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Ref: 18/2008
Date: 18 June 2008
PCHR Organizes 2 Workshops on the
Death Penalty under the PNA
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The Democratic Development Unit (DDU) at PCHR organized two workshops on the
death penalty under the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The first workshop
was organized in cooperation with the Panorama Center on 11 June in the Air and
Light Association in the town of Bani Suhaila east of Khan Yunis. The second
workshop was organized in cooperation with Oases Benevolent Society on 15 June
in PCHR’s Khan Yunis branch. Intellectuals and civil society activists from Khan
Yunis attended both workshops.
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The two workshops were organized as part of the Center’s Abolition of the Death
Penalty project that aims to increase public awareness about the death penalty
under the PNA, and to formulate public opinion to abolish the death penalty in
Palestinian legislation. In addition, the workshops aim to increase awareness
about Israeli extra-judicial executions, which are considered a form of death
penalty. These activities also aim to introduce PCHR’s work to the audience,
especially its work against the death penalty.
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Both workshops discussed the growing international movement towards the
abolition of the death penalty in national legislations, since the death penalty
is one of the most serious human rights violations that infringes upon the right
to life, and is a form of cruel and inhumane treatment. In this context the
workshops pointed that on 18 December 2007 the UN General Assembly issued a
decision on a moratorium on the death penalty as a prelude to complete
abolition.
The discussion in the two workshops was extended and in depth, with differing
opinions varying from support to objection to the death penalty
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