Armenia and Angola Commit to Irreversible Abolition
Good news
Following the United Nations Treaty Event in New York, two more states have committed to irreversible abolition of the death penalty by signing and ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (OP2-ICCPR). The Protocol was highlighted by the United Nations Secretary General this year, as 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly.
An international lock on abolition of the death penalty
Armenia is an abolitionist country for all crimes and has never carried out any executions. Armenia signed the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR on 26 September.
Angola abolished the death penalty in 1992 and in January 2010, the new Constitution explicitly prohibited the death penalty in article 59. Angola ratified OP2-ICCPR on 2 October 2019. It had signed it six years ago, on 24 September 2013. The Protocol will enter into force on 2 January 2020.
For both countries, the signature and ratification of the UN Protocol for abolition was thus a very important symbolic act, reflecting the universal trend towards abolition of capital punishment, and a strong commitment to never reinstate the death penalty.
Angola became the 88th state party to the Protocol and Armenia the only signatory.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty congratulates Angola and Armenia for these important steps taken towards universal abolition. It encourages Angola to support the adoption of the draft protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa by the African Union, and encourages Armenia to ratify OP2-ICCPR and the Protocol 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances.
