Cities Across the World for Life

Somehow, it feels most fitting--in leaving the weekend of special attention on the international abolition movements--to remember how interconnected we all are in this effort...

Affirming their participation to the initiative NO JUSTICE WITHOUT LIFE...
The Cities against the Death Penalty” reminds all of the the first abolition of the capital punishment from the legal ordainment of an European country: the one in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in 1786.

This initiative promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio and supported by the main international organizations for human rights, gathered in the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (among them Amnesty International, Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, International Penal Reform, FIACAT)...

...many symbolic monuments (have been) enlightened - from the Coliseum in Rome to the Plaza de Santa Ana in Madrid, from the Central Obelisk in Buenos Aires to the Moneda Palace in Santiago, from the Atomium in Brussels to the square of the Cathedral in Barcelona - making a worldwide moral alliance to ask to stop every execution.

The death penalty is stepping back all over the world and this trend emerges as a constant in the last quarter of the century. Nevertheless, anachronistic claims to its reintroduction in Europe, or the unacceptable justifications in favor of its usage in Iraqi, together with the long way yet to be covered to reach its universal abolition, need a tenacious and incisive action to affirm the civilization of right and defense of human dignity...

In this direction, new strategies and common visions have been started...

We look forward to more updates from the Community of Sant’Egidio and others on such global movements and trends among the cities and countries of the world in the days ahead including more reports from Montana. Part of the reason that there is such controversy about abolishing the death penalty in the USA may have to do with the isolation of our country and continent. We are grateful that this Journey of Hope stays connected so continually with the international abolition movements. For this we thank both our visionary, Bill Pelke--along with the openness of so many in the global community who have invited Journey speakers to their countries.