"Death is not Justice – youth advocacy and awareness-raising for the abolition of the death penalty" :Workshop in Strasbourg

The Council of Europe, in collaboration with its civil society partners “Ensemble contre la peine de mort” (ECPM) and the German Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, organised the workshop “Death is not Justice – youth advocacy and awareness-raising for the abolition of the death penalty” on 3-6 June 2025.

The workshop took place at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg. It was organised as part of the cooperation project “Death is not justice: abolition of the death penalty in Europe and beyond”, funded by voluntary contributions from France and Switzerland. The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) also supported the event.

This workshop, the first two editions of which were held in June 2023 and in June 2024, is in line with the implementation of the Reykjavik Summit Declaration: the Heads of State and Government indicated that the Council of Europe must continue its fight for the abolition of the death penalty, a direction that was confirmed by Foreign Ministers  who called "tostrengthen initiatives to counter pro-death penalty narratives in Europe and contribute to global abolition."

The workshop brought together around 50 young volunteers, students and active members of civil society aged between 18 and 30, coming from 27 Council of Europe Member States and 5 other States. They were selected from some 250 applicants. A number of the participants had already taken part in the previous editions and presented various actions carried out as part of their abolitionist fight.

Beyond training the young participants to advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, the goal of this project is to create a network of young ambassadors to continue the fight for the abolition across Europe and the world. The young ambassadors worked on their upcoming projects in preparation for the 9th World Congress against the death penalty, which will take place in Paris in 2026. On this occasion, they took part inter alia in sessions focused on legal strategies for the abolition of the death penalty.

The participants had the opportunity to learn about the Council of Europe’s HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) programme, and to have a preview presentation of our upcoming HELP module on the abolition of the death penalty which will be available in the beginning of July 2025.

They also had a session centered on freedom of expression and its interconnection with the death penalty led by Mr Andres Perez in charge of the death penalty at OHCHR, and illustrated by the testimony of Saman Yasin, a former death row prisoner in Iran, sentenced for his support of the movement “Woman, Life, Freedom.” The participants also worked on the actions they could take in the future and discussed joint projects and possible cooperation across the network.

The event was opened by Ms Clare Ovey, Director of Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Mr Ambassador Pap Ndiaye, Permanent Representative of France to the Council of Europe, and Mr Nicolas Perron, Director of Programme of ECPM. Mr Ambassador Claude Wild, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Council of Europe, joined for the closing session. (source:coe.int)

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