World Day against the Death Penalty: Young People and Abolition (10 October 2014)
The World Day against the Death Penalty, organised on 10 October every year since 2003, reminds all citizens of the importance of the campaign conducted by France and many other countries for universal abolition of the death penalty, a highly symbolic cause.
This year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development has joined forces with the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), the French National Council of Bars (CNB) and the campaign group Together Against the Death Penalty (Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort – ECPM) to raise awareness of the issue among young French-speakers from all over the world. Foreign campaigners and French schoolchildren representing the citizens of the future – future campaigners, politicians, members of the judiciary and lawyers committed to the cause – will take part, benefiting from personal accounts and expert contributions from criminal lawyers, former death-row inmates and high-profile campaigners for human rights and abolition of the death penalty.
Young people take centre stage: organisation of a special day
The World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2014 will be an opportunity to focus on initiatives for young people from all over the world, especially French-speakers. Raising awareness in the next generation, which represents the citizens of the future – future campaigners, politicians, members of the judiciary and lawyers committed to the cause – is a real challenge for the abolition campaign and a major strand of our diplomacy. Workshops simulating international negotiations and a mock assize court trial will be organised during the day-long event.
At the closing ceremony, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development will announce the launch of an anti-death penalty slogan competition intended for young French-speakers aged 12 to 18 from all over the world, as well as the sponsorship of a second “Draw Me Abolition” competition organised by Together Against the Death Penalty.
The ceremony will be shown as a live webcast on the France Diplomatie website.
Partners
ECPM – Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort
The non-profit Together Against the Death Penalty (Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, ECPM) is now the leading French-language anti-death penalty campaign group. ECPM campaigns worldwide for the abolition of capital punishment, mobilises and coordinates new anti-death penalty campaigners, works with lawyers who defend those condemned to death, raises public awareness and promotes a humanist concept of justice.
OIF – Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie
On the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty, the International Organisation of La Francophonie, in partnership with the campaign group Together Against the Death Penalty and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, will host an event intended to raise awareness of abolition of the death penalty among young French-speakers. The OIF will present La Francophonie’s work to promote the abolition of capital punishment through advocacy to Member States and support for civil society initiatives. OIF has 57 member states and governments and 20 observer states.
It will be possible to follow the event on social media and La Francophonie’s web portal for young people, www.jeunesse.francophonie.org.
The French National Council of Bars, a public-interest body, is the national organisation which represents all lawyers practising in France. On the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty, the French National Council of Bars will be showing its support for the abolitionist cause, recalling that lawyers, as defenders of rights and freedoms, play a fundamental part in the campaign for abolition of the death penalty and the imposition of a moratorium in countries where it still exists.