The UN human rights chief has warned of a sharp increase in executions worldwide in 2025, despite a continued global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty.
While most countries are moving away from capital punishment, the human rights office said the rise in executions was driven by a small number of “retentionist states.”
"My Office monitored an alarming increase in the use of capital punishment in 2025, especially for offences not meeting the ‘most serious crimes’ threshold required under international law, the continued execution of people convicted of crimes committed as children, as well as persistent secrecy around executions,” Volker Turk said in a statement on Monday.
According to the office's data, Iran carried out at least 1,500 executions in 2025, with at least 47 percent linked to drug-related offences. "The scale and pace of executions suggest a systematic use of capital punishment as a tool of State intimidation, with disproportionate impact on ethnic minorities and migrants," Turk said.
In the US, according to the statement, 47 executions were carried out in 2025, "the highest number" in 16 years, with expanded use of gas asphyxiation raising concerns over torture or cruel punishment.
Public executions continued in Afghanistan, while secrecy persisted in China and North Korea. The scope of capital offences was expanded in Belarus, while Israel saw legislative proposals to broaden the use of the death penalty.
"In Israel, there are currently a series of legislative proposals seeking to expand the use of the death penalty by introducing mandatory capital punishment provisions that would apply exclusively to Palestinians," the UN human rights chief said.
"This raises serious concerns about violation of their due process rights, as well as other breaches of international human rights law and international humanitarian law."
Turk reiterated that "the death penalty is not an effective crime-control tool," adding that it is "often applied arbitrarily and discriminatorily."
He called on all retentionist states to establish an immediate moratorium and move towards full abolition.
