Resolution on the Death Penalty

We the representatives of non-governmental organizations attending the NGOs forum preceding the 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,

Recalling that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a resolution on the establishment and operationalisation of a working group on the Death Penalty at its 38th Ordinary Session, held in Banjul, The Gambia;

Recalling that the death penalty remains a pressing concern, whether in relation to the risk of being sentenced to capital punishment present in most African states, or the resumption of executions in other states;

Stressing that the death penalty is often imposed following unfair trials, and that minorities and foreigners are sentenced to capital punishment in disproportionate numbers;

Recalling that international law encourages the abolition of the death penalty and that several regional and international instruments provide for the abolition of the death penalty;

Recalling the resolution by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights of 15 November 1999 42(XXVI) 99, that calls upon states to establish a moratorium on executions and encouraging them to abolish the death penalty;

Call upon the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to:

1. Condemn the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights: the life to life and the right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment;
2. Endorse the document “The Question of the Death Penalty in Africa” prepared by the Working Group on the Death Penalty;
3. Call upon all states to ratify the Second Optional Protocol on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty;
4. Call upon states that have ratified the Second Optional Protocol on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to submit their reports on civil and political rights, taking into account, the abolition of the death penalty
5. Call upon states having de jure to ensure that the death penalty has been abolished de facto;
6. Call upon states having de jure abolished the death penalty to raise awareness with other states about the necessity of abolishing the death penalty;
7. Call upon states having de facto abolished the death penalty to move from a moratorium to an abolition in domestic law;
8. Call upon states that still maintain the death penalty to:
a. Commit to abolishing the death penalty, and in the interim, to adopt a moratorium on executions;
b. Ensure that any individual accused of a crime punishable by the death penalty benefits from the right to a fair trial as provided by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments, including the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence.
c. Ban the death penalty for all persons below 18 years of age at the time the crime was committed; exclude the death penalty for pregnant women, mothers with dependent infants, and persons suffering from mental disorders;
d. Limit the application of the death penalty to the most serious crimes;

Done in Banjul, 8 May, 2006