British High Commissioner to Rwanda Benedict Llewellyn-Jones has hailed Rwanda’s steps towards unity and reconciliation noting the abolition of death penalty.
The envoy made the remarks in an exclusive interview with igihe.com as the world prepares to celebrate World Day against Death Penalty that is marked annually October 10.
This year’s celebration is the 9th World Day Against the Death Penalty of which Rwanda adopted on June 8, 2007.
“It was a brave step and showed the world that Rwanda could put behind the bloodshed of the genocide and would focus on justice instead that gave people a chance to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society,” Llewellyn-Jones remarked.
“Rwanda, as a country that experienced human massacre and is recovering from the genocide, has through this gesture made a positive statement about the importance of life”.
“I can say that Rwanda has showed a good gesture that reconciliation is more important than punishment.” he added.
The British High Commissioner also suggested that other countries could learn from Rwanda’s approach to this penalty.
“Rwanda should be proud of having abolished the death penalty, having a positive statement about the importance of justice. The whole world should recognize how big a step this was for Rwanda.” He said.
Capital punishment in United Kingdom was in force from at least 1707 until the practice was abolished in the 20th century.
The last execution in the United Kingdom, by hanging, took place in 1964, prior to capital punishment being abolished for murder in 1969 in Great Britain and in 1973 in Northern Ireland.
Although not applied since that time, the death penalty remained on the statute book for certain other offences until 1998 when it was abolished completely in the UK.
The first World Day against the Death Penalty took place in 2003, and the event was launched by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which gathers international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), bar associations, unions and local governments from all over the world.
This year’s World Day will focus on the inhumanity of the death penalty as a cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.
According to the British High Commissioner, the British government is supports Rwandan government in strengthening democracy, developmental projects towards confronting climate change, health, education and agriculture as well as other sectors.
He added that due to transparence, effective and accountable use aid British government decided to increase its funding to Rwanda.
Elsewhere
According to World Coalition Against Death Penalty website, the United Nations in Geneva will host a high level panel on the International jurisprudence regarding the death penalty and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment with experts from several UN and Regional human rights bodies.
Several events will be held in various nations to mark the day like San Juan, Puerto Rico, there will be book releases and conferences in universities and schools.
France is celebrating its 30th anniversary of abolition.
Hundreds of events will also be conducted in Taiwan, in Lebanon, as well as in Malaysia, Japan, Iraq, Morocco, Brazil or the USA.
In London, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Jeremy Browne MP will be hosting an event including the speakers Professor Nigel Eastman, a consultant forensic psychiatrist and professor at the University of London, and Saul Lehrfreund, one of the co-founders and joint executive directors of The Death Penalty Project.
This year’s World Day Against Death Penalty focuses on the inhumanity of the death penalty as a cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.
The dreadful conditions on death row inflict extreme psychological suffering and execution is a physical and mental assault.
The most common forms of execution are beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, shooting and stoning.
There is also stoning which was considered particularly cruel or inhuman by the UN Human Rights Committee, and the lethal injection, sometimes referred to as the most humane method, has caused physical pain equivalent to cruel and inhumane treatment.
The inhumanity of death penalty goes beyond the person facing execution; it dehumanizes the rest of the society.
This World Day is the opportunity for abolitionists to work together all around the world, to help continue the trend towards abolition of the death penalty.
By 2010, 139 countries in the world had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, and 23 of the 58 retentionist states still executed people.
On World Day, the World Coalition calls on all those which retain the death penalty to establish a moratorium on its use, with a view to abolishing this inhumane practice.
Created in Rome in 2002, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) brings together 121 bar associations, trade unions, local governments and non-governmental organizations.
It aims at strengthening the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty and at contributing to put an end to death sentences and executions.
In 2003, The WCADP has established the World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October. It is also officially the European Day against Death Penalty since 2007.
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