The Government of Senegal has decided to abolish the death penalty. Senegal is the eleventh country on the African continent, the fourth within the West African trade union ECOWAS, to rid itself of this shameful practice. The Bill was backed to become Law by a majority of the country?s ministers and was made effective on the United Nations? World Human Rights Day, 10 December. (26-JAN-05)
This article is based on information originating from Amnesty International Norway?s letter of appeal to its Prisoner of the Month Campaign members. The information has been translated and edited for republication here.
While Senegal has not actually executed any of its death row inmates since 1967, the country has continued to pass this sentence, most recently in July 2004. Amnesty International now hopes more members of ECOWAS and other African countries, too, will follow Senegal?s example. In both Sierra Leone and Nigeria, similar Bills as the one just passed in Senegal are currently being drafted, and the topic of abolition of the death penalty is the subject of increasingly intense debates in many other countries on the African continent.
See more articles on this topic on www.humanrightshouse.org, dated 20 and 21 January.
