ECPM has 4 core activities:
Bringing together abolitionist actors from around the world
Every three years, since 2001, ECPM organizes the World Congress against the death penalty (Strasbourg 2001, Montreal 2004, Paris 2007, Geneva 2010, Madrid 2013) involving thousands of political representatives, civil society organizations, lawyers and artists from abolitionist and retentionist countries, in order to develop new strategies to carry out the abolitionist cause.
The next World Congresses will be in Oslo, Norway, in 2016. ECPM is also organizing a Regional Congress in Malaysia in June 2015, focused on drugs and death penalty. This event is co-organised by The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN), an independent, interregional network involved in the Asia Pacific region. It currently includes members from 28 countries and is composed of NGOs, organisations, civil society groups, attorneys and individuals.
Enhancing the capacity of local actors and working with them
Since 2011, ECPM supports the development of coalitions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in order to strengthen local actors of the abolition, raise public awareness about this issue and supports the creation of Parliamentary abolitionist networks. ECPM organized for instance a Regional Congress in Morocco in 2012 and several national conferences in the region, created the first parliamentarians’ Network against the death Penalty in Morocco, developed the first abolition website of Morocco (www.tudert.ma) and supported the creation of a graphic novel on death penalty in Arabic.
Implementation of lobbying actions towards the universal abolition of the death penalty
ECPM carries out fact-finding missions with local partners (Morocco, Tunisia, the United States of America, and the Great Lakes region in Africa) and publishes annual reports about the death penalty in Iran.
Teaching and raising awareness of abolition
ECPM carries out actions and develops educational tools for middle and high school students in France and abroad. The association has been working to raise public awareness about issues of the death penalty around the world, and in particular for minorities and vulnerable groups.
In 2014, one thousand students from low socioeconomic areas were taught about the death penalty in accordance with ECPM’s education of human rights project. This project was also implemented in Morocco, with 1,500 students who took the course in human rights (focusing on abolition of the death penalty). In Tunisia ECPM is implementing the first “Caravan” for the teaching abolition in partnership with the Tunisian coalition against the death penalty and the Arab Institute of Human Rights, crossing the country and meeting more than 250 students from middle and high school institutions in order to debate the death penalty.
The same year, ECPM organized a drawing contest for pupils and high scholars of France, Lebanese, Moroccan, Tunisia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, called “Dessine-moi l’abolition”. This international contest gathered 350 drawings denouncing the horror of the death sentence, with an international jury composed of actors involved in human rights or graphic design professionals, and with the partnering of human rights associations of each country represented. The success of this contest shows the importance of human rights education for children.
