81st Ordinary Session of the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights: In- Person, Advocating Against the Death Penalty
Africa
The ACHPR (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) held its 81st Public Ordinary Session in Banjul, The Gambia, from 17 October – 6 November 2024.
State delegations, international and regional institutions, and NGOs gathered in Banjul, also home to the ACHPR Secretariat. The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) participated alongside numerous member organizations, including FIACAT (International Federation of ACATs), Women Beyond Walls, COJESKI (Coalition of Youth Associations) and Observatoire Burundais des Prisons. The World Coalition engaged actively between 19 – 24 October to further abolitionist advocacy efforts. Following the trend of the 77th session, and based on members’ feedback, the World Coalition did not participate to the NGO Forum in October and prioritized attendance at the session.
Abolition of the Death penalty at the 81st ACHPR Session
The two countries examined during the 81st Session were Burkina Faso and Angola, and neither retains the penalty. The World Coalition however submitted 2 shadow reports for Mauritius and Ethiopia, which were originally at the agenda for the session before being postponed. The World Coalition therefore engaged in abolitionist advocacy through private meetings with Commissioners, as well as oral declarations. Meetings were arranged with Honourable Commissioner Idrissa Sow, Chairperson of the Working Group on Death Penalty, Extra-Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa as well as with Honourable Commissioner Manuela, Special Rapporteur on Prisons, Conditions of Detention and Policing in Africa and with Honourable Commissioner Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa.
An oral declaration was delivered by Sabrina Mahtani, of Women Beyond Walls, representing the World Coalition’s Gender Working Group, under Item 3, to highlight the disproportionate impact of the death penalty on marginalized women in African Union member states. The World Coalition also submitted a declaration under Item 5 for the Activity report of Commissioner Sow, covering the general situation of death penalty on the African continent, and concerns emerging with regards to the lifting of the moratorium in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), although it could not be delivered orally as the presentation of the Commissioner’s report was pushed back.
One resolution championed by NGOs and the ACHPR’s working group on the death penalty was passed during the private part of the ordinary session. Resolution N° 614, entitled “Resolution on the United Nations General Assembly Biannual Vote Calling for a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty,” called on African Union member states to support the UNGA resolution on a moratorium on the death penalty.
Rising concerns over the use of death penalty in the DRC
Honourable Commissioner Idrissa Sow presented intersessional report covering the period from May to October during the last days of the public session. As Chairman of the Working Group on the death penalty, he presented the current landscape, where the number of abolitionist countries remains static, with 24 states abolishing the death penalty for all crimes, 4 for ordinary crimes, and 15 observing a moratorium1. Despite this, he noted that a growing number of African Union member states are showing greater respect for the right to life. He expressed concern regarding the 38 executions recorded over the past year in Somalia, as well as the 170 death sentences issued in the DRC, including 38 in the context of an attempted coup in 2024. He reiterated his concern over the lifting of a 20-year-old moratorium on executions in the DRC in March 2024.
Collaboration with Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and Side-Events
The session provided opportunities to develop CSO collaboration, such as the IHRDA (Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa) networking event. In the margins of the Ordinary Session, no side-events focused specifically on the death penalty but some covered detention conditions and related topics. The World Coalition attended a side event organized by FIACAT on the importance of access for civil society to places of detention. The World Coalition also attended a side event organized by the Committee for Justice and Redress on the compatibility of the death penalty with rule-of-law principles in the new criminal code of Egypt. Such platforms allowed organizations to address broader systemic issues and reinforce international solidarity for abolition.
The next ordinary public session is due to take place in April/May 2025.
- At the time of the session, Zimbabwe had not yet abolished the death penalty and Zambia had not yet ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. ↩︎
