An international conference on capital punishment and justice organized by the Rome-based Catholic lay community of Sant’Egidio drew attention to the fact that more than half of the world’s population lives in countries where the punishment still exists. of death. The conference called for the abolition of state-sanctioned capital punishment.
vatican city
Rome, Friday, November 29, 2024 (Rei, Vatican Radio): An international conference on the death penalty and justice, organized by the Community of Catholic Laymen of Sant’Egidio in Rome, drew attention to the fact that more Half of the world’s population lives in countries where the death penalty still exists. The conference called for the abolition of state-sanctioned capital punishment.
More than half of the world’s population lives in countries where the death penalty still exists, including Iran, the United States, China and Saudi Arabia.
In the United States, pressure continues to pardon more than 2,100 Americans who were sentenced to death before January 6. Human rights activists are calling on President Joe Biden to use “presidential pardon powers” to pardon 44 federal death row inmates. This is because Donald Trump is at risk of being executed if he is sworn in, as one of the promises made by the president-elect is that he will execute the remaining people on federal death row.
conference for life
The 14th edition of the International Congress of Ministers of Justice was organized on November 28 by the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome to debate the issue of the death penalty in the world. Since 2005, the meeting has invited ministers, activists and organizations from around the world to “create spaces for dialogue and discussion between different systems of justice practice and promote processes of prohibition and abolition of the death penalty.”
According to a report by Amnesty International, in 2022, 55 nations in the world will still apply the death penalty. Speaking to Vatican News, anti-death penalty activist Whitney Yang of Amnesty International says it will only end if everyone participates. She says, “It requires action from ordinary people at the grassroots level, calling their representatives, calling their government and telling them that they believe in the right to life.”
Yang, in particular, is fighting for the freedom of Billy Allen, a death row inmate in the United States. 27 years ago he was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. She says: “Life is sacred, all life is sacred and no human being should have the right to take the life of another.”
South Africa is leading the way
In 1994, just a year after the beginning of democracy in South Africa, the country abolished the death penalty because, as South Africa’s new Minister of Justice, Thembi Nkadimeng, explains, “access to justice meant access to life.” . He says South Africa has played an important role in abolishing the death penalty. He said South Africa has helped other African countries follow suit.
Speaking to Vatican News on the sidelines of the Rome conference, the Minister of Justice expressed his hope that other countries can “unite in this,” including in defending the dignity of a criminal who is still worthy of the crime. He warns that it cannot be recovered because “the life that is lost never returns.”
