A team from the European Union (EU) Delegation in Guyana will tomorrow be meeting with government and the judiciary to discuss Guyana’s need to join with other countries worldwide in abolishing the death penalty.
Derek Lambe, Head of Political, Press and Infor-mation Section of the EU Delegation, told Stabroek News that dialogue will be held with Minister State Joseph Harmon at the Ministry of Presidency and also with the acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Carl Singh.
According to Lambe, this will present an opportunity to lobby the government and get a sense of how it views the issue.
Lambe said that one of main messages that will be put to government during the dialogue is that historically in countries, particularly those in Europe, it was political leadership which abolished the death penalty in the “face of public support” for it. He said that once the political leadership had abolished the death penalty, “public opinion then followed” and came in favour of abolition.
The death penalty is still on Guyana’s law books though only for certain categories of murder. The last execution was done in 1997 and prisoners on death row have successfully applied to the court to have their sentences commuted to life in prison.
The Delegation of the EU and the British High Commission in cooperation with the International Commission against the Death Penalty are hosting a Caribbean Conference on the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Guyana, which will conclude today.
The Conference began last evening with an opening ceremony. Today’s programme includes three panel discussions—“Death Penalty in the Caribbean,” “Experiences of the other countries in the abolition of the death penalty,” and “Death penalty as a deterrent: Does it work?” The panelists include lawyers, human rights activists and death penalty advocates.
In a press release, the EU Delegation said that participants in the conference represent the whole Caribbean region as well as other parts of the world, demonstrating that there is a strong and continuing trend towards the abolition of the death penalty in all regions of the world and that it is time for the Caribbean region to join this trend and become a death penalty free zone.
The release said during the discussions, various compelling reasons for the abolition of the death penalty are to be highlighted, including the ever-present risk of executing innocent people that exists in any justice system; the arbitrary application of the death penalty; the incompatibility of the death penalty with human rights and human dignity; and the ineffectiveness of the death penalty in deterring crime.
The release informed that the European Union is the world’s leading institutional actor in the fight against the death penalty and its action in this area represents “a key priority of its external human rights policy.” It was stated that experience in Europe and other parts of the world has taught that the death penalty does not prevent an increase in violent crime, nor does it bring justice to the victims of such crimes.
The International Com-mission against the Death Penalty (ICDP) was established on October 7, 2010 and is currently composed of 17 Commissioners who are persons of high international standing from all regions of the world and who act with total independence and neutrality, the release said, while adding that ICDP opposes the death penalty under any circumstances, “believing that it violates the right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
It said that the work of the Commission is supported by a diverse group of 18 states from all regions of the world that are committed to abolition of the death penalty. Its secretariat is based in Madrid.
“The death penalty undermines human dignity and violates the right to life proclaimed by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that it should never be used–regardless of the circumstances. The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights–it is cruel, morally wrong, violates basic human rights and harms society. The death penalty is inherently wrong and fundamentally flawed. Murder is wrong, whether committed by an individual or the state. Imposition of the death penalty contravenes the right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Any miscarriage of justice–which is inevitable in any legal system–could lead to innocent persons being killed and is irreversible,” the release added.
