Last October 10, 2019, the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty aimed at raising awareness on the rights of children whose parents have been sentenced to death or executed. Frequently forgotten, children of parents sentenced to death or executed carry a heavy emotional and psychological burden that can amount to the violation of their human rights.
This trauma can occur at any and all stages of the capital punishment of a parent: an arrest, trial, sentencing, death row stays, execution dates, the execution itself, and its aftermath. The repeated cycles of hope and disappointment that can accompany all of these stages can have a long-term impact, occasionally well into adulthood.
Stigmatization from the community in which they live and the loss of a parent at the hands of the state all reinforce deep instability in the child’s day-to-day life. In line with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (20 November 1989), the focus of this World Day is on children and their human rights.
