The world witnessed further progress towards ending judicial killings by states in 2009. For
the first time since Amnesty International started keeping records, not a single execution was
carried out in all of Europe, while important steps were taken to turn the United Nations
General Assembly resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions into reality.
Two more countries, Burundi and Togo, abolished the death penalty in 2009, bringing the
number of countries that have removed capital punishment entirely from their laws to 95.
The world is in reach of 100 countries declaring their refusal to put people to death.
In the Americas, the United States of America (USA) was the only nation to carry out
executions in 2009.
In sub-Saharan Africa only two countries executed prisoners: Botswana and Sudan.
In Asia, there were no executions in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Mongolia and Pakistan in 2009,
the first execution-free year in those countries in recent times.