Guyana will next week host a judicial colloquium on the abolition of the death penalty.
The European Union (EU) Delegation to Guyana is facilitating the July 20th conference in partnership with the International Commission against the Death Penalty, the Chancellor of the Judiciary of the Government of Guyana, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Suriname.
According to a statement issued by the European Union Delegation to Guyana, Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and current Commissioner of the International Commission against the Death Penalty, Ivan Šimonović, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and Emeritus Professor Marc Bossuyt, Emeritus President of the Constitutional Court of Belgium, will participate in the colloquium.
The statement added that the colloquium, which will include members of the local judiciary, will consider the following subjects: The Role of the United Nations in the Abolition of the Death Penalty; The Experience of Other Countries in Abolishing the Death Penalty; The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and The Role of Judges in Abolishing the Death Penalty.
It noted that the European Union, the International Commission against the Death Penalty and the United Nations advocate for the universal abolition of the death penalty. This is based on the fundamental nature of the right to life; the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people; and the absence of proof that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime. The abolition of the death penalty is essential for the protection of human dignity, as well as for the progressive development of human rights, the statement added.
The venue for the colloquium is the Marriott Hotel.
