ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
Human Rights our Collective Responsibility
INTERSESSION ACTIVITY REPORT
(October 2024-April 2025)
Presented by THE HONOURABLE COMMISSIONER IDRISSA SOW CHAIRPERSON OF THE WORKING GROUP ON THE DEATH PENALTY, EXTRAJUDICIAL, SUMMARY OR ARBITRARY KILLINGS AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES IN AFRICA
83rd Ordinary session of the ACHPR Banjul, The Gambia, 2-22 May 2025
INTRODUCTION
- This report is submitted in accordance with Rules 25 (3) and 64 of the Rules of Procedure 2020 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (the Commission) and section 3 (d) of the Rules Governing the Establishment and Functioning of the Special Mechanisms of the Commission. It covers the activities carried out during the intersession period from October 2024 to April 2025.
- The report consists of four chapters. Chapter I provides an overview of the situation of the death penalty, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings and enforced disappearances in Africa. Chapter II covers the activities carried out in my capacity as Chairperson of the Working Group on the Death Penalty, Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Africa (Working Group) and as a member of other special mechanisms; Chapter III covers the activities carried out in my capacity as Commissioner-Country Rapporteur; and finally Chapter IV is devoted to conclusions and recommendations.
Chapter I: The situation of the death penalty, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings and enforced disappearances in Africa
A. The death penalty
- During the period under review, Zimbabwe abolished the death penalty;¹ thus out of the 54 States Parties to the Charter, 25 have abolished the death penalty for all crimes², 4 for ordinary crimes,³ and 15 observe a moratorium on executions.⁴ During the same period, Zambia ratified without reservation the 2nd Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the Abolition of the Death Penalty⁵, thereby expressing its desire to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.
- In December 2024, 33 African countries, compared to 17 in 2007, voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Kenya, Morocco and Zambia, which had always abstained, voted in favour of the resolution. Ghana and Liberia, which voted in favour of the resolution for the first time in 2022, confirmed their positive vote in 2024. The Democratic Republic of the Congo switched from voting against to abstaining, and the Central African Republic shifted from voting in favour to abstaining. Gabon, Sao Tomé and Principe, Seychelles and Somalia, which abstained or were absent in 2022, voted in favour of the resolution.
- According to information we have received, at least 34 executions were carried out in Somalia and at least two in Egypt in 2024. In the same year, 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa passed death sentences.⁶