On World Day Against the Death Penalty yesterday, anti-capital punishment and education reform activists urged the government to introduce the debate on death penalty in schools so that students could start thinking about controversial issues early.
“When we try to promote abolition of the death penalty, we often run into supporters of capital punishment who refuse to talk to us at all,” Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty executive director Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
WORLD DAY 2009
10th October, 7th World Day Against the Death Penalty
Press Release
See the Color of Life
Understanding the Death Penalty
Today is the World Day Against the Death Penalty. Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP台灣廢除死刑推動聯盟), European Economic and Trade Office (歐洲經貿辦事處), Human Rights Education Curriculum and Instruction Team (教育部人權教育議題輔導群), Humanistic Education Foundation (人本教育文教基金會), Taiwan Association for Human Rights (台灣人權促進會) and Chang Fo-Chuan Human Rights Study Center of Soochow University (東吳大學張佛泉人權研究中心) jointly host the press conference. In the conference, representatives of above groups inaugurate the seed-teacher empowerment workshop: “See the Color of Life: Understanding the Death Penalty ” and sign the global petition “Appeal for the End of Execution of Children in the World ”. (Chinese Version is here )
2003年廢除死刑推動聯盟主要由包括台灣人權促進會、民間司法改革基金會、輔大和平研究中心、東吳張佛泉人權研究中心、台北律師公會等等團體發起成立；2004年就舉辦了【殺人影展～murder by numbers】。當時沒人、沒錢、沒有經驗和資源，憑藉著就是一份：要讓社會大眾有機會思考「死刑」真面目的這種信念。
廢除死刑推動聯盟舉辦【殺人影展murder by numbers】，今年已經是第二屆了。廢除死刑推動聯盟執行長林欣怡表示，「 過往的死刑論辯，不管是贊成死刑或反對死刑，都太簡化了死刑這個問題」。贊成死刑的人，眼中只看到罪大惡極的兇手，卻沒有看到這個兇手背後的社會、教育、階級、不平等，甚至非常嚴重的司法品質問題而造成的冤案；而反對死刑的人，也應該要負起責任，提出回答，沒有死刑，那要有什麼？對於被害人的保障，我們應該還要努力更多。所以如何讓死刑存廢的運動不要停留在菁英層次理論的辯論，可以開啟更深入的公眾對話之可能性，讓社會大眾有機會思考「死刑」真面目，影展就是一個很好的方式。
