• French President Macron warns against resurgence of death penalty debate and expresses concern over record number of executions worldwide.
• Macron emphasizes the importance of opposing capital punishment as a fight for human dignity and highlights the need for global abolition efforts.
• Council of Europe Secretary General calls for abolition of death penalty in Belarus, the only European country where it is still legal.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday against a renewed debate in favour of the death penalty and said he was appalled by the rising number of executions around the world.

Addressing the ninth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, Macron said opposition to capital punishment is needed "because today this debate is resurfacing in our societies. Because today many in our societies once again believe that the death penalty is a solution, amid a confusion of principles and language."

He described the fight against the death penalty as a fight for human dignity and of the utmost relevance. While the world had never been so close to abolishing the death penalty, there had never been so many executions in the countries that continued to practise it, he said.

Record number of executions since 1981

"The number of executions even reached its highest level since 1981 last year: 2,707 people were executed by the authorities in 17 countries alone," Macron said.

Some 25,000 people were living under the crushing expectation of their execution, the French president said.

Macron voiced support for opponents of the death penalty in their fight: "Ultimately, the cause of worldwide abolition of the death penalty cannot be advanced without the indispensable mobilization of civil society, non-governmental organizations and human rights defenders who are the driving forces behind the movement to abolish the death penalty."

At the start of the congress, Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset pressed for the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus, the only European country where the death penalty is legal.