The International Commission against the Death Penalty will hold its annual meeting, followed by a General Assembly, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation in Marqués de Salamanca.
The event will be attended in person by some ten of the 23 commissioners that make up the panel of renowned figures, made up of former heads of State, prime ministers, ministers, senior UN officials, judges and international reclaimed academics due to their activism and exemplary work in favour of the abolition of the death penalty.
At its interactive session with the 23 Member States of the Support Group, it will address the international state of the abolition of the death penalty and support for the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which will be approved in December in New York.
Following the work meetings, the members of the Commission will be received by the State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Ángeles Moreno Bau, and other public officials.
The International Commission against the Death Penalty was set up on 7 October 2010, upon an initiative from Spain and Switzerland, and its headquarters have been based in Madrid since 2016. Spain is the main contributor, which reflects our country’s commitment to the universal abolition of capital punishment and the promotion and protection of human rights.
The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the jurist Navi Pillay, is the President of the International Commission that promotes the universal abolition of the death penalty, by incentivising legislative reforms in States that still maintain it. To achieve this, it resorts to discrete diplomatic work, assisting through its prestige and experience.
The International Commission also seeks to prevent the carrying out of executions, particularly when they affect such vulnerable groups as children, women, the LGBTQ+ community and persons with disabilities.
-NON OFFICIAL TRANSLATION-