The Universities Against the Death Penalty (UADP) Network believes that the death penalty is fundamentally flawed and in conflict with the right to life as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights and global responsibility are core values of the University of Oslo, as they are for many universities worldwide. As politically free and academically independent institutions
, there are not many politically salient issues on which universities ought to take a stand. However, when it comes to defending fundamental human rights, then we should. Historically, the fight against slavery and the struggle against apartheid have been issues where university involvement has been of great importance, both in principle and in consequence. We feel that the time is ripe for universities around the world to engage – with a similar spirit and fortitude – against the death penalty. Over the past half-century, there has been a major decline in the use of capital punishment in many parts of the world. As of 1970, only 21 nations had abolished the death penalty for all crimes, or for all crimes except insurrection or offences committed in wartime. As of June 2014, according to the Hands Off Cain - 2014 Report, 107 nations have abolished capital punishment. Forty-eight other nations have retained it in law but had not executed anyone for at least ten years. At present, therefore, more than 78% (155/198) of all countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. Conversely, 37 nations have retained capital punishment and have executed at least one person in the past ten years. But there have been significant reductions, and most countries in this group even show considerable ambivalence and reluctance to execute. This reluctance to execute indicates that fewer believe in, or are committed to capital punishment as a crime control measure. Moreover, only 22 nations – one in nine – carried out executions in 2013, and only seven countries have regularly executed 10 or more citizens every year for the period 2003-2013: China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Yemen and the USA. Thus there is a limited group of countries that uses the death penalty extensively, and a slightly larger group that uses it, but relatively seldom or almost never. Still, for a variety of reasons they hold on to the possibility of doing so, or at least have not been able to get a political agreement to abolish it. There is significant activity at the political level and through the UN human rights conventions and their enforcement mechanisms, through bilateral human rights dialogues and through national and international NGO's. However, we believe that the struggle at the political level should also be strengthened and complemented by a struggle at the level of the universities, through academic research and cooperation. Universities are highly esteemed institutions, respected as independent, scientific, research-based and devoted to principled deliberation. Universities have produced the research that overwhelmingly shows there are no scientific grounds for claiming that the death penalty provides a greater deterrent effect on homicides than long-term prison sentences. Universities are also the institutions that have evaluated the broadest range of serious collateral damage that springs from inherently fallible criminal justice institutions, which are constructed for the purpose of state killing. It is therefore time to start taking more seriously the results of this massive research. In many countries where the death penalty is still practiced, this is a question that is not necessarily open for free discussion. In fact, fighting against the death penalty can be judged as both traitorous to the regimes and to their religious foundations, and can itself be judged worthy of the death penalty. The struggle against the death penalty is also important for the realization and protection of free speech and academic freedom, and is therefore fundamental for the free universities themselves. We therefore invite universities from all corners of the world to join this worldwide network against the death penalty, and support one another in taking this stand – whether the universities are situated in states that have abolished the death penalty or in countries that still retain it.
