Paris hosts world congress against death penalty

(01 Feb. 2007) : The Third World Congress Against the Death Penalty opened in Paris on Thursday. The Congress which ends on Saturday is jointly promoted by the Sant’Egidio Community, The Group Against Death Penalty, Amnesty International and International Penal Reform, as part of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community has been involved in the defence and promotion of human rights in the world for years. In particular, recently it has focused part of its efforts in the struggle against the death penalty, promoting among other things the Appeal for a universal moratorium, which has gathered over five million signatures in 150 countries”. Since 2002 the Sant’Egidio Community has launched the world campaign “Cities for Life Against the Death Penalty”, which involves over 600 cities around the world, several capitals and cities from countries where the death penalty still applies.