olympic Committee. He insisted that executions that would take place in China or elsewhere in the world during the Olympic Games would offend the integrity of human beings, which is the very principle of the Olympic spirit.

5,000,000 signatures for moratorium collected

The community of Sant’Egidio and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty have collected five millions signatures from around the world calling for a moratorium on executions. According to their press release,

A delegation of anti-death penalty activists from around the world will meet with the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Srgian Kerim, on Friday, November 2, at 10:30 AM, to deliver a petition containing over five million signatures that urge the General Assembly to pass a resolution calling for a global moratorium on executions.

The delegation, led by Mario Marazziti of the Community of Sant'Egidio, will include Sister Helen Prejean, leading American advocate of the abolition of the death penalty and the woman behind the movie Dead Man Walking, Yvonne Terlingen, Head of Amnesty International's UN Office in New York, Renny Cushing, Marie Verzulli, and Bill Babbitt from Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, an international organization of victims' family members and family members of the executed, Speedy Rice from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Elizabeth Zitrin, member of the executive board of Death Penalty Focus.

Angola, Albania, Brazil, Croatia, Gabon, Mexico, the Philippines, Portugal (for the EU), and New Zealand are presenting the text of the resolution to the General Assembly as a cross-regional initiative. Close to one hundred other countries have signed on as co-sponsors.

After meeting with the President of the General Assembly, the delegation will hold a press conference at 11:00 AM at UNCA CLUB, UN, Room 326, at the Third Floor of UN Headquarters.

Videotaped statements will also be available from Rev. Rowan Williams, Primate of the Church of England (London), Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Buenos Aires), Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, President of the Pontifical Council Justice and Peace (Vatican City), and Siti Musdah Muliva, Moslem theologian at the University of Jakarta.

Appointments:

UN HEADQUARTERS

UN, 10.30, President's office

UN, 11 AM, UNCA CLUB, Room 326, Third Floor

Contacts:

Mario Marazziti

Telephone: +39 335 726 3641

Mobile +39 346 850 1247

email/blackberry: m.marazziti@gmail.com

Yvonne Terlingen

Telephone +1212 867 8878 ext 2

Mobile + 1917 406 1185

Fax +1212 370 0183