Amnesty International is urging Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands and Tonga to show an international commitment to opposing the death penalty by supporting the United Nations resolution calling for a global moratorium on the death penalty later this year.

Amnesty International said the Pacific is the only region in the world not to carry out a death sentence in the last decade

In a report released yesterday, Amnesty said at least 714 people were executed last year in 18 countries and at least 2001 were sentenced to death in 56 countries.

The report said countries that still carried out executions were the exception rather than the rule, with more than two thirds of countries having abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

Amnesty International said Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Tonga were reformers in practise, while Fiji was a reformer for ordinary crimes only.