30 June – 2 July 2026 – Paris, France
Commissioner Ruth Dreifuss participated in the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held in Paris from 30 June to 2 July, where she delivered the keynote address during the roundtable discussion, “The War on Drugs and the Death Penalty: A Stumbling Block”.
Organized by Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and hosted by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Congress brought together government representatives, international organizations, legal experts, academics, and civil society from around the world to advance global efforts towards the abolition of capital punishment. Commissioner Dreifuss attended in her capacity as Vice-President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty (ICDP), on which Global Commission Chair Helen Clark and Commissioner Michèle Pierre-Louis also serve.
In her keynote address, Commissioner Dreifuss highlighted the Global Commission’s longstanding call for evidence-based, people-centered drug policies and reflected on the relationship between punitive drug policies and the death penalty. The session examined the growing use of capital punishment for drug-related offenses, its disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, and strategies to advance abolition, with contributions from Harm Reduction International, Iran Human Rights, Reprieve, the Transformative Justice Collective, and Justice Project Pakistan.
The Congress also marked continued progress in the global abolitionist movement, with several countries announcing new commitments to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, alongside renewed efforts to abolish the death penalty in law.
