From all of us at CPJP, thank you for your support this year. Whether you worked or volunteered alongside us, attended one of our events, amplified our advocacy efforts, made a donation, bought our beautiful new t-shirts or tote bags, or offered advice and solidarity, every effort counts in the fight to end capital punishment. We, and those who we assist, enter 2024 with optimism that the momentum towards abolition of the death penalty will prevail.

Highlights from this year

2023 has been a busy year for CPJP. Some highlights include:

• Year round, we coordinated volunteer lawyers and law firms to assist our partners with casework across multiple jurisdictions.

• We conducted wide-ranging advocacy, including drawing attention to the use of the death penalty and associated human rights violations in countries including Singapore, Bangladesh, Iran and Indonesia, as well as advocating to our own government to uphold its Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty in all dealings with retentionist countries. Increasingly, we are also being called upon to assist the human rights defenders we work with on the ground, due to the adverse government attention they receive for their advocacy.

• Having supported local activists in Malaysia in their successful campaign to abolish the mandatory death penalty in early 2023, we are now supporting them as they prepare for the subsequent resentencing of over 800 individuals who have a real chance to get off death row.

• This month, we completed a four-year project in partnership with the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines, which sought to prevent efforts to reinstate the death penalty. On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our partner and former Commissioner, Karen Gomez Dumpit, summarised the lessons from the Philippines’ story of abolition - a great read, published by our friends at the Diplomacy Training Program.

• Following the travel restrictions of recent years, we resumed our international volunteer program where we send lawyers and law students to support capital defence lawyers in the USA.

• We hosted a number of fantastic events in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra featuring critical voices, including people with lived experience of working to successfully abolish the death penalty or firsthand experience on death row.

• CPJP Board members Sara Kowal and Matthew Goldberg were re-elected to the executive committees of, respectively, the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

We hope you will continue to support our work in 2024

You can make a tax-deductible donation via our website. All donations contribute to our life-saving work.

Watching brief for 2024

Of course, it is not all good news and the fight for abolition continues. We, and our partners, will be closely watching a number of jurisdictions as we commence the new year.

On 7 January 2024, Bangladesh will go to the polls for the national elections. This will take place amid growing concerns for democracy and human rights, with Bangladesh’s civic space rating having been downgraded to ‘closed’ - the worst rating - early this month. CPJP recently partnered with Netra News on an interactive report, using data from our website, showing that at least 2,597 people in Bangladesh have been killed at the hands of the state since 2009. In 2024, our work will continue to seek sanctions against paramilitary organisations involved in such killings and enforced disappearances.

In Singapore, the High Court recently struck out a constitutional challenge brought by 36 unrepresented persons on death row. They were challenging the constitutionality of the Post-appeal Applications in Capital Cases Act 2022, which is yet to come into force, but would limit the ability to seek further appeals in death penalty cases. This decision adds to ongoing concerns about access to lawyers for those on death row in Singapore.

Having maintained an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty for almost 70 years, the newly elected government of the Republic of Maldives this week announced plans to resume executions.

The Islamic Republic regime in Iran continues to execute in alarmingly high numbers. This includes the execution this week of Samira Sabzian. A victim of child marriage and domestic violence, Samira was the 18th woman executed in Iran in 2023.

Ways you can support CPJP

You can wear your support for CPJP with a t-shirt or tote bag featuring the artwork of Myuran Sukumaran. We are grateful to Myuran’s family, the Campbelltown Arts Centre, and our friends at Das T-Shirt Automat for this partnership.

As ever, if you would like to volunteer with us, including applying for our overseas volunteer program, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you!

Our partnership with Willed means you can easily create a will and, if you wish, leave a bequest to CPJP.

Visit our website to make a tax-deductible donation and help us to work towards a future without the death penalty.