Observed annually on October 10, World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies and mobilises civil society, political leaders, lawyers, and public opinion in pursuit of universal abolition of the death penalty. 2022 also marks the centenary of one of the world’s earliest statutory abolitions in the Australian state of Queensland.

Abolition may now be widely embraced as a norm of international human rights law, but its establishment as a comprehensive and irrevocable fact remains elusive. 

This event—presented in partnership with the EU Delegation of Australia, Eleos Justice (Monash University), The Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (Griffith University) and the Australian National University—brings together academics and experts to discuss the politics of death penalty abolition from a number of perspectives—historical, legal and political, domestic and international. 

The UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions will also discuss the relationship between the use of the death penalty and torture – the theme of this year’s World Day Against the Death Penalty. 

Join us as we mark World Day 2022, and the launch of the special issue ‘Death Penalty Politics: The Fragility of Abolition in Asia and the Pacific’ featuring eight papers published by the International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy. 
 

16:00-16:10      Welcome by Ambassador Designate Gabriele Visentin, Delegation of the European Union    

16:10-16:45    Panel Discussion on ‘Death Penalty Politics: The Fragility of Abolition in the Asia and the Pacific’ 

• Chair: Mark Finnane (Griffith University)  
• Panellists: 
  •  Carolyn Strange (ANU) 
  • Sara Kowal (Monash; CPJP; ADPAN)
  • Donald Rothwell (ANU) 
  • MaryEllen Miller (Assistant Secretary, Human Rights Branch, DFAT)
  • Matthew Robertson (ANU)
  • Thaatchaayini Kananatu (Monash University Malaysia)       

16:45-17:00    Death penalty as torture: conversation with the UN Special Rapporteur 

• Chair: Mai Sato (Monash)
• Morris Tidball-Binz, UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial summary or arbitrary executions (online from Geneva) 

17:00-17:15    Questions from the floor and panel and closing 

• Sue Trevaskes (Griffith University) 

17:15-18:00    Networking drinks & nibbles 

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