KEY POINTS
- Zimbabwe ends the death penalty after decades of legal reforms.
- The government ensures all death row inmates get resentencing.
- UN leaders urge other countries to follow Zimbabwe’s lead.
Zimbabwe’s successful abolition of the death penalty has been praised by nations attending the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Zimbabwe abolishes death penalty after decades of colonial legacy
Virginia Mabiza, the attorney general of Zimbabwe, spoke at the high-level convention and described the nation’s efforts to abolish the death penalty, which was instituted by British colonial rulers and persisted long after Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980.
“Ultimately, in 2024, the government enacted the Death Penalty Abolition Act, a significant milestone in the country’s human rights journey,” Mabiza stated. “The law outlawed the imposition of the death penalty and placed a legal obligation on the minister responsible for justice, the prosecutor general, and the commissioner general of prisons to ensure that every prisoner sentenced to death is brought before the High Court for resentencing.”
Speaking on behalf of the core group on the death penalty, which consists of Belgium, Benin, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Mongolia, Moldova, and Switzerland, Maxime Prevot, the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs for Belgium, commended Zimbabwe’s decision and urged other countries to do the same. Additionally, he called on nations that have not yet abolished the death sentence to put a stop to its application.
Global leaders applaud Zimbabwe’s bold human rights move
According to New Zimbabawe, Switzerland applauded Zimbabwe on its important move in defending human rights and welcomed Mabiza’s attendance in the Human Rights Council session.
Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that 113 nations have completely abolished the death sentence. He commended Zimbabwe for doing the same, joining 26 other African countries.
According to Mabiza, Zimbabwe inherited many crimes that carried the death penalty when it gained its independence. Since then, a variety of legislative and policy initiatives have been put out to progressively lower the number of crimes for which the death penalty is applicable.
In 2013, Zimbabwe complied with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 52, which asks for the limitation of the capital sentence, by reducing the number of crimes punishable by death from nine to only murder committed with aggravating circumstances.
