All about Togo

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.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) and FIACAT are part of a joint project which aims to contribute to the abolition of the death penalty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

On 14 September 2016, Togo acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty, joined on 21 September 2016 by the Dominican Republic. These accessions make abolition of the death penalty in Togo and the Dominican Republic irreversible.

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 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.

The 51st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) was held in Banjul from April 18 to May 2, 2012. During the session, the Commission presented its “Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa” prepared by the Working Group on the death penalty of the ACHPR.

A proposed United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a global suspension of executions has gained the support of two more countries pending a plenary vote next month.

Amnesty International has released its report on the death penalty in the world in 2009. The organisation has decided to exclude China from its calculation due to the lack of transparency on capital punishment in that country.

Five African icons in the struggle against the death penalty joined together to debate the transition from a moratorium on executions to full legal abolition.

Togo’s National Assembly passed a bill abolishing the death penalty on June 23, 2009. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero, who was visiting the country, attended the parliamentary session to witness the event.