Berlin To Host World Forum Against Death Penalty In 2022 - Foreign Minister

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th October, 2021) The World Congress Against the Death Penalty will be held in the German capital next year, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has announced.

"Although there is an international trend towards the suspension and abolition of the death penalty, more than 50 states still adhere to it, and a few are responsible for the vast majority of executions. Our goal is to finally get rid of this relic of the past," Maas said in a Sunday statement on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty.

The foreign minister emphasized that Germany firmly rejects capital punishment and its human rights policy focuses on the abolition of the death penalty. The German Foreign Ministry says it is pursuing an active policy against capital punishment, including at international forums such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

"... in the coming year we will bring governments and civil society together at the largest international forum on this topic in Berlin: the 8th World Congress against the Death Penalty," Maas said.

The summit will be held on November 16 next year, the German foreign ministry specified on Sunday. According to the ministry, Belarus is the only country in Europe which still applies the death penalty, while the majority of capital punishment cases occurred in China and Iran in the past year.