Outside the US, the death penalty is a vestige from another time

The Hill

15-04-2025

On Mar. 31, the United Arab Emirates informed the world that it had sentenced to death three people who had taken the life of an Israeli Moldovan rabbi last November, with what the prosecution called 'terrorist intention.' After the sentence, the Emirates's attorney general stressed that the sentences signified how his country will respond to any attempt to 'undermine national security and stability.'
The UAE has shown no hesitancy about turning death sentences into executions. In February, it executed Shahzadi Khan, a domestic worker convicted of killing her employers' baby. Just days after Khan was put to death, the UAE carried out two more executions.
Khan's case was marked by a litany of problems familiar to any observer of America's death penalty. She claimed that her taped confession had been coerced and she had been left without 'adequate representation' during the trial. Her lawyer described her death as an 'extrajudicial killing under the guise of legal proceedings.'
But arguments about problems in the administration of capital punishment have much less purchase in the global effort to end state killing than they do in this country. There is no one-size-fits-all approach in the battle to end capital punishment.
The most common strategy in the international arena has focused more on human rights appeals than worries about executing the innocent, discrimination or botched executions — the things that have moved the needle on the death penalty in this country. Typical is the position of the European Union, that 'Capital punishment violates the inalienable right to life and is incompatible with human dignity.' The UAE, along with some other pro-death-penalty nations, continues to ignore such arguments.
Still, efforts to end the death penalty globally are gaining traction. Eighty years ago, 'only eight states had abolished the death penalty for all crimes.' Today, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, 144 countries have abolished it, and four others made progress toward abolition last year.
Abolitionists will run into a trap if they insist that there is only one right way for death penalty countries to end the practice. We don't want the effort to end state killing worldwide to be just another 'West knows best' campaign. The danger of that is clear if we look at how the global death penalty scene breaks down.
From what we know, China executes more people every year than any other nation. In 2024, Iran, which carried out the second most executions, put about 800 people to death. This was followed by Saudi Arabia (303 people), Iraq (94), North Korea (32) and the U.S. (25).
And, like the UAE, other nations continue to impose death sentences for a broader array of offenses than just intentional killings. They use it for such things as 'sexual violence, homosexuality, blasphemy, fraud, security-related offenses, and drug-related offenses.'
The International Commission Against the Death Penalty identifies nine different paths that countries have taken to end the death penalty. Some have done so because they needed to in order to be part of organizations like the EU, others because a court ordered them to do so. Some made a one-time and dramatic break from their pasts; others have ended the death penalty gradually. Despite these differences, the commission concludes that 'Leadership is key in the abolition of capital punishment as it increases respect and protection of the fundamental right to life.'
Whatever arguments are used, the journey toward worldwide rejection of capital punishment will not be concluded quickly. But it will come. Meanwhile, we will have to endure more death sentences like those handed down in the UAE and the death of Khan and others like her.