PRESS STATEMENT BY DITSHWANELO –THE BOTSWANA CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

World Day Against The Death Penalty – 10 October 2009

10 October is World Day Against The Death Penalty.  DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights joins the rest of the world to commemorate this day when people focus attention on the existence and use of the death penalty.

The first World Day Against the Death Penalty took place in 2003. This event was launched by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which comprises non-governmental organisations (NGOs), bar associations, unions and local governments from all over the world. The Coalition aims to encourage the establishment of national coalitions, the organisation of common initiatives and the coordination of international lobbying efforts to sensitise states which still maintain the death penalty.

In Botswana, the death penalty continues to be used in accordance with the Penal Code. To date, there have been forty executions in Botswana since Independence in 1966.

During 23 – 25 September 2009, the first conference on The Question of The Death Penalty in Africa was organised by The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights for Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. The conference was organised as part of the work of the African Commission’s Working Group of Experts on The Death Penalty. The Working Group was established in 2005. The aim of the conference was to examine the death penalty in Africa and to propose how to deal with it. Three members of the Working Group of Experts, Ms Alice Mogwe, Profesor Philip Iya and Professor Carlson Anyangwe were resource persons at the conference.

The Conference was attended by Member States of The African Union from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe; National Human Rights Commissions; Academic Institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations.

In the Kigali Framework of 25 September 2009, the Conference recommended that the death penalty should be abolished in Africa.  It recognised that there was need for African governments to explore alternatives to the death penalty and to engage the public in this process. It recommended that African governments should formally adopt moratoria or suspension of the implementation of the death penalty, as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty. The Conference also recommended the drafting of a Protocol to The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in order to ensure that the Charter deals comprehensively with the death penalty.

The Conference was held in Kigali, Rwanda. The significance of the location was noted by a Commissioner of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Tom Nyanduga. Despite the genocide of 1994, in which one million people were murdered, The Government of Rwanda abolished the death penalty in 1997. Commissioner Nyanduga urged those African states which retain and actively use the death penalty, to emulate Rwanda by abolishing the death penalty.

DITSHWANELO restates its position that the death penalty is cruel, degrading and inhumane. It contradicts the universally accepted standards for upholding human dignity. We remain concerned that executions continue to be conducted in Botswana as well as on the continent of Africa. This, in spite of evidence which indicates that the death penalty is not a fundamental deterrant to crime. Historically, the death penalty was not widely used in Africa. Exile and banishment were often the most extreme forms of punishment. However, during the Colonial period, the death penalty was introduced through the inherited or European based legal systems. Ironically, our contemporary legal systems in Africa retain the death penalty, while those of the former colonialist countries no longer do so.

DITSHWANELO urges the Government of Botswana to introduce a formal moratorium on the implementation of the death penalty. This would mark an important step towards achieving our goal of creating a Compassionate, Just and Caring Nation by 2016, as is envisaged in Vision 2016.

10 October 2009
Gaborone

For more information, please contact DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights at Tel: 267 390 6998 Fax: 267 3907778, Website: www.ditshwanelo.info.bw, Email:admin.ditshwanelo@info.bw