Today, October 10, is the world day against the death penalty. Last year, at least 2,390 people were legally executed, 93% of them in just five countries: China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA. Today is the day we work to change that, and end the abomination of judicial murder for good.
This year the focus is on teaching abolition [PDF]. The children of today will be the citizens of tomorrow. Encouraging them to debate the death penalty will help them to understand why it must be abolished. In addition, there is a push to end child executions, outlawed under the (universally accepted) Convention on the Rights of the Child, but still practiced in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Sudan. There is a petition calling on these countries to end their practice of executing children; you can sign it here.
