The Death Penalty.

From Amnesty International:

In 2005
- at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries;
- 94% of them were killed in China,, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA; and
- An additional 5,186 people were sentenced to death.

However, despite the shocking figures, the trend towards abolition continues to grow: the number of countries carrying out executions has dropped for a fourth consecutive year; over the last twenty years, numbers have halved. Mexico and Liberia have most recently abolished the death penalty.

"As the world continues to turn away from the use of the death penalty, it is a glaring anomaly that China, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the USA stand out for their extreme use of this form of punishment as the 'top' executioners in the world." - Irene Khan, AI Secretary General.

There are also more than 20,000 people on death row waiting to be killed by their own governments.

The figures we have are approximate: many governments, like China, refuse to publish full official statistics on executions, while Viet Nam has even classified statistics and reporting on the death penalty as a ‘state secret’.

The death penalty is the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights. It is often applied in a discriminatory manner, follows unfair trials or is applied for political reasons. It can be an irreversible error when there is miscarriage of justice.

During 2005, at least 2,148 people were executed in 22 countries. At least 5,186 people were sentenced to death in 53 countries. These were only minimum figures; the true figures were certainly higher.

Executions are known to have been carried out in the following countries in 2005:

BANGLADESH, BELARUS, CHINA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRAQ, JAPAN, JORDAN. KOREA (North), KUWAIT, LIBYA, MONGOLIA, PAKISTAN, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, SAUDI ARABIA, SINGAPORE, SOMALIA, TAIWAN, USA, UZBEKISTAN, VIETNAM, YEMEN.

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and it is a blatant violation of the fundamental right to life.

I find it hard to figure out why countries like the USA, Japan, and Singapore still allow the death penalty. It is an uncivilised relic from our barbaric past, and treats human beings as nonhumans - objects to be toyed with and discarded.

Don't get me wrong - I believe in justice, and when brutal crimes are committed, I believe the perpetuators deserve infinite pain and retribution. But when we kill them, it diminishes our own humanity.

Right and wrong is relative. But morality in the 21st century has progressed onto a platform where humanitarianism precludes cruelty and inequality. Surely it's time, therefore, for countries to rethink their death penalty laws.