July 2007 

PRI and the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) have issued the Final Declaration of the conference they recently co-hosted in Amman. The text of the Final Declaration reads as follows:    

"Within the framework of its EC sponsored programme against the death penalty, Penal Reform International (PRI) together with the Amman Centre for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS), organised a regional conference in Amman, Jordan, on 2nd and 3rd of July 2007 to develop a regional strategy to advance the abolition of the death penalty in the Arab World.

The conference brought together representatives of national coalitions against the death penalty from several Arab countries including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Yemen.

During the two-day conference, representatives of the national coalitions presented reports reflecting their countries’ legal and judicial environment in which the death penalty is administrered. They underlined the barbaric nature of the death penalty and expressed concern over the disfunctional state of judicial systems in their respective countries.

The conference was attended by judges, theologians from different faiths, academics, journalists, police officers and human rights activists.

On the first day, reports were presented shedding light on the different state of readyness to move towards abolishing the death penalty among the represented countries; there are those who sent out signals indicating their willingness to progressively move towards abolition and those who are less ready for abolition but expressed the need for restricting to the minimum the number of cases where the death penalty is applied and imposing the highest standards for fair trials under Islamic law.

On the second day, the participants formed two working groups to develop specific strategies to suit the needs of individual countries and a plan of action to challenge the death penalty in the Arab World for the next fifteen months.

The conference then concluded with the formation of a regional coaltion against the death penalty composed of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Yemen, with an open invitation for future national coallitions from other Arab countries to join in with the aim of reaching an Arab society free of the death penalty where the rule of law, sanctity of human life, human rights and tolerence prevail.

The set objectives of the regional coalition are the following:

•  To secure the ownership and the continuation of the programme challenging the death penalty when PRI’s programme comes to an end.
•  To work towards enlarging the membership of the regional coalition by inviting other Arab countries to challenge the death penalty.
•  To join the world movement against the death penalty in celebrating the World Day Against the Death Penalty on the 10th of October by engaging in a range of activities to be performed over a 3-day period.
•  To encourage the country the most ready to abolish death penalty to host a regional gathering on the World Day Against Death Penalty.
•  To establish an Arab observatory for death penalty under the supervision of PRI (Amman Office) and ACHRS.
•  To facilitate an exchange of expertise and good practices among national coalitions.
•  To promote research and studies on alternatives to the death penalty.

Finally, the conference adopted a vote of thanks and gratitude to the hosting country and a motion of recognition and appreciation of the efforts of PRI and ACHRS in organising this special event to challenge the death penalty in the Arab World."

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