This week, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly approved a draft resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view to abolishing the practice entirely.

Taking place every two years, the 2024 draft resolution was adopted by a record 131 United Nations Member States in favour, with 36 against and 21 abstaining.

A final vote will be held in mid-December. If the numbers remain the same, the resolution will – for the first time – achieve the goal of having two thirds of United Nations Member States voting in favour.

Over the nine previous resolutions adopted, the number of votes supporting a moratorium has grown from 104 in 2007 to 125 in 2022, demonstrating a clear global trend against the death penalty.

CPJP urges all countries that voted ‘yes’ to maintain their support for the resolution at the final vote. We also encourage countries that abstained this week after voting ‘no’ in 2022, such as the Bahamas and Bangladesh, to consider voting ‘yes’.

The United States of America is dominating much of the news cycle following the election in early November. Most concerning for anti-death penalty advocates is the fact that President-elect Donald Trump has long maintained a pro-death penalty rhetoric, which escalated throughout the 2024 presidential race. The President-elect proposes to expand the death penalty in the US, which would continue the killing spree he initiated in the final six months of his first presidency, when he oversaw 13 federal executions, more than any president in the past 120 years.

During his 2020 campaign, President Joe Biden committed to ending the federal death penalty. While it is disappointing that this was not achieved during his term, he can still commute the sentences of those on federal death row. You can read more about advocacy for this via a petition co-sponsored by organisations from around the United States.

Many of you will recall the unjust execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri on 24 September 2024, after almost 24 years on death row. This proceeded despite grave concerns Mr Williams was wrongfully convicted. For more information, see CPJP’s statement. You can also read some of Mr Williams’ poetry, including poems written to support fellow death row inmates, published by the Innocence Project.

Last Friday, Singapore executed two men. Another man, Rosman bin Abdullah, received notice on Monday that his execution is scheduled for this Friday 22 November. If it proceeds, this will be the eighth execution carried out in Singapore in 2024, all but one for drug trafficking.

Rosman bin Abdullah has been on death row for 14 years and was previously granted a stay in February 2022, as were the two men executed last week. Of these three men, two were assessed by psychiatrists to have intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, while the third was assessed by a psychiatrist as likely to have a psychosocial disability.

This is taking place in the context of a deteriorating human rights situation in Singapore, which includes providing death row prisoners with a shortened notice period ahead of their executions, as well as creating a climate of fear around anti-death penalty activism. You can read more in a recent joint statement we co-signed.

A group of UN experts have called on Singapore to urgently halt the execution of Rosman bin Abdullah, citing concerns that he was not given procedural accommodations for his disability during his interrogation and trial. The UN experts also reiterated the ‘lack of any persuasive evidence that the death penalty contributes more than any other punishment to curbing or preventing drug trafficking.’

The Islamic Republic of Iran executed at least 166 people in October, the highest monthly execution toll in the country since the NGO Iran Human Rights began documenting executions in 2007.

By the end of October, at least 651 people were known have been executed in Iran this year. Over half of these executions took place in the three months of August to October, and this alarming escalation continues with multiple executions being carried out daily in November.

Death sentences have also been given to at least eight protesters and political prisoners in recent weeks.

Since July, three female activists have been sentenced to death for charges of armed rebellion, reinforcing concerns that the death penalty is being weaponised against participants in the ongoing Woman, Life, Freedom movement.

A conversation with Kirsten Han: Sharing stories from death row in Singapore

Monday 25 November, 5:30-7:30 pm AEST, Brisbane CBD

Kirsten Han is a member of the Transformative Justice Collective in Singapore, where she advocates for the abolition of the death penalty.

Tickets for this in-person event are available here.

For those who cannot attend, you can read Kirsten’s essay Singapore Will Always Be at War, which recently won the Portside Review’s 2024 Human Rights Essay Prize.

As the end of the year approaches, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to CPJP. Supporters like you make all the difference in sustaining our work.

Other ways you can support CPJP to continue our life-saving work

You can purchase a t-shirt or tote bag featuring some of the hauntingly beautiful artwork created by Myuran Sukumaran – an Australian man who was executed in Indonesia in 2015 – while he was on death row. We remain ever grateful to Myuran’s family, the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Das T-Shirt Automat for this collaboration.

We have partnered with Willed, who provide a simple and cost-effective means to write your will and, if you wish, to leave a bequest to CPJP.

If you would like to volunteer with us, including applying for our overseas volunteer program, please get in touch.