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The death penalty: List of abolitionist and retentionist countries

(1 February 2004)

March 2004
AI Index: ACT 50/005/2004

More than half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Attached is a list of countries and territories, indicating whether or not their laws provide for the death penalty. For abolitionist countries, information is also given, where available, on the date of abolition and the date of the last execution carried out; and for countries which have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, the date when it was abolished for ordinary offences if this was done before. (The date given for abolition is normally the date when the decision to abolish the death penalty was taken, but if that decision only came into effect several years later, the latter date is given.)

Also attached is a list of countries which have abolished the death penalty in law since 1976. It shows that in the past decade, an average of three countries a year have abolished the death penalty in law or, having done so for ordinary offences, have gone on to abolish it for all offences.

As of 1 February 2004, the number of abolitionist and retentionist countries was as follows:

Abolitionist for all crimes 78

Abolitionist for ordinary crimes only 15

Abolitionist in practice 24

Total abolitionist in law or practice 117

Retentionist 78

Regular updates to the List of abolitionist and retentionist countries are posted on the death penalty page on the Amnesty International website at www.amnesty.org/deathpenalty.

INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WC1X 0DW, UNITED KINGDOM

1. ABOLITIONIST FOR ALL CRIMES

Countries whose laws do not provide for the deathpenalty for any crime

Abbreviations: Date (A)= date of abolition for all crimes; Date (AO)= date of abolition for ordinary crimes; Date (last ex.)= date of last execution; K = date of last known execution; Ind. = no executions since independence

Country		Date (A)		Date (AO)
ANDORRA	1990				1943

ANGOLA	1992
AUSTRALIA	1985	1984	1967
AUSTRIA	1968	1950	1950
AZERBAIJAN	1998		1993
BELGIUM	1996		1950
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA	2001	1997
BULGARIA	1998		1989
CAMBODIA	1989
CANADA	1998	1976	1962
CAPE VERDE	1981		1835
COLOMBIA	1910		1909
COSTA RICA	1877
COTE DIVOIRE	2000
CROATIA	1990
CYPRUS	2002	1983	1962
CZECH REPUBLIC	1990
DENMARK	1978	1933	1950
DJIBOUTI	1995		Ind.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	1966
ECUADOR	1906
ESTONIA	1998		1991
FINLAND	1972	1949	1944
FRANCE	1981		1977
GEORGIA	1997		1994K
GERMANY	1987
GUINEA-BISSAU	1993		1986K
HAITI	1987		1972K
HONDURAS	1956		1940
HUNGARY	1990		240 1988
ICELAND	1928		1830
IRELAND	1990		1954
ITALY	1994	1947	1947
KIRIBATI			Ind.
LIECHTENSTEIN	1987		1785
LITHUANIA	1998		1995
LUXEMBOURG	1979		1949
MACEDONIA	1991
MALTA	2000	1971	1943
MARSHALL ISLANDS			Ind.
MAURITIUS	1995		1987
MICRONESIA			Ind.
MOLDOVA	1995
MONACO	1962		1847
MOZAMBIQUE	1990		1986
NAMIBIA	1990		1988K
NEPAL	1997	1990	1979
NETHERLANDS	1982	1870	1952

brdrs				NEW ZEALAND	1989	1961	1957
NICARAGUA	1979		1930
NORWAY	1979	1905	1948
PALAU
PANAMA			1903K
PARAGUAY	1992		1928
POLAND	1997		1988
PORTUGAL	1976	1867	1849K
ROMANIA	1989		1989
SAMOA	2004		Ind.
SAN MARINO	1865	1848	1468K
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE	1990		Ind.
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO	2002
SEYCHELLES	1993		Ind.
SLOVAK REPUBLIC	1990
SLOVENIA	1989
SOLOMON ISLANDS		1966	Ind.
SOUTH AFRICA	1997	1995	1991
SPAIN	1995	1978	1975
SWEDEN	1972	1921	1910

11
SWITZERLAND	1992	1942
TIMOR-LESTE	1999
TURKMENISTAN	1999
TUVALU			Ind.
UKRAINE	1999
UNITED KINGDOM	1998	1973	1964
URUGUAY	1907
VANUATU			Ind.
VATICAN CITY STATE	1969
VENEZUELA	1863

2. ABOLITIONIST FOR ORDINARY CRIMES ONLY

Countries whose laws provide for the death penalty only for exceptional crimes such as crimes under military law or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances, such as wartime crimes

Abbreviations: Date (AO)= date of abolition for ordinary crimes; Date (last ex.)= date of last execution; K= date of last known execution; Ind. = no executions since independence

Country		Date (AO)		Date (last ex.)
ALBANIA		2000
ARGENTINA		1984
ARMENIA		2003
BOLIVIA		1997		1974
BRAZIL		1979		1855
CHILE		2001		1985
COOK ISLANDS
EL SALVADOR		1983		1973K
FIJI		1979		1964
drw15					GREECE		1993	1972
ISRAEL		1954		1962
LATVIA		1999		1996
MEXICO				1937
PERU		1979		1979
TURKEY		2002		1984

3. ABOLITIONIST IN PRACTICE

Countries that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes such as murder but can be considered abolitionist in practice in that they have not executed anyone during the past 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions. The list also includes countries which have made an international commitment not to use the death penalty.

Abbreviations: Date (last ex.)= date of last execution; K= date of last known execution; Ind. = no executions since independence

Country	Date (last ex.)
ALGERIA	1993
BENIN	1987
BHUTAN	1964K
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM	1957K
BURKINA FASO	1988
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC	1981
CONGO (Republic)	1982
GAMBIA	1981
GRENADA	1978
KENYA
MADAGASCAR	1958K
MALDIVES	1952K
MALI	1980
MAURITANIA	1987
NAURU	Ind.
NIGER	1976K
PAPUA NEW GUINEA	1950
RUSSIAN FEDERATION	1999
SENEGAL	1967
SRI LANKA	1976
SURINAME	1982
TOGO
TONGA	1982
l240 TUNISIA	1991

4. RETENTIONIST

Countries and territories that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes

AFGHANISTAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

BAHAMAS

BAHRAIN

BANGLADESH

BARBADOS

BELARUS

BELIZE

BOTSWANA

BURUNDI

CAMEROON

CHAD

CHINA

COMOROS

CONGO (Democratic Republic)

CUBA

DOMINICA

EGYPT

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

ERITREA

ETHIOPIA

GABON

GHANA

GUATEMALA

GUINEA

GUYANA

INDIA

INDONESIA

IRAN

IRAQ

JAMAICA

JAPAN

JORDAN

KAZAKSTAN

KOREA (North)

KOREA (South)

KUWAIT

KYRGYZSTAN

LAOS

LEBANON

LESOTHO

LIBERIA

LIBYA

MALAWI

MALAYSIA

MONGOLIA

MOROCCO

MYANMAR

NIGERIA

OMAN

PAKISTAN

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

PHILIPPINES

QATAR

RWANDA

SAINT CHRISTOPHER & NEVIS

SAINT LUCIA

SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES

SAUDI ARABIA

SIERRA LEONE

SINGAPORE

SOMALIA

SUDAN

SWAZILAND

SYRIA

TAIWAN

TAJIKISTAN

TANZANIA

THAILAND

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

UGANDA

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

UZBEKISTAN

VIET NAM

YEMEN

ZAMBIA

ZIMBABWE

COUNTRIES WHICH HAVE ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY SINCE 1976

1976:PORTUGALabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1978:DENMARKabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1979:LUXEMBOURG, NICARAGUAand NORWAYabolished the death penalty for all crimes. BRAZIL, FIJIand PERUabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

1981:FRANCEand CAPE VERDEabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1982:The NETHERLANDSabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1983:CYPRUSand EL SALVADORabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

1984:ARGENTINAabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

1985:AUSTRALIAabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1987:HAITI, LIECHTENSTEINand the GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (1)abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1989:CAMBODIA, NEW ZEALAND, ROMANIA and SLOVENIA(2)abolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1990:ANDORRA, CROATIA (2), the CZECH AND SLOVAK FEDERAL REPUBLIC (3), HUNGARY, IRELAND, MOZAMBIQUE, NAMIBIAand SAO TOMÉ AND PRíNCIPEabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1992:ANGOLA, PARAGUAYand SWITZERLANDabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1993:GUINEA-BISSAU, HONG KONG(4)and SEYCHELLESabolished the death penalty for all crimes. GREECEabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

1994:ITALYabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1995:DJIBOUTI, MAURITIUS, MOLDOVAand SPAINabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1996:BELGIUMabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1997:GEORGIA, NEPAL, POLANDand SOUTH AFRICAabolished the death penalty for all crimes. BOLIVIAabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

1998:AZERBAIJAN, BULGARIA, CANADA, ESTONIA, LITHUANIAand the UNITED KINGDOMabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

1999:EAST TIMOR (nowTIMOR-LESTE), TURKMENISTANand UKRAINE abolished the death penalty for all crimes. LATVIA(5)abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

2000:ALBANIA(6)abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes. COTE DIVOIREand MALTAabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

2001: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINAabolished the death penalty for all crimes. (7) CHILEabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

2002: CYPRUS andYUGOSLAVIA (now SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO)abolished the death penalty for all crimes. TURKEYabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes.

2003: ARMENIAabolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes. (8)

2004: SAMOAabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

Notes:

(1) In 1990 the German Democratic Republic became unified with the Federal Republic of Germany, where the death penalty had been abolished in 1949.

(2) Slovenia and Croatia abolished the death penalty while they were still republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The two republics became independent in 1991.

(3) In 1993 the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic divided into two states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

(4) In 1997 Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule as a special administrative region of China. Since then Hong Kong has remained abolitionist.

(5) In 1999 the Latvian parliament voted to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, abolishing the death penalty for peacetime offences.

(6) In 2000 Albania ratified Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, abolishing the death penalty for peacetime offences.

(7) In 2001 Bosnia-Herzegovina ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, abolishing the death penalty for all crimes.

(8) In 2003 Armenia ratified Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights, abolishing the death penalty for peacetime offences.

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1944

Date (last ex.)