Paris – The French government has launched a global initiative to discourage the use of the death penalty worldwide.
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The aim of the campaign is to step up the action taken in recent years to raise awareness of the abolition of the death penalty before of the fifth World Congress against the Death Penalty, to be held in June 2013 in Madrid, Spain.

France is a strong opponent of capital punishment and abolished the death penalty in 1981.

In addition, some 150 States have either abolished the death penalty or have instituted a moratorium, either in law or in practice.

Moreover, in 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its first ever resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on its use.

The overall global trend on the use of the death penalty has seen the number of executions worldwide decline.

Nevertheless, there has been a recent spate of executions in Gambia as well as in Iraq, where 96 people have had their death sentences carried out since the beginning of 2012.

During August alone, the Iraqi authorities reportedly executed 26 people, including 21 in a single day.
DD