United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said he wants the US to end its “barbaric practice” of the death penalty.

This was the leader of the world body’s first statement on the death penalty.

“Please stop the executions,” Mr Guterres said at an event at UN Headquarters in New York, titled “Transparency and the death penalty.”

“The death penalty has no place in the 21st century.”

Mr Guterres made mention of his home country of Portugal, abolishing the practice nearly 150 years ago and two African nations - Gambia and Madagascar - which have taken “major steps” towards getting rid of it.

In 2016, executions worldwide were down 37 per cent from 2015 as 170 countries have decided to abandon the practise, Mr Guterres said.

China has the most number of known executions in the world, but figures have been hard to come by due to state controls.

Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Show all 6 1 /6 Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Family and friends of Jeff Wood and anti-death penalty activists march from the Texas State Capitol to the Office of Governor Greg Abbott to deliver a petition with over 10,000 signatures asking the governor and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Wood's sentence on August 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 24, 2016 under what is referred to as the "law of parties" for a criminal act he committed on January 2, 1996. The Texas law says that if a person, " acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense;" then they are criminally responsible for the conduct of another, as well. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Carla Harvey adds her name to a petition with over 10,000 signatures asking Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Jeff Wood's sentence, during a demonstration outside of the Texas State Capitol on August 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Family and friends of Jeff Wood and anti-death penalty activists delivered the petition to the Office of the Governor after the demonstration. Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 24, 2016 under what is referred to as the "law of parties" for a criminal act he committed on January 2, 1996. The Texas law says that if a person, " acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense;" then they are criminally responsible for the conduct of another, as well. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images Activists protest the death penalty in Texas A massive explosion guts Mexico's biggest fireworks market in Mexico City, on December 20, 2016. The explosion killed at least 31 people and injured 72, authorities said. The conflagration in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec set off a quick-fire series of multicolored blasts that sent a vast cloud of smoke billowing over the capital. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Darius Broussard adds his name to a petition with over 10,000 signatures asking Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Jeff Wood's sentence, during a demonstration outside of the Texas State Capitol on August 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Family and friends of Jeff Wood and anti-death penalty activists delivered the petition to the Office of the Governor after the demonstration. Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 24, 2016 under what is referred to as the "law of parties" for a criminal act he committed on January 2, 1996. The Texas law says that if a person, " acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense;" then they are criminally responsible for the conduct of another, as well. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Family and friends of Jeff Wood and anti-death penalty activists march from the Texas State Capitol to the Office of Governor Greg Abbott to deliver a petition with over 10,000 signatures asking the governor and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Wood's sentence on August 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 24, 2016 under what is referred to as the "law of parties" for a criminal act he committed on January 2, 1996. The Texas law says that if a person, " acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense;" then they are criminally responsible for the conduct of another, as well. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images Activists protest the death penalty in Texas Mark Clements (L), who was imprisoned for 28 years before being released and exonerated, encourages passersby to sign a petition with over 10,000 signatures asking Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Jeff Wood's sentence, during a demonstration outside of the Texas State Capitol on August 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Clements joined family and friends of Jeff Wood and anti-death penalty activists to deliver the petition to the Office of the Governor after the demonstration. Jeff Wood is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on August 24, 2016 under what is referred to as the "law of parties" for a criminal act he committed on January 2, 1996. The Texas law says that if a person, " acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person to commit the offense;" then they are criminally responsible for the conduct of another, as well. Tamir Kalifa/AFP/Getty Images

It is thought to be much thousands higher than the reported 1,032 in 2016 according to the human rights watchdog.

The US was actually included in this top five group between 2006 and 2016, but fell out last year.

The 20 executions carried out in the US was the lowest number since 1991. This still put it in the seventh position, just shy of Egypt, and the only country in the Americas to impose the death penalty.

Five American states carried out executions last year but 31 still have the penalty on the books.

So far in 2017, 19 executions have been carried out, all through lethal injection.

State department comments on vote against condemning death penalty for gay people

Texas alone killed five inmates sentenced to death.

The Trump administration recently voted against a UN motion that condemned the death penalty for LGBTQ people.

The motion passed the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council despite the US being joined by countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia, India, Iraq, Botswana, Burundi and others.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s response to criticism from the LGBTQ community and her predecessor Susan Rice was confusing because she tweeted there was “no vote” but that the US voted the same way as it had under the Obama administration on the issue.

But, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert clarified the vote by saying: “We voted against that resolution because of broader concerns with the resolution’s approach in condemning the death penalty in all circumstances, and it called for the abolition of the death penalty altogether.”

In fact, no US administration has supported a UN motion against the death penalty primarily for this reason and usually elects to abstain from voting on it.

As Newsweek reported: “In 2014 the Obama administration abstained from a resolution on capital punishments in the Human Rights Council, which did not highlight LGBTQ rights.”