The movement towards the abolition of the death penalty is at a critical moment. While a relative majority of States have taken abolitionist positions (de jure or de facto) and the number of executions has decreased in 201, 58 States still apply the death penalty, with at least 607 persons having been executed in those 58 countries in 2014. Most of those countries are located in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East, with a tendency for some of them to reinsert the death penalty when they had introduced a de facto moratorium (Pakistan, Jordan…) or to expand the scope of crimes subject to the death penalty (Uganda, Nigeria…).
In the framework of this action, PGA has been working in Uganda to support the abolition process launched by two of its members, PGA Members Hon. Alice Alaso and Hon. Fox Odoi, who introduced in Parliament an abolition bill in 2013. The bill, which had passed the first reading, has been presented by MPs Fox Odoi and Alice Alaso to the Legal Affairs Committee on April 6th 2016 which a supportive submission of PGA Member Hon. Mark Pritchard (UK).
The bill has been welcomed by Members also due to PGAs Roundtable meeting on the abolition of the death penalty, on 7 Oct. 2015.
Octobers Roundtable Meeting with the participation of Parliamentarians from Uganda and the United Kingdom as well as experts, government officials and relevant stakeholders, enabled a peer-to-peer dialogue and sharing of experiences and challenges on this important issue and to support the initiative of its members.
As stated in Hon. Fox Odoi’s presentation on 6 April 2016,
“ The object of the Law Revision (Penalties in Criminal Matters) Miscellaneous Amendment Bill, 2015 is to amend the Penal Code Act, Cap 120; the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2002, the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act, 2005 and the Trial on Indictment Act, Cap 23 by removing all references to the mandatory death penalty prescribed in those laws and to restrict the application of the death penalty to ‘the most serious crimes’; to remove the restriction on mitigation in the case of convictions that carry a death penalty; and related matters.”
The bill will now be discussed in the Legal Affairs Committee under the Chairmanship of PGA Member Hon. Stephen Tashobya for 2 weeks and if the Committee agrees it will be scheduled to be introduced for the second reading still in April 2016
PGA members wish to have that bill passed before the end of the current session of parliament, which ends on 16 May 2016.
