At least 52 countries across the globe, including Indonesia, still retain the death penalty, mainly for drug offenses, murder and terrorism.
“Abolition now! Abolition now!”
Hundreds of human rights campaigners from countries across the world chanted this as they marched on the streets of Brussels, calling for the universal end to capital punishment.
The participants of the rally, which was held recently in Belgium’s capital as part of the closing event for the seventh World Congress against the Death Penalty, held up a large banner emblazoned with the words “Say No to the Death Penalty”.
Fatia Maulidyanti, an activist from the Jakarta-based Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said she was happy to take part in the rally and to see that calls on countries to abolish death penalty were mounting.
“Europe has the strongest abolitionist movement compared to some countries in other regions, such as Africa, the United States and Asia, where public support for abolition is still not strong enough,” Fatia told The Jakarta Post.
European countries, except for Belarus, are among 146 countries and territories in the world that have abolished capital punishment either by law or in practice as of last year.
At least 52 states across the globe, including Indonesia, still retain the death penalty, mainly for drug offenses, murder and terrorism.
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