Turkey condemned for any move to reinstate death penalty

At the CCBE Standing Committee in Paris, the CCBE President Michel Benichou has presented the joint statement on the possible reinstatement of the death penalty in Turkey.

The statement was co-signed by the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates.

Following recent comments by the Turkish President on the possible reinstatement of the death penalty in Turkey, the CCBE took the initiative to publish a statement denouncing this possibility. In the statement, it was highlighted that the right to life is “an inalienable attribute of human beings” and a “supreme value in the international hierarchy of human rights”.

Furthermore, the organisations underlined that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the fostering and protection of human dignity. They condemned, in the strongest terms, any attempt to reinstate the death penalty in Turkey and called upon the Turkish government to respect its international commitments, notably that Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe and bound by its protocols (6 and 13) which abolish the death penalty.

The following organisations co-signed the statement:

Conseil des Barreaux européens, Union Internationale des Avocats, Fédération des Barreaux d'Europe, Association Internationale des Jeunes Avocats, Union des Avocats Européens, European Lawyers' Association, European Democratic Lawyers (EDL), Day of the Endangered Lawyer Foundation, Legal Affairs Association (Retspolitisk Forening), European Young Bar Association, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), European Criminal Bar Association, Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA), Law Council of Australia, Österreichischer Rechtsanwaltskammertag, Ordres des barreaux francophones et germanophone de Belgique (AVOCATS.BE), Orde van Vlaamse Balies, Czech Bar Association, Danish Bar and Law Society, Ordre des avocats de Paris, Conseil National des Barreaux, Conférence des Bâtonniers, Deutscher Anwaltverein, Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer, Neue Richtervereinigung, Barreau du Luxembourg, Amsterdamse Orde van Advocaten, Consejo General de la Abogacía Española, Sveriges Advokatsamfund, the Slovak Bar Association, le Barreau du Québec, the Law Society of England and Wales, The Bar Council of England and Wales, The Law Society of Northern Ireland, The Bar of Northern Ireland, The Law Society of Scotland, The Faculty of Advocates.

The full statement can be found here.