LIST OF ABOLITIONIST AND RETENTIONIST COUNTRIES

(1 January 2006)

Two countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2005. More than 120 countries in the world have now 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 January 2006, the number of abolitionist and retentionist countries was as follows:

Abolitionist for all crimes 86

Abolitionist for ordinary crimes only 11

Abolitionist in practice 25

Total abolitionist in law or practice 122

Retentionist 74

1. ABOLITIONIST FOR ALL CRIMES

Countries whose laws do not provide for the death penalty 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

CountryDate(A)Date (AO)Date (last ex.)
ANDORRA		1990		1943
ANGOLA		1992
ARMENIA		2003
AUSTRALIA		1985	1984	1967
AUSTRIA		1968	1950	1950
AZERBAIJAN		1998		1993
BELGIUM		1996		1950
BHUTAN		2004		1964K
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA		2001	1997
BULGARIA		1998		1989
CAMBODIA		1989
CANADA		1998	1976	1962
CAPE VERDE		1981		1835
COLOMBIA		1910		1909
rb						COSTA RICA		1877
COTE D'IVOIRE		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
GREECE		2004	1993	1972
GUINEA-BISSAU		1993		1986K
HAITI		1987		1972K
HONDURAS		1956		1940
HUNGARY		1990		1988
ICELAND		1928		1830
IRELAND		1990		1954
ITALY		1994	1947	1947
KIRIBATI				Ind.
LIBERIA		2005
b3					LIECHTENSTEIN		1987		1785
LITHUANIA		1998		1995
LUXEMBOURG		1979		1949
MACEDONIA (former Yug. Rep.)		1991
MALTA		2000	1971	1943
MARSHALL ISLANDS				Ind.
MAURITIUS		1995		1987
MEXICO		2005		1937
MICRONESIA (Federated States)				Ind.
MOLDOVA		1995
MONACO		1962		1847
MOZAMBIQUE		1990		1986
NAMIBIA		1990		1988K
NEPAL		1997	1990	1979
NETHERLANDS		1982	1870	1952
NEW ZEALAND		1989	1961	1957
NICARAGUA		1979		1930
NIUE
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.
SENEGAL		2004		1967
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
SWITZERLAND		1992	1942	1944
TIMOR-LESTE		1999
TURKEY		2004	2002	1984
TURKMENISTAN		1999
TUVALU				Ind.
UKRAINE		1999
UNITED KINGDOM		1998	1973	1964
URUGUAY		1907
VANUATU				Ind.
VATICAN CITY STATE		1969
VENEZUELA		1863

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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
BOLIVIA	1997	1974
BRAZIL	1979	1855
CHILE	2001	1985
COOK ISLANDS
EL SALVADOR	1983	1973K
FIJI	1979	1964
ISRAEL	1954	1962
LATVIA	1999	1996
PERU	1979	1979

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
BAHRAIN		1996
BENIN		1987
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM		1957K
BURKINA FASO		1988
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC		1981
CONGO (Republic)		1982
GAMBIA		1981
GRENADA		1978
KENYA		1987
MADAGASCAR		1958K
MALDIVES		1952K
MALI		1980
MAURITANIA		1987
MOROCCO		1993
MYANMAR
NAURU		Ind.
trftsWidthB3			NIGER		1976K
PAPUA NEW GUINEA		1950
RUSSIAN FEDERATION		1999
SRI LANKA		1976
SURINAME		1982
TOGO
TONGA		1982
TUNISIA		1991

4. RETENTIONIST

Countries and territories that retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes

AFGHANISTAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

BAHAMAS

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

LIBYA

MALAWI

MALAYSIA

MONGOLIA

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.

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.

2003: ARMENIAabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

2004: BHUTAN, GREECE (8), SAMOA, SENEGAL and TURKEYabolished the death penalty for all crimes.

2005: LIBERIAand MEXICOabolished 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 November 2004 the Greek parliament approved the ratification of Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, thereby abolishing the death penalty for all crimes.

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