World Day (from Center for Constitutional Rights)

Join CCR in opposing the death penalty as an abuse of the most basic of human rights. There are events and actions occurring worldwide that can give you the opportunity to do something! In New York City on October 11th from 1-2:30 p.m., there will be a live debate exploring the death penalty and its relevance in the US today. This event will be held at the White Box Gallery at 329 Broome Street and will also be streamed to 29 universities across the US, Canada and the UK. For information about other actions and events worldwide, visit the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty here

Yesterday marked the World Day Against the Death Penalty, and CCR is adding our voice to the international call for the abolition of capital punishment. This year, for the first time ever, this day of international protest against the death penalty is focused specifically on the United States. Since 1977, there have been more than 1100 executions in the US, 41 in 2010 alone. As people living in the US, it is up to us to take strength from these worldwide protests and active opposition to capital punishment and use them to embolden our abolition efforts at home.

As a human rights organization, CCR views the death penalty first and foremost as a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that all human beings have “the right to life, liberty and security of person.” CCR staff attorney Rachel Meeropol, and Robert Meeropol, the Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children wrote in an op-ed,

“In the aftermath of World War II, the United States took a leadership role in drafting an ‘international bill of rights’ that recognized all people have certain inherent rights. This core human rights document, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, put it simply: Life is a human right. This makes the death penalty our deepest human rights abuse. As long as governments have the right to extinguish our lives, they maintain the power to deny us access to every other right.”

Read the full op-ed at CCR.org

Raise your voice now to oppose the death penalty and protect human rights.