Kenya supports a UN resolution calling for a worldwide pause in executions.
Kenya joins a UN push to suspend executions worldwide, while its laws still allow death sentences for several serious offences.
Kenya has backed a global death penalty moratorium, joining 132 other countries supporting a United Nations resolution to suspend executions. The proposal urges countries to pause executions while considering whether to abolish capital punishment.
The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee held the vote on November 13. In total, 133 countries supported the resolution, while 33 opposed it and 16 abstained. Switzerland and Mexico sponsored the proposal.
Death penalty moratorium draws support and opposition
Supporters alongside Kenya included the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and Brazil. Italy, Spain, South Africa and Switzerland also backed the call to halt executions.
However, the United States, China, India, Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia voted against the resolution. Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Singapore, Kuwait, Yemen and Bahrain also opposed the proposal.
Switzerland’s Foreign Affairs Department welcomed the outcome, describing it as an encouraging signal amid rising executions worldwide. The department also said the vote strengthened protections for people facing execution, including women and older people. It stressed the importance of fair trials.
Meanwhile, the UN continues to urge governments to stop executions because the punishment has irreversible consequences. Its concerns include the risk of executing people following wrongful convictions.
Kenyan law still permits capital punishment
Despite Kenya’s support for the international pause, the country’s Constitution still recognises the death penalty. It guarantees the right to life but permits capital punishment where written law authorises it.
Under the Penal Code, courts may impose death sentences for murder, treason, robbery with violence and attempted robbery with violence. Kenya’s backing for the resolution therefore sits alongside domestic laws that continue to allow capital punishment.
The resolution calls for a suspension of executions while countries consider abolition, rather than an immediate end to death penalty laws. Its sponsors are seeking a pause from governments that retain the punishment.
However, executions continue in several countries despite the UN’s appeals. China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Singapore and Japan were among countries that carried out executions in 2025.
