Thorbjørn Jagland speaks to participants in the World Congress on abolition of the death penalty, 2019.
Abolition of the death penalty and the Council of Europe:
The Council of Europe played a pioneering role in the struggle for the abolition of capital punishment, which it regards as having no place in democratic societies. In April 1983 it adopted Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights abolishing the death penalty, followed in May 2002 by Protocol No. 13 on abolition in all circumstances.
The Council of Europe has made abolition of the death penalty a precondition for accession. No executions have been carried out in any of the Organisation's 47 member states since 1997.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided on 26 September 2007, to declare a ''European Day against the Death Penalty,'' which is held annually on 10 October. The Council of Europe has been a pioneer in the abolition process which has made Europe a de facto death-penalty-free zone since 1997. The day is a European contribution to the World Day against the Death Penalty, which is held annually on the same day.