End the Death Penalty

Taking into account the commitments of the Government of Equatorial Guinea to abolish the death penalty, particularly within the framework of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), it is foreseeable that compliance with this commitment will be delayed if there is no additional pressure and push from the civil society at the international level especially.

It should be recalled that similar promises were made in previous years, which have been mostly delayed. For example, the government did not accept the recommendations on the abolition of the death penalty, or on the signing of Optional Protocol II to the Convention on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty.

However, as a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), Equatorial Guinea has associated its membership to the commitment to abolish the death penalty. At the moment, the country signed a moratorium on the execution of death sentences. We should also bear in mind that this has been a repeated request from the member countries of the European Union in the various processes for evaluating respect for human rights within the framework of the United Nations.

Transparência e Integridade – Transparency International (TI-PT), based in Lisbon, will play an important role in generating the necessary pressure before the CPLP to achieve the definitive and effective abolition of the death penalty in the country.

Throughout the length of the project, APROFORT will establish coalitions with human rights organisations and in other Portuguese-speaking countries, as well as organisations from Equatorial Guinea, to achieve this long-awaited commitment.