Learned friends on the continent, though their Pan African Lawyers Union have submitted a request to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to issue a landmark Advisory Opinion declaring the death penalty a violation of human rights.
According to the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) the gas chamber violates human rights, including those outlined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The African Charter).
“The vast majority of African countries have moved away from capital punishment. It is time to recognise that the death penalty is inherently inhuman and degrading, as well as a violation of the right to life,” said the Chief Executive Officer of PALU Donald Deya.
In its request to the African Court, the Arusha-based Pan African Lawyers Union points out that over 80 percent of African countries have either abolished the death penalty de jure or no longer carry out executions of those sentenced to death.
So far there are only two countries in Africa, that is Egypt and Somalia that carried out executions in 2023.
On the other hand, countries like Tanzania, which still has the law in place have not executed it for the last 40 years.
This trend toward complete abolition of the death penalty within Africa comports with a similar trend around the world and reflects the growing international consensus that the imposition and use of the death penalty is contrary to fundamental human rights.
Professor Muna Ndulo, an expert in international human rights law at Cornell Law School, states that “Africa, like South America and Europe, is increasingly an abolitionist continent.”
The African Charter, ratified by fifty-four (54) African Union (AU) Member States, guarantees a range of human rights.
Article 4 of the Charter protects the right to life and personal integrity while Article 5 guarantees the right to human dignity and freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
In its request to the African Court, PALU argues that the death penalty is plagued by due process deficiencies and is imposed in a discriminatory manner against people based on gender, age, mental disabilities, poverty, language barriers, and political affiliation, in violation of Article 4 of the Charter.
The Lawyers also argue that the death penalty cannot be imposed or carried out without amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in violation of Article 5 of the Charter.
In its development and strategic planning of the Advisory Opinion, PALU engaged several African organisations and experts to build an understanding of the trends across the continent on the death penalty which discovered that the death penalty unequivocally violates the African as well as international human rights treaties.
“Through the request, we are asking the African Court to provide its opinion regarding the compatibility of the death penalty, including its extraordinarily cruel and often arbitrary application, with the relevant human rights instruments and to provide its guidance to Member States so they can align their frameworks accordingly”, says Mr Deya.