World Coalition held first General Assembly in East Africa

Governance

By World Coalition against the death penalty, on 7 July 2023

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty co-organized with ICJ-Kenya its first General Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya on 23-24 June 2023.

Following a four-day African Sub-Regional English-Speaking Seminar on Best Practices for Abolition of the Death Penalty, 45 member organizations of the World Coalition met in person in Kenya and 20 others joined online to participate in the meetings.

The first day was open to the public with two plenary sessions on the death penalty in Africa and the World Day theme of torture and four workshops, to engage with experts, activists, and organizations working towards abolition and discuss strategies, gender issues, mental health, drug-related offenses and youth involvement. 

The second day was restricted to member organizations and the statutory meeting saw the adoption of the 2022 activity report and financial reports, the 2018-2022 Impact Assessment, the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan, the 2023-2024 action plan, the 2023 provisional budget and modification of the bylaws, as well as the elections of the new Steering Committee.

In total, 25 organizations (out of 32 candidates) were elected for an effective 2-year term (June 2023-June 202): 

• Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network – ADPAN  
• Capital Punishment Justice Project – CPJP 
• Coalition Congolaise Contre la Peine de Mort – CCCPM 
• Coalition marocaine contre la peine de mort – CMCPM 
• Coalition nigérienne contre la peine de mort – CONICOPEM-Niger 
• Coalition Tunisienne Contre la Peine de Mort 
• Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Bar) – CAAPR  
• Comunità di Sant’Egidio    
• Culture pour la Paix et la Justice – CPJ ASBL 
• Droits et Paix – DP 
• Ensemble contre la peine de mort – ECPM   
• Foundation for Human Rights Initiative – FHRI 
• International Federation for Human Rights – FIDH 
• International Federation of ACATs – FIACAT  
• Iran Human Rights – IHR    
• Paris Bar 
• Parliamentarians for Global Action – PGA 
• Penal Reform International – PRI 
• Prisoners’ Future Foundation – PFF 
• Salam for Democracy and Human Rights – SALAM DHR 
• Society for Human Rights and Development Organization Sierra Leone – SHRDO 
• Taiwan Alliance to End The Death Penalty – TAEDP 
• The Advocates for Human Rights – TAHR 
• The Death Penalty Project – DPP 
• Witness to Innocence – WTI 

The newly elected Steering Committee then elected the new Executive Board for two years:

• Connie Numbi (FHRI), Vice President
• Florence Bellivier (FIDH), Treasurer
• Karen Gomez Dumpit (ADPAN), Vice President
• Matthew Goldberg (CPJP), President
• Tobias Mueller (Comunità di Sant’Egidio), Vice President

The World Coalition welcomes the successful work of its General Assembly.