Adopted by the Second Regional Conference for North and West Africa on the Question of the Death Penalty in Africa.
1. The Second Regional Conference for North and West Africa on the Question of the Death Penalty in Africa was held in Cotonou, Benin from 12 to 15 April 2010.
2. The Conference was organized by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the ACHPR) as part of the work of the African Commission’s Working Group on the Death Penalty in Africa (WGDP). The Working Group is a special mechanism established during its 37th Ordinary Session held in Banjul, The Gambia, in May 2005, to, inter alia, developing a document on the Question of the Death Penalty in Africa, and propose strategies aimed at the abolition of the death penalty in Africa.
3. Sixty-three (63) participants representing thirteen (13) Member States of the African Union (States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights) took part in the Conference. They included Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Libya, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saharawi Republic, Senegal and Tunisia. The Conference was also attended by AU Organs and UN Agencies, National Human Rights Institutions, Academic and National Institutions, International and National NGOs.
