On 21-22 April 2010, civil society organisations and experts from more than 10 mainly Southern African countries met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss strategies to achieve abolishment of death penalty in Southern Africa. The meeting was organised by the Tanzania Chapter of Southern Africa Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRiNGON).
Over the years the Danish Institute for Human Rights has had a clear presence on the continental African human rights stage. This has included collaboration with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Since 2009 the Danish Institute has also collaborated with the Southern African Development Community Tribunal which has started to play a role in developing human rights in this part of Africa.
On this basis, Ulrik Spliid, Senior Legal Advisor and the Danish Institute’s representative in South Africa, was invited to participate in the meeting as an expert on the African human rights system.
Among other the participants was Vera Chirwa, the Malawian human rights activist whose autobiography Fearless Fighter was published in 2007 in association with the Danish Institute for Human Rights. The former member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and Special Rapporteur on Prison Conditions in Africa gave an eloquent and moving account of her 12 years on death row in Malawi under the dictator Hastings Banda.“From a legal point of view, the abolishment of death penalty is not an easy matter. Some African countries, such as South Africa and Namibia, have provisions in their national constitutions prohibiting death penalty. But generally applicable international law in Africa, such as the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, clearly does not prohibit death penalty. Generally applicable international law does, however, set out certain criteria limiting the use of death penalty and specify due process guarantees for those facing death sentence,” said Ulrik Spliid, who in addition to making a presentation on the abolishment of death penalty in South Africa was asked to chair the drafting of the final communiqué.
“Therefore, the final communiqué stressed not only the final goal, being abolition of death penalty, but also the need to adhere to all due process guarantees, such a providing adequate legal aid, something that is routinely flouted.”
Uneffective sanction
The participants further stressed the need to sensitise the general population about the many negative aspects of death penalty and the fact that, contrary to common belief, there is no evidence to suggest that death penalty is a more effective deterrent than other penal sanctions.
Denmark had its last execution in 1950 and abolished death penalty for all crimes, even in times of war, in 1978. The Council of Europe is at the forefront of the fight against death penalty and demands a moratorium and plans in place for the abolishment of death penalty as a condition of membership.
After two days of extensive and exhaustive deliberations, the meeting made the following recommendations: Click here
