The 1st World Congress Against the Death Penalty was held in 2001 in Strasbourg, in the hemicycle of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. It led to the creation of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10.

The participants of the first World Congress adopted the Strasbourg Declaration on 22 June 2001. In paragraph 9, the signatories pledged to “create a world-wide co-ordination of abolitionist associations and campaigners, whose first goal will be to launch a world-wide day for the universal abolition of the death penalty”.