In the framework of PGA’s Initiative for a Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament Hon. Rt. Rebecca Kadaga (PGA Member) hosted a roundtable discussion on that topic on Wednesday 7 October 2015 which sought to analyse the national and international legal frameworks on the death penalty as well as the particular situation of the death penalty in Uganda, its impact and challenges in view to identify the measures to overcome those obstacles. The Roundtable also aimed to highlight the role and contribution of Parliamentarians on the abolition of the death penalty, in order to reinforce the mobilization of Parliamentarians and decide on concrete initiatives to support the abolition process.

The Roundtable was opened by Hon. Abdu Katuntu, MP, Shadow General Attorney and Vice Chair of PGA National Group in Uganda who welcomed the participants. After presenting the main arguments for abolition of the death penalty, he presented the bill introduced in Parliament by leading PGA Members on this topic Hon. Fox Odoi and Hon. Alice Alaso, in 2013, which aims to replace the mandatory death penalty every time it occurs by life imprisonment in light of the intrinsic right to life of all individuals, which underpins all other rights. He highlighted that it is a non partisan piece of legislation, which should thus gather broad support when it will be discussed in Parliament. He called on his colleagues to swiftly adopt this bill, which he considers is in the interest of all Ugandans.

Mr. Mark Pritchard, MP, (United Kingdom), envoy of the PGA International Law and Human Rights Program and Chair of the UK All-Party Group for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, presented PGA’s Parliamentary platform for the abolition of the death penalty and PGA’s efforts in supporting the current abolition process in Uganda. He recalled that parliamentarians have a particular role to play to initiate abolition processes worldwide, and insisted on their crucial position to lead the public opinion and society towards abolition. He encouraged the participants to take the opportunity of the visit of the pope in November, who is a strong advocate of the death penalty as illustrated by his recent interventions in the Congress of the United States, to show unity and progress on the abolition of the death penalty in Uganda. 

H.E. Ms. Alison Blackburne, UK High Commissioner in Uganda affirmed the strong position of the United Kingdom in opposition to the use of the death penalty as it undermines human dignity and violates the right to life, which underpins all other human rights, as there is no evidence that death penalty acts as a deterrent crime and because it is irreversible, thus any miscarriage of justice could lead to the execution of an innocent person. While she welcomed the recent developments on this issue and acknowledged the long-standing moratorium in Uganda, she underlined that the UK has been working for a few years with relevant stakeholders in Uganda to support the de facto moratorium on the death penalty and to work towards its eventual abolition. Recognising the importance of parliamentarians, she hailed the initiative of the two PGA members, and its prompt discussion in Parliament, and mentioned PGA’s vital role on the abolition of the death penalty, notably by fostering dialogue between parliamentarians worldwide and an exchange of best practise examples towards abolition

On behalf of H.E. Mr. Kristian Schmidt, Head of the EU Delegation, she highlighted the support of the EU to the abolition of the death penalty in Uganda and worldwide.

Hon. Madam Speaker Rt. Rebecca Kadaga concluded the Opening Ceremony, by reminding participants on the vision of the Parliament of Uganda to be a “Transformation, vibrant and people-centered Parliament”, with a mission “to achieve improved accountability, representation, constitutional democracy, rule of law and sustainable national development in Uganda”. She thus encouraged discussions on difficult topics such as the one of the abolition of the death penalty as part of the democratic exercise of Parliaments to debate about issues that affect the population. She welcomed the imitative of PGA Members Hon. Fox Odoi and Hon. Alice Alaso and informed the participants that it would be one of the first parliamentary business of the resumed session in October. She underlined the role of parliamentarians in leading reforms related to human rights and encouraged the debate to move to the rest of the country, reaffirming the leadership role of Uganda in Africa on issues of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The first session, under the chairmanship of Mr. Mark Pritchard, MP focused on the situation of the death penalty in Uganda, including the relevant legal frameworks and the impact of the death penalty.

Dr. Livingstone Sewanyana, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative outlined the international and national legal frameworks related to the death penalty in Uganda. He particularly mentioned article 6 of the International Covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR) and article 4 of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), Uganda being a party to both, and which recognise the right to life. Reminding that out of the 54 African Union member states, 21 countries have a moratorium, 17 retain the death penalty and 16 have abolished the death penalty (Angola, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cote d’ivore, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Djibouti, and Sao Tome and Principe). In Uganda, while there has been no executions since 1999, the Constitution provides for the death penalty in Article 22 (1), as well as the Penal Code Act Cap 120, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2002 and the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Act, 2005. Those three statutes provided for the mandatory death penalty until the Susan Kigula ruling in 2003, when the Constitutional Court held that a mandatory death sentence violated the right to a fair trial by denying a proper sentence hearing and precluding the appellate review of criminal sentences and violated the principle of separation of powers; and that any inordinate delay lasting longer than three years would be unconstitutional. In 2009, the Supreme Court upheld this decision, which resulted in the commutation of the death sentences of over 100 inmates whose petitions of mercy had not been decided within three years. Those rulings restored judges’ discretion leading directly to a reduction in the number of death sentences handed down by the judiciary. After laying out the different challenges and obstacles to abolition, and explaining the reasons why Uganda should abolish the death penalty, he recommended to the Members of Parliament to adopt as soon as possible the bill introduced by Hon. Fox Odoi and Hon. Alice Alaso and to stop passing laws broadening the scope of the death penalty offenses.

Ms. Patricia Nduru, Director and monitoring officer of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission (UHRC) on behalf of the Secretary General affirmed the position of the UHRC recommending the abolition of the death penalty in Uganda. Indeed, the death penalty is cruel and violates the very basic and fundamental human rights – the right to life – from which all other rights do emanate. After recalling the national framework of the death penalty in Uganda, Ms. Nduru encouraged participants to expedite the bill introduced by PGA Members in order to fully comply with the Supreme Court ruling and the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee to abolish the death penalty. She called on the participants to adopt a victims’ rights approach to the death penalty, taking into consideration the pain of families of convicted persons but also the families of the victims of the crime that carried the death penalty, who are often re-traumatised by the process.

Mr. Augsutine Obura, Commissioner Custodial of the Ugandan Prisons Services gave a comprehensive overview of the situation of convicted persons serving their sentences in Uganda. As of August 31^st 2015, the prisoners’ population in Uganda is of 45027 of which 215 are in death row. He recalled that the death penalty is largely a heritage from the colonial era, as before compensations were mainly used when crimes were committed. Recalling articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights respectively providing for the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment he affirmed that the Ugandan Prisons Services has taken the position to support the abolition of the death penalty. Although he supported the current moratorium he encouraged MPs and the government to take one step further by abolishing the death penalty, as the situation leaves inmates waiting in death row for years, this delay constituting a cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment, as highlighted by the Susan Kigala ruling. Mr. Obura explained that the death penalty carries a deep impact on convicted persons, their families, the victims and society. Indeed, stiffer sentences only harden criminals and do not have the intended deterrent effect. Executions also have a devastating and traumatic impact on the prisons personnel, their family members and other inmates, even those not necessarily in death row. He concluded by calling for the abolition as it is an ancient form of punishment contrary to modern democracies values and that justice processes should rather seek rehabilitation than punishment. He also recommended the introduction of judicial parole so that every prisoner is given an opportunity to reform and reintegrate back into society, except only in extreme cases.

Hon. Jovah Kamateeka, Chair of the Human Rights Committee and Member of PGA, chaired the session entitled Towards the abolition of the death penalty on challenges to abolition and the role and contribution of Parliamentarians on the abolition of the death penalty. She reminded that it is a crucial human rights issue as the right to life is directly affected by the death penalty. She stated that no one is supposed to take the life of another person and called for the adoption of a strategy to raise awareness on this issue.

Hon. Fox Odoi, MP (Uganda), PGA member and co-signatory of the Private Member Bill on abolition printed the bill he introduced in 2013 with Hon. Alice Alaso. Recent jurisprudential developments, including the 2009 Supreme Court ruling led him to draft and introduce the bill. Indeed, the Court ordered that the Parliament should legislate to permanently guarantee the findings of its ruling. In this context, Hon. Fox Odoi introduced the bill in Parliament in 2013 to replace the death penalty every time it occurs by life imprisonment, as the right to life is the most fundamental of rights.

Finally, Ms. Doreen Namyalo, Coordinator of the East African Coalition against Death Penalty recalled the different challenges to abolition, such as public opinion, the fear of terrorism, mob justice, limited awareness among key stakeholders, and lack of transparency. She however gave further arguments to abolish the death penalty in Uganda, including the lack of deterrence and the need for rehabilitation. Regarding parliamentarians she highlighted their crucial role in abolishing the death penalty, including through intermediary steps, if necessary, by supporting legislation to reduce the number of death penalty applicable crimes, reviewing legislation to extend the categories of persons excluded from the death penalty (including mothers and elderly), establishing an official moratorium on executions and promoting and initiating implementation of the UN Standard Minimum Rules. She concluded by stating that political will is key to reach abolition and that parliamentarians need to work hand in hand with other stakeholders to achieve this goal, including lawyers, judges, prions officers, academia, faith based groups, civil society and the media.

During the roundtable, participants largely agreed that the death penalty should be abolished as it is in contradiction with the principles of a democratic society which has at its center the respect and protection of Human Rights, including and in particular the right to life and human dignity. The participants also concurred that as parliamentarians, they should lead the public opinion on this important issue by sensitizing and educating on the misconceptions and misperceptions surrounding the death penalty.

The participants thus highlighted the necessity for parliamentarians to use their political and legislative prerogatives to raise awareness, inform and educate on this issue to overcome the obstacles and challenges identified and to take the necessary measures to definitely abolish it.

As a result, during the Strategic Discussion on priority topics and Agreement on Strategies and Actions, an Action Plan was suggested as the way forward, which includes the following points:
 

1. MPs shall support the private members’ bill introduced by Hon. Fox Odoi and Hon. Alice Alaso abolishing the death penalty;
2. The creation of a caucus of relevant and interested parliamentarians in the National Assembly to support any action related to the abolition of the death penalty and to promote public debates within the Parliament as well as demarches with the government (also on the UNGA Resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty);
3. Education and sensitization of the population through public debates in the constituencies, interventions in the media, etc

III. Conclusion

The Roundtable and consultations were held at a timely moment as the bill should be discussed as soon as the Parliamentary session resumes. Thus an important number of parliamentarians, including almost the entire Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, the one in charge of reviewing the bill, were sensitized and as a result expressed their support to abolition.

PGA will continue working with all stakeholders to follow-up on those commitments and to build the ground for Uganda to abolish promptly the death penalty.