COALIT
Our work in defence of Human Rights … and not only that
Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels
Article 1, Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(See here for the definition of “Human Rights,” the relevant legislation and the instruments of protection: https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights)
Who We Are
The Italian Coalition Against the Death Penalty APS is a non-for-profit association that is entirely apolitical, non-partisan, and non-denominational.
By order of the founding members, all work carried out by individual members, as well as by all members of the Executive Committee, is done entirely on a voluntary basis and free of charge.
Mission
Our mission: human rights education and awareness.
COALIT’s (COALIT stands for Coalizione Italiana contro la Pena di Morte) main goals include raising awareness about respect for human rights, based on the belief that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, entitled to enjoy all human rights without discrimination of any kind, such as race, sex, religion, or language. These fundamental freedoms are universal, inalienable, and interdependent, protecting individuals regardless of status.
Among these rights we recognize as fundamental and inalienable the right to life, liberty and security.
Bringing knowledge and information on these issues to others is a foundational, essential act for growth, because respect comes above all through knowledge.
We firmly believe that the state can never claim the right to impose and carry out the “ultimate punishment,” even against those who have committed a very serious crime. COALIT is therefore particularly attentive to the application of the death penalty, which remains active in one-third of the world’s countries despite being a cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.
Moreover such punishment is carried out in a cruel fashion and using methods that cause further pain and suffering (stoning, for example, and other particularly cruel methods such as nitrogen hypoxia, the latter practiced in the United States of America).
Precisely because of the suffering caused by this method, it is worth noting that nitrogen is not even used in cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted death, for which high doses of barbiturates are used, and that even the American Veterinary Medical Association ruled out its use back in 2013, stating that nitrogen gas is inappropriate for euthanizing animals. Its 2013 guidelines provide “Current evidence indicates this method is unacceptable because animals may experience distressing side effects before loss of consciousness”.
Capital punishment, which we find unacceptable in all circumstances, is an irreversible punishment and, unfortunately, judicial errors are always possible. Moreover, this punishment reflects a punitive and vindictive approach, whereas the fundamental purpose of punishment should be rehabilitation.
It is also worth mentioning that authoritarian regimes frequently employ the death penalty as a political tool to suppress dissent, execute opponents, and maintain power.
COALIT is particularly attentive to the situation in the United States of America, as it is the only Western democracy that still applies capital punishment as a means of punishment, but also the only country that allows us to acquire important data on its application. It is precisely this large volume of data that allows us to highlight, among other things, the irrefutable racial discrimination in the application of the “queen of penalties,” as well as the factor that all those sentenced to death have in common, namely poverty, and therefore the impossibility to hire a private lawyer for their own defense.
COALIT periodically organizes trips to the United States (mainly to Texas), with expenses paid entirely by the the participants, during which they visit death row inmates and collaborate with various local organizations (universities, cultural and religious associations, and others), including associations of victims’ families who are fighting for the abolition of the death penalty
(e.g. The Journey of Hope https://www.journeyofhope.org ).
In the US and Italy, the members of COALIT organize public meetings hosted by different associations, schools, and universities, participate in local initiatives, give interviews, write articles, and participate in TV and radio broadcasts, all with the aim of spreading information and providing food for thought on the death penalty and the respect for the rights of every individual: human rights are universal, and those who truly respect them are abolitionists.
Our motto is:
TOGETHER WE WILL WIN!
This is Coalit…