Abolition of the Death Penalty in Africa
Abolition of the Death Penalty in Subsaharan Africa
Since 2012, FIACAT has run, jointly with ACATs that are active in sub-Saharan Africa, a programme aiming to help abolish the death penalty on the African continent.
Since 2015 the project has been run jointly with the World Coalition against the death penalty, and it targets 23 African countries.
Nowadays, most African countries are in favour of abolition. Rwanda abolished the death penalty in 2007, Burundi and Togo in 2009, Gabon in 2010, Benin in 2012, Congo and Madagascar in 2015, Guinea in 2016 for ordinary crimes and 2017 for military crimes , Burkina Faso in 2018, Chad in 2020, Sierra Leone in 2021, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia in 2022.
Testimony of a former death row inmate in Benin :
By January 1st 2023, 26 of the 55 African Union member States have abolished the death penalty for all crimes.