All about Benin

En marge du 8ème Congrès mondial contre la peine de mort, les organisations membres de la Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort (Coalition mondiale) et les ACAT africaines de la FIACAT (Fédération internationale des Action des Chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture) se sont réunies à Berlin, en Allemagne, pour un séminaire de plaidoyer.

In the margins of the 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, member organizations of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) and FIACAT’s African ACATs (Féderation international des Action des Chrétiens pour l’abolition de la torture) met in Berlin, Germany for an advocacy seminar.

Cotonou, Paris, 6 June 2018 – On 5 June, Benin’s National Assembly adopted a new Penal Code removing all references to the death penalty from the law.

The Declaration signed by 18 Foreign Ministers from different world regions, including several that are still on a path towards abolition of the death penalty, brings one common message: International support for abolition is continuing to grow, driven by an increasing awareness of the death penalty’s inherent risks and shortcomings.

Twelve governments from countries with and without capital punishment release a joint declaration calling for a world that “respects human dignity” on World Day Against the Death Penalty.

The signature of an African treaty on the abolition of the death penalty is a priority to firm up the trend moving away from capital punishment across the continent.

From UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to abolitionist and retentionist government ministers and World Coalition members, participants to a recent discussion on the death penalty placed the issue high on the international agenda.

Hands Off Cain organised a conference on the abolition and moratorium of the death penalty in West Africa on January 13 and 14, in partnership with the government of Sierra Leone and with support from the World Coalition, the European Union and FIACAT.

The UN body in charge of defending and promoting human rights has devoted a large part of its 22nd session to discussing capital punishment and its abolition, and vowed to continue at its next meetings.

The Community of Sant’Egidio conducted a crucial political networking exercise in favour of abolition in Rome at the end of November before 1,600 cities lit up their monuments against the death penalty.

Participants to the meeting held by FIACAT in Senegal mid-November received training on regional abolitionist activism and set priorities for their actions.

Hands Off Cain published its annual report in August. President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma wrote the introduction and the book has been dedicated to Rwanda.

Conferences, round tables, talks, tours, meetings with politicians, debates, press conferences, sit-ins, cultural evenings, marches and speeches are among the many events that will take place in Africa for this 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

On 19 August 2011 the National Assembly of the West African nation of Benin counted 54 votes in favour of ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, with only 5 votes against and 6 abstentions.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights held a regional conference on the death penalty in North and West Africa in Benin mid-April.

Benin’s President Thomas Yayi Boni, one of the World Congress’s guests, has asked the parliament to enshrine the abolition of the death penalty in the constitution. Justice Minister Victor Tokpanou details Benin’s path to abolition.

The programme of the World Congress Against the Death Penalty is intended to give abolitionists an opportunity to reflect on their joint actions, including campaigns coordinated by the World Coalition.

Spanish President José Luis Zapatero attended the international abolitionist colloquium during which the Academic Network against the Death Penalty was launched.

Wherever the Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) is present, the struggle against the death penalty is an important element within their commitment to respect for human dignity.

The regional council will hold an abolitionist conference with speakers from various countries at the end of November.