This press release contains descriptions of sexual violence and torture.

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2024. Amnesty International’s monitoring shows an increase by 32% in recorded executions compared to 2023. This does not include the thousands of people believed to have been executed in China, as well as in North Korea and Viet Nam, also believed to have resorted to executions extensively. For the second consecutive year, executing countries reached the lowest number on record.

Global executions hit their highest figure since 2015, as over 1,500 people were executed across 15 countries in 2024, said Amnesty International today as it released its annual report on the global use of the death penalty.

More than two-thirds of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. This document includes Amnesty International’s lists of countries in the four categories: abolitionist for all crimes, abolitionist for ordinary crimes only, abolitionist in practice and retentionist.

Ahead of the two-year anniversary of Inocêncio Manhique losing his eye due to unlawful use of force by security forces, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè, said: 

Itai Dzamara, a journalist and pro-democracy activist, was abducted 10 years ago on 9 March 2015 by five unknown men at a barber shop in Harare’s Glen View suburb. Ever since then, his loved ones have not seen him or had any information about his fate or whereabouts.

Responding to a string of reported shootings in recent weeks targeting opposition supporters, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè, said: 

Ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Zimbabwean journalist and pro-democracy activist Itai Peace Dzamara, Amnesty International calls on authorities to urgently establish an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into his whereabouts. 

Year after year, Amnesty International investigates and challenges human rights violations around the world. Our work uses different approaches to address chronic and immediate violations, including research, advocacy, campaigning, and education. Each year, through our extensive human rights education (HRE) programming, Amnesty International reaches millions of children, young people and adults in diverse communities to build knowledge and understanding to strengthen rights-respecting societies. This blog shares an overview of the scope and reach of Amnesty’s HRE in 2023, achieved in collaboration with local communities, teachers, schools and students, and other national and international partners. (Please note we are currently collating data from our HRE work in 2024 to be published later this year). In 2023, Amnesty International’s HRE reached almost 6 million people. Our HRE interventions ranged from strengthening human rights knowledge through social media to more in-depth programming through in-person community workshops, human rights-friendly schools and after-school clubs, trainings, and e-learning.

Reacting to news of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Alpha Media Holdings senior journalist Blessed Mhlanga today, Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa, said:

By Pat de Brún, Head of Big Tech Accountability at Amnesty International and Maung Sawyeddollah, the founder and Executive Director of the Rohingya Students’ Network.

Young people play a key role in Amnesty International’s vision of a world in which every person enjoys all human rights.