On 7 October 2010, the International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) was established in Madrid. In the founding declaration of the ICDP, the Commissioners – several personalities known for their commitment to human rights – defined their objectives and strategies in order to promote the abolition of the death penalty. ICDP is a result of the Spanish Initiative to reinforce the global trend towards the abolition of capital punishment.
The meeting was lead by the President of the ICDP, Federico Mayor, the former Director-General of the UNESCO. The procedural and operational issues on the agenda (website, logotype, communication, etc.) were swiftly discussed and the debate turned quickly to the more substantial issues. Part of the agenda was also an intervention by Prof. Roger Hood on the situation of the death penalty in the world. Hood’s outstanding and enriching intervention provided food for thought for the following debate. The Members picked up several country situations and began to outline how future long-term strategies for the relevant regions could look like. In this respect, and in view of the next meeting of ICDP, the members agreed on reviewing some regional strategy papers which are to be authored, for this purpose only, by several experts on the death penalty. The present members decided to meet again on 3-4 February 2011.
After the founding meeting the International Commission was received by the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luís Zapatero, at the Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid, where the establishment of ICDP was publicly announced in the presence of the media and several State representatives.
Overall, the launching of the ICDP was a huge success and received the expected attention by the world media.
Read the press statement of the ICDP regarding its establishment.
Click here for the speeches of the President of the ICDP Federico Mayor Zaragoza and of the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero.
