COUNTRIES attending the ongoing 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council have saluted Zimbabwe for successfully abolishing the death penalty.
Speaking at the high-level convention, Zimbabwe's Attorney General Virginia Mabiza chronicled the country's journey in ending the death penalty which was introduced by British colonial powers and remained in place even beyond the attainment of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.
She said at independence, Zimbabwe inherited a wide array of offences that attracted the death penalty and since then, various legislative and policy interventions have been implemented to gradually reduce the number of crimes attracting the death penalty.
In 2013, the number of offences attracting the death penalty had been reduced from nine to only murder committed in aggravating circumstances in sync with the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 52 on reducing the number of offences that attract the death penalty.
"Ultimately, in 2024, the Government enacted the Death Penalty Abolition Act [Chapter 9:26], a significant milestone in the country's human rights journey. The Death Penalty Abolition Act [Chapter 9:26] outlawed the imposition of the Death Penalty.
"It further placed a positive legal obligation on the Minister responsible for Justice, the Prosecutor General and the Commissioner General of Prisons to do everything within their respective competencies to ensure every prisoner under the sentence of death is brought before the High Court for resentencing," Mabiza told the gathering.
Maxime Prevot, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation, speaking on behalf of the core group on the question of the death penalty (Belgium, Benin, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Mongolia, Republic of Moldova, and Switzerland), hailed the recent decision of Zimbabwe to abolish the death penalty and encouraged other states to follow suit, or, pending its abolition, to impose a moratorium on its use.
Switzerland welcomed Mabiza's presence at the Human Rights Council and congratulated Zimbabwe for the major step in the protection of human rights.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk observed that 113 countries have abolished the death penalty completely. He commended the Zimbabwean government for joining 26 other countries in Africa that have abolished the death penalty.
