Death Penalty on the decline in Southeast Asia

From Vietnam to Malaysia and Indonesia, Southeast Asian governments are narrowing the use of the death penalty and edging, often cautiously, toward abolition.  At present, eight of the 11 Southeast Asian countries retain the death penalty. Only Cambodia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste have abolished it in law.

But recent years have seen most of the retentionist states abide by de facto moratoriums on executions and pass new legislation so death is no longer the mandatory punishment for certain crimes.

The European Union has made abolition of the death penalty a flagship human-rights goal in its diplomacy, backing UN moratorium resolutions. The bloc is also raising the issue in political dialogues and supporting civil-society advocacy, while acknowledging that progress is uneven and sometimes reversible.

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