Plaidoyer-sensibilisation | 2019/2020

Development of a strategic partnership with Cart'ONG on the production of maps related to the issue of conditions de detention and treatment of death row prisoners in the world.

Explore the maps:

1 - Map of people deprived of their freedom sentenced to death in Africa in 2019.

=> MAP 1

2 - Map of people deprived of their freedom sentenced to death in Africa in 2018.

=> MAP 2

Research and advocacy | January 2020

Release, in partnership with the legal clinic of the Grenoble-Alpes University, Faculty of Law, of a legal document garnering international and regional legal references (binding and non-binding) with regards to death penalty and the conditions of detention and treatment of people on death row.

- Consult online the ongoing collection of legal references:

=> Online Version

=> Original Word file document (.doc)

Training-Analysis | 2019/2020

Partnership with Hestia on the production of several country profiles dealing with the conditions of detention and the treatment of death row prisoners in the world.

Advocacy/sensitisation | 2019/2020

Development of a strategic partnership with Cart'ONG on the production of maps related to the issue of conditions de detention and treatment of death row prisoners in the world.

Explore the maps:

1 - Number of death row detainees in the world in 2018

=> MAP 1

2 - World Map of the Bar Associations signatories of the resolution focused on the adoption of specific standards related to the detention of death row detainees in the World (February 2019, adopted during the closing ceremony of the 7th World Congress against Death Penalty, Brussels).

=> MAP 2

2 - World Map of women detained facing death penalty.

=> MAP 3

Advocacy-Sensitisation | October 2019

Conference at the International House of Grenoble and at the Grenoble Courthouse (October 2019) on the conditions of detention and the treatment of death row prisoners in the world, in partnership with the legal clinic of the Law Faculty of Grenoble-Alpes University, and in collaboration with Prison Insider and the Human Rights Institute of the Grenoble Bar Association.

Research and Advocacy | October 2018-Summer 2022

Preparation and conduct of a Fact-Finding Mission to the United States on the conditions of detention and treatment of death row prisoners in three States (Texas, Arizona and California). Preparatory work (methodology, questionnaires) in process. The mission is due to take place during the first semester of 2020 with the release of a report during the second semester of 2020.

Research and Advocacy | October 2018-Summer 2022

PRDH prepared, in partnership with the legal clinic of the University of Grenoble-Alpes and the association Together Against Death Penalty (ECPM), a side event in French/English entitled "Beyond Mandela Rules) during the 7th World Congress against death penalty (27th of February 2019). This side event, that was organised as a workshop, was supported by the Paris Bar Association, and gathered more han 30 participants from more than 10 countries. A synthesis of the discussion was produced and transmitted to all participants of the workshop. Discussions held during this side event were instrumental in producing a second article on the issue of conditions of detention and treatment of death row prisoners, released in the course of June 2019 in the newsletter of the World Coalition against Death Penalty. ans la newsletter de la Coalition mondiale de juin 2019.

http://www.worldcoalition.org/Follow-up-to-the-initiative-on-the-conditions-of-detention-and-treatment-of-death-row-inmates.html

At the closing ceremony of the World Congress against Death Penalty (1st of March 2019), a resolution was jointly proposed by the Paris bar Association and the International Union of Lawyers. This resolution was adopted and signed by more than 60 Bar Associations representing more than 30 different countries.

Project | 2018/2019

As regards the rights of prisoners, international human rights law and international humanitarian law recognise general protection for persons deprived of their liberty. The relevant standards mainly invoked on this theme are the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. These rules, originally adopted in 1955, were revised in 2015, and the set (122 rules) are called the Mandela Rules. These rules do not include any specific provisions concerning the conditions of detention and treatment of people sentenced to death.

Other non-binding provisions have made specific protections for certain categories of prisoners: the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (Beijing Rules, 1990) and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners (Bangkok Rules, 2011). None of these rules concern women or children sentenced to death, despite specific vulnerabilities.

The objective of this initiative aims at recognising people sentenced to death as a specific category of persons deprived of their liberty, and at ensuring that their specific vulnerabilities as prisoners sentenced to death are recognised and materialised by the reflection upon, and the drafting of specific standards, similar to what exists for specific categories of prisoners (women, children, etc.). The activities of this initiative will be focused in the course of 2019 on :

- The organisation of a transversal workshop on minimal standards regarding the conditions of detention and treatment of people on death row in the world, during the World Congress against death penalty (Brussels, 26th February-1st of March 2019).

- The coordination of a legal clinic within the Faculty of Law, University of Grenoble-Alpes, aiming at the submission of a policy paper advocating for the writing and adoption of specific standards related to the conditions of detention and treatment of people on death row.