Abstract:
- The Liberian authorities has pledged to submit a revised invoice to abolish the demise penalty, as advocates and diplomats renew stress to finish the observe.
- Liberia is one in every of 25 nations that retains the demise penalty.
- Senior diplomats from Sweden, Britain, and France warned that capital punishment violates human rights and urged Liberia to align its legal guidelines with world norms.
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives
The Liberian authorities has responded to a renewed push by civil society pledging to submit a revised invoice to the Legislature that might finish the observe within the nation.
The five-month, $US84,000 initiative — funded by the British Embassy in Liberia — marks the second section of a civil society–led mission that first started in 2024. It comes amid rising worldwide stress on Liberia to convey its legal guidelines in step with world human rights requirements.
Capital punishment, often known as the death penalty, is a type of criminal punishment wherein a defendant’s life is taken by the state as a penalty for a crime. Liberia is one in every of 25 nations that retain the demise penalty on paper although it has not executed anybody since 2000.
About 14 folks stay on demise row in Liberia for crimes similar to armed theft, hijacking, and terrorism, a scenario that the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform, which is main the marketing campaign, says undermines the nation’s human rights standing and violates its 2005 dedication to the Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits the observe. Three years after signing the Protocol, Liberia expanded the scope of the demise penalty in 2008 amid criticism from rights advocates. As of 2021, 16 folks had been placed on demise row, based on a 2022 report by Amnesty Worldwide.
“We’re calling on the federal government of Liberia as a Non-Everlasting member of the United Nations Safety Council to abolish the demise penalty and commune all individuals on demise row to life sentences,” stated Adama Dempster, the Platform’s secretary normal.
Human rights advocates have lengthy denounced capital punishment as inhumane. Not like neighboring Sierra Leone, which abolished the demise penalty in 2021, Liberia has but to cross a legislation absolutely ending it. Critics additionally stated it conflicts with the Liberian Structure, which ensures the fitting to life and liberty.
The renewed marketing campaign comes as Liberia strikes towards establishing a Conflict and Financial Crimes Courtroom, which can prosecute atrocities dedicated in the course of the nation’s civil wars. Advocates say Liberia’s eliminattion of the demise penalty would be sure that justice below the brand new warfare crimes court docket upholds worldwide requirements. On the relaunch, senior diplomats — together with Karl Backéus, Sweden’s ambassador; Simon Tooth, the British chargé d’affaires; and Isabelle Le Guellec, France’s ambassador — strongly endorsed abolition.
“The demise penalty is not an possibility for that vital work that court docket might want to undertake,” stated Backéus. “We all know that the demise penalty just isn’t a deterrent when it comes to crime. And if we need to construct that society primarily based on the noble ideas, we have to repeatedly try to enhance on the best way we do justice.”
European nations are united of their opposition to capital punishment. France, which abolished the demise penalty in 1981, has been amongst its strongest world advocates. Ambassador Le Guellec reaffirmed that place on the occasion.
“The demise penalty just isn’t an instrument of legal legislation,” she stated. “It’s a violation of human rights.”
This stands in sharp distinction with america which has resisted efforts to see it outlawed although it’s banned in 27 states. It stands alone among the many world’s main democracies in retaining the observe.
This stands in sharp distinction with america which has resisted efforts to see it outlawed although it’s banned in 27 states. It stands alone among the many world’s main democracies in retaining the observe. The variety of folks executed in President Donald Trump’s second time period has hit a record 39 in 11 states. Florida has the very best variety of executions with 14, adopted by Texas with 5, and Mississippi and Arizona with 4 every.
Critics say Trump’s resolution to lift the federal moratorium on executions has rolled again good points america had made in limiting using the demise penalty.
In 2022, the Liberian Senate voted to amend the nation’s penal code to take away the demise penalty, however the Home of Representatives has but to concur. At Wednesday’s occasion, the federal government stated it could resubmit a revised invoice to the Cupboard after which to the Legislature.
Kutaka D. Togbah, director of the Human Rights Platform Division at Liberia’s Justice Ministry, talking on behalf of Oswald Tweh, Liberia’s justice minister, stated the ministry had labored with human rights teams to revalidate the invoice.
“By codifying abolition, we cut back the chance of irreparable error and strengthens Liberia’s ethical standing amongst nations,” he stated.
The relaunch coincided with the twenty third Worldwide Day In opposition to the Dying Penalty and marked the start of the second section of Liberia’s Abolition of the Dying Penalty Undertaking.
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as a part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Undertaking. Funding was supplied by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia which had no say within the story’s content material.
