On 28 April 2021, the Supreme Court of Appeal of Malawi declared the death penalty unconstitutional as an impermissible derogation from the right to life under the Malawi’s Constitution. This decision equates to de jure abolition. All statutes prescribing the death sentence are effectively amended so that life imprisonment constitutes now the maximum sentence in Malawi.

This decision has been strongly welcomed by PGA members worldwide:

I wholeheartedly welcome this landmark decision and applaud Malawi for becoming the 22^nd country in sub-Saharan Africa to abolish the death penalty, following Chad’s abolition of capital punishment for all crimes last April. This decision should also encourage all States to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. There is absolutely no reason for States to maintain capital punishment in their jurisdictions: it has no deterrent effect and all legal systems are bound to make mistakes – even when due process and legal safeguards are respected. Mr. Mark Pritchard, MP (UK), Chair of the PGA National Group in the UK, Member of PGA Executive Committee

The next steps will involve the resentencing of those under sentence of death to alternative sentences. At the end of 2020, 27 people were known to be under a death sentence in Malawi. Although executions had not been carried out in Malawi since 1975, Malawi was still a retentionist country.

About the Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty

The goal of the campaign launched by PGA in 2013 is to ensure the right to life is upheld and to promote justice systems grounded in the rule of law, in line with SDG 16, particularly target 16.3. Parliamentarians have a crucial role to play in the movement to restrict the use of the death penalty and ultimately abolish it through drafting legislation; deliberating on national policies; and enlightening public opinion.

To date, PGA has successfully mobilized MPs from approximately 30 countries. Over the years, PGA members have:

• Contributed to reducing the scope of the death penalty, abolishing it altogether, blocking its reintroduction or the resumption of executions, or ratifying relevant international instruments in Malaysia, Uganda, and the Philippines.
• In the United States, PGA member Rep. Renny Cushing won a decades-long legislative battle to make New Hampshire the 21st US State to abolish the death penalty.
• Supported related initiatives in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Kenya.