DPRU and DPP host UN Human Rights Council event

On 25 February 2025, the Death Penalty Research Unit (DPRU) and the Death Penalty Project (DPP) hosted a side event on the death penalty at the United Nations in Geneva, during the opening week of the Human Rights Council.

The event, titled ‘The enduring nature of the death penalty under abolitionist de facto status’, featured contributions from the DPRU’s Carolyn Hoyle and Daniel Cullen and the DPP’s Parvais Jabbar, and from Professor William Schabas, Professor of International Law at Middlesex University and Research Associate in the Centre for Criminology.

Opening remarks were given by Régine Gachoud, Head of Human Rights Diplomacy at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and closing remarks by Simon Walker, Chief of the Rule of Law and Democracy section, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The event was held as part of the DPRU and DPP's two-year research project on abolitionist de facto status, 'Abolitionist in practice: Challenging the death penalty in countries which do not execute', supported by the Oxford Policy Engagement Network's (OPEN) Public Policy Challenge Fund.

The final report from this research project is due to be published in collaboration with the Council of Europe in September 2025.

The event was formally co-sponsored by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, and the permanent missions of Benin, Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Mongolia, Mexico, Moldova and Switzerland.

Photo credit for listing image: UN Geneva via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.