About
Purpose
The KL Guidelines are intended primarily for lawyers who represent individuals facing the death penalty— irrespective of the nature of the offence or the lawyer’s level of experience.
Methodology
The KL Guidelines reflect lessons learned from comparative resources while centring the realities of defence lawyers working in the region. This initiative is led by and for Asian legal practitioners, recognising the unique institutional, resource, and procedural constraints that define capital litigation in Asia.
Our network
Partners collaborating on the KL Guidelines are The Square Circle Clinic (TSCC) in India, the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) in Indonesia, the Centre for Prisoners’ Rights in Japan, Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR), the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) in Singapore, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) and lawyers from China.
The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) also contributed to discussions to develop the KL Guidelines.
Ricky Gunawan, an Indonesian human rights lawyer with extensive experience in capital defence led the drafting process.
The Rights Practice facilitated the process and consultations.