A small step closer to the death of the death penalty?

WON DAI-YEON/AFP/Getty Images One hundred and thirty-three countries around the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and last year, only 25 actually carried out executions. On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution to ban executions worldwide. It passed: The General Assembly voted 104-54 with 29 abstentions in favor ...

597496_071219_korea_05.jpg
597496_071219_korea_05.jpg

WON DAI-YEON/AFP/Getty Images

WON DAI-YEON/AFP/Getty Images

One hundred and thirty-three countries around the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, and last year, only 25 actually carried out executions. On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution to ban executions worldwide. It passed: The General Assembly voted 104-54 with 29 abstentions in favor of the resolution. Anti-capital punishment advocates are hailing the resolution as a major step to the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. Like all UNGA resolutions, the vote is nonbinding, but it does have the symbolic effect of demonstrating broad moral opposition to capital punishment—and it will no doubt help domestic activists who are working toward banning the death penalty in their own countries.

But despite the growing international trend toward abolition, a number of countries stood firm against the vote, including China, Iran, and the United States. Unsurprisingly, these three countries were also on FP‘s List this week examining the world’s top executioners. Check it out.

Prerna Mankad is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.