The Arab Coalition took part in the World Coalition agaist the Death Penalty General Assembly
The Arab Coalition Against the Death Penalty, created in 2007 with the Executive Secretariat at ACHRS, participated in the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty General Assembly in Rome on the 13th and 14th of June.
This was an occasion to further discussion among the members of the coalition on many issues.
The General Assembly unanimously approved the Financial and the Activity Reports for 2008. Full agreement was also reached on the Orientation Report, which sets the next actions to be undertaken by the World Coalition. The upcoming initiatives will focus on three major campaigns:
· · "Teaching abolition", addressed to 14 -18 years old students and students in law school with a strong link to the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits juvenile executions.
· · Towards the universal ratification of the Optional Second Protocol to the ICCPR, that is currently the only international legal instrument to prohibit the death penalty.
· · Towards the Universal Moratorium on Executions , supporting the UN General Assembly Resolution voted on December 2007 and on December 2008.
The General Assembly also discussed the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, that will be held in Geneva from the 24th-26th of February 2010. Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort drafted a provisional program that includes plenary sessions, practical workshops for activists, meetings with victims, and several other events.
The Arab Coalition Against the Death Penalty was elected, along with 20 other organizations, to be part of the Steering Committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.
The first day of Assembly ended with a meeting at the presence of the press and the media with Joaquin Jose, a former priosner on death row in the state of Florida.
On the 14th of June the Steering Committee meeting took place; on this occasion the members tackled more specific issues regarding membership, fundraising and the state of the campaigns.
These international assemblies are always a fruitful and inspiring opportunity to enhance the organizations’ commitment, to share ideas with partners and to jointly set the course of activities.
