“Fence Project”: A Street Exhibition to Raise Awareness on Capital Punishment

In line with its commitment to human rights and international law, Switzerland advocates for and is committed to a world without the death penalty.

The death penalty violates the right to life, as well as principles prohibiting torture and ill-treatment. It is irreversible and allows for neither atonement nor closure as it fails to deliver effective compensation to the victims affected. Further, it fails to provide deterrence against criminal behavior. In recent decades, there has been a global trend, among politicians and society as a whole, towards abstaining from the use of capital punishment. More and more countries are abolishing the death penalty or imposing moratoriums on its use.

To mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty, the Embassy of Switzerland in the United States – together with the French Embassy, the Delegation of the European Union, Witness to Innocence, and Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM), amongst many others – is taking part in a public streetside exhibit featuring reproductions of artwork created by people incarcerated on death row at the Saint Quentin State Prison in California.

The painting “My Mother’s Thoughts” by Keith Loker, 52 years old and sentenced to death in 1995, was chosen to raise awareness about capital punishment. Loker is a talented artist who specializes in ink stippling, in which pictures are made up of tiny, minuscule dots using a very fine pen. He says that art is a way for him to express himself and to make sense of his thoughts within a place of confinement. Make sure to visit the embassy’s fence and view his painting on display!

Click here to learn more about Switzerland’s international human rights priorities!