Members of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) attended a workshop on the abolition of the death penalty held on 19 and 20 December 2016 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and organized jointly by PGA Partners Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and the Federation of Actions of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT).

The seminar aimed at raising awareness of various stakeholders regarding issues related to the death penalty in African countries. The participation of PGA Members was particularly remarkable, with Hon. William Mandio (Cameroon), Hon. Théophile Yombombé (Chad), Hon. Tanguy Fouemina (Congo), Hon. Fodé Marega (Guinea), Hon. Idrissa Sankaré(Mali), Hon. Bréhim Bredirogo (Mali), Hon. Mamadou Lamine Thiam (Senegal), and Hon. Nassara Djobo (Togo) present.

Other attendees included members of civil society organisations or members of national human rights institutions from Benin, Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), France and Niger, as well as many participants from Burkina Faso, including numerous PGA Members.

During the opening ceremony, the participants were addressed by Mr. Bessolé René Bagoro, Minister of Justice of Burkina Faso, who stated that he wanted the death penalty taken out of the national Criminal Code. Hon. Salif Diallo, Speaker of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso, also made a strong declaration. Hon. Reine Sakandé, PGA Member, concluded that “in 2017, Burkina Faso will abolish the death penalty”.

Debates, which included not only parliamentarians, civil society members but also members of the army and the clergy, underlined that the death penalty cannot be an answer to terrorism and that it only trivializes violent acts. At the end of the seminar, the participants adopted a Final Declaration (in French), calling on governments from the region to abolish the death penalty, ratify the to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and support the initiative of an African Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty. 

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