-Law school and EU join the debate
Efforts are being stepped up to abolish the death penalty in Liberia.
Liberian law students and legal experts joined voices with the European Union to call for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in Liberia, during activities marking the World Day against the Death Penalty.
At an event on earlier this week (October 10, 2018), organized by the European Union in collaboration with the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law of the University of Liberia, two teams of law students debated on Liberia’s legal framework regarding the death penalty.
Arguments were presented in support for and against the abolition of the capital punishment in Liberia.
Law students and legal experts highlighted that in 2005 Liberia acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty.
And as a State party to this international instrument, Liberia is required to amend its law to eliminate the death penalty.
The debaters also stressed that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that the Death Penalty effectively deters crimes.
Several professional lawyers and academicians, including former Liberian Solicitor General Tiawan Gongloe, Judge Peter Gbeneweleh and Dr. Gerald Meyermann, as well as Cllr. Boakai Kanneh, Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, participated in the event.
Ms Bah-Wah Brownell, representing Liberia’s Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), stressed that Death Penalty is a violation of the most basic Human Right, the Right to Life, enshrined in the Liberian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Head of the European Union Delegation to Liberia, Ambassador Hélène Cavé, emphasized EU’s strong commitment to human rights and the abolition of the death penalty, a cruel and inhuman punishment.
The EU envoy said it is an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity, which fails to provide deterrence to criminal behavior. Furthermore, any miscarriage of justice, inevitable in any legal system, is irreversible.
She stressed there is a worldwide trend towards abolition of the death penalty, and a very valuable opportunity for Liberia to move forward towards the abolition of death penalty in its law
The EU Ambassador said Liberia should join the group of more than 100 countries that have already done so, according to a press statement.