NGO-IGO Relations: Amnesty International, Council of Europe, and Abolition of the Death Penalty

Abstract

This article draws on the previously unseen archival record to examine Amnesty International's contribution to the abolition of the death penalty in the Council of Europe legal space. The Parliamentary Assembly and the European Court of Human Rights' contributions are widely discussed in scholarly and policy circles alike, but Amnesty International's substantive contribution in the 1970s and in 1989 is less well documented. Political and legal actors in Strasbourg have significant control over the content and timing of international agreements, but in this case Amnesty International was decisive in shifting substantive considerations as to need for regional intervention to prohibit European states from exposing individuals to the death penalty. Of interest to policy students and international relations scholars alike, documenting Amnesty International activity also provides an illustration of nongovernmental actors' contribution to Strasbourg human rights policymaking over time and across a range of polit...