Africa is on the right track in campaign to end cruel punishment of death penalty

Campaigning for an end to the death penalty is often an uphill task.

At Amnesty International, we have done so for decades, since we consider the death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading form of punishment – and a violation of the right to life. Every execution we fail to prevent takes its toll.

Thankfully, even in darkness there is always some light. This week, Amnesty International is releasing its annual report on the use of the death penalty worldwide, and if there is one region that stands out as a beacon of hope for ridding the world of this abhorrent punishment, it is sub-Saharan Africa. 

In 2014, 46 judicial executions were carried out in the region, compared to 64 in 2013 – a reduction of more than a quarter. It is also striking that  these executions happened in only three countries – Equatorial Guinea, Somalia, and Sudan – showing just how isolated those states are in the region.

Progress towards ridding sub-Saharan Africa of the death penalty is not just in statistics.

Last year, several governments took small but significant steps towards abolition of the death penalty. In September, the government of Chad adopted a penal code aimed at abolishing capital punishment. In December, Madagascar’s Parliament adopted a Bill abolishing the death penalty.

It is now awaiting the president’s signature to become law. When that happens, Madagascar may become the 100th country in the world to fully remove the death penalty in law – a historic milestone.

FOREFRONT

The world is slowly but surely consigning the death penalty to history, and it is heartening to see sub-Saharan Africa at the forefront of this trend.

However, it was not all good news last year. A dark trend was starkly evident across the world – governments using the death penalty in a misguided attempt to tackle crime, terrorism, and internal instability.  Sadly, despite the progress in sub-Saharan Africa, a small number of countries regressed.

In Nigeria, the number of death sentences rose significantly from at least 141 in 2013 to 659 in 2014. Most were for murder and armed robbery, but 70 death sentences were imposed by military courts for conspiracy to mutiny and mutiny in the context of the conflict with Boko Haram.

Cameroon’s Parliament voted in favour of a Bill that provides for the death penalty for terrorism.

The use of the death penalty to combat crime and terrorism was evident elsewhere in the world. In Pakistan, the government lifted a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians in the wake of the horrific Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar last December. 

Seven people were executed in less than two weeks at the end of 2014. The government also pledged to execute hundreds of people on death row who had been convicted of terrorism-related offences. China, Iran, and Iraq were among the countries that executed people for “terrorism” last year.

In a year when abhorrent summary executions by armed groups were branded on the global consciousness like never before, it is appalling that governments are themselves resorting to more executions in a knee-jerk reaction to terrorism.

JORDAN

Other states employed executions in similarly flawed attempts to address — or appear to address — escalating crime. Jordan ended an eight-year moratorium on executions in December, putting 11 murder convicts to death. In Indonesia, authorities announced plans to execute mainly drug traffickers and put six people to death in January 2015.

The fact is that the death penalty is not a particularly good deterrent to crime and terrorism. Studies show that capital punishment is no more effective in preventing crime than other punishments such as imprisonment.

Only 22 states carried out executions last year. When the United Nations was created in 1945, only eight countries had abolished the death penalty, but today 140 countries have done so, either in law or practice.

The countries that still retain the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa are on the wrong side of history and need to join the vast majority of states that have abolished this cruel punishment.

 The writer is Amnesty International’s death penalty expert.