Preface Since the 1980s, there has been a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty. More than 140 member states of the United Nations have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it. Over the past decade, the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly, and across all regions, in support of a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, approved by the UN General Assembly, establish minimum standards where states still choose to use capital punishment. The Safeguards also provide a starting point for assessing how far states protect persons from the risk of arbitrary execution. In this report we attempt to assess the use of the death penalty in China against these minimal international standards. The report is an updated and expanded version of an interim publication we produced for the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in 2019. I first investigated the death penalty in China in 2003 at the start of a programme of cooperation with Chinese scholars, supported by the European Union. Since then, China has taken some significant steps to protect those facing the death penalty. However, politicised legal proceedings continue to undermine attempts to promote a fairer trial while the lack of transparency inhibits efforts to conduct research and hold the authorities to account for the use of the death penalty. We hope this report provides the general reader with an introduction to this important topic. We welcome updates and corrections. Nicola Macbean Executive Director, The Rights Practice October, 2020 3