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EU Statement on the Abolition of the Death Penalty

07.10.2026 Press and information team of the Delegation to the COUNCIL OF EUROPE in Strasbourg

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States, the Candidate Countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine as well as Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino aligned with this statement.

  1. The European Union welcomes the thematic debate on the abolition of the death penalty and thanks the panel members. We salute the continued commitment of the Council of Europe to engage with other organisations and civil society, as it was the case with the World Congress against the Death Penalty, in Paris, from 30 June to 2 July 2026. 

  2. We share the objective of the Council of Europe to create a death penalty free zone in Europe and beyond. Abolition does not stop at Europe’s borders and the Council of Europe initiatives to promote the worldwide abolition of death penalty are therefore welcome.

  3. The EU reiterates its unequivocal opposition to the death penalty in all cases and under all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It is irreversible and incompatible with human dignity and the right to life and has never been proven to be a deterrent of crime.

  4. We remain deeply concerned by the continued use of capital punishment worldwide, including for offences that do not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes”. We call on all States that retain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition, and on those taking steps towards reintroduction, to refrain from it.

  5. The EU strongly encourages the United States of America and Japan, observer States to the Council of Europe, with whom we share deep historical, political and economic ties, to consider the establishment of a legal moratorium on executions, the commutation of existing death sentences, with a view towards full abolition of the death penalty. 

  6. The EU also reiterates its strong call on Belarus, the only country in Europe to still apply the death penalty, to immediately stop all executions pending abolition, and, until abolition, to apply the alternative punishment provided for in its criminal legislation. 

  7. The EU urges the remaining Council of Europe member State to ratify Protocol No 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights and to do so as a matter of priority. We welcome the growing global trend towards abolition and commend those States that have recently abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. The EU will continue to work with international partners and civil society to advance the universal abolition of the death penalty and to uphold the dignity and fundamental rights of every human being. Only coordinated and sustained action can achieve the common goal of a world free from capital punishment which has no place in the twenty-first century.