The meeting with the President of the National Assembly Kabadi

DEATH PENALTY: THE MISSION OF THE RADICAL PARTY IN CHAD CONTINUES

November 22, 2012: Yesterday was the second day of the mission of Hands Off Cain and the Radical Party in Chad to support the abolitionist process internally and gain the support of the African country to the UN resolution for the universal moratorium on executions.
The Radical delegation is composed of the President of Hands Off Cain Marco Pannella, by the Treasurer Elisabetta Zamparutti, the Secretary General of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, Demba Traorè, and the General Counsel of the Radical Party Matteo Angioli.
The delegation met with the President of the National Assembly Haroun Kabadi.
Kabadi, after explaining the steps that have been made by the country in the field of human rights during the difficult years, has pledged to ask the Foreign Minister the participation of Chad in the vote on the pro-moratorium resolution in the plenary of the General Assembly scheduled for mid-December.
During the meeting with the Under Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tedebe Ruth, the delegation was made aware of the many protocols and treaties signed by Chad and the work in preparation for the reports that the country should submit to the UN Human Rights Council in view of the upcoming Universal Periodic Review in 2013.
During the meeting it was pointed out that in the process of revision of the Criminal Code and of the Code of Criminal Procedure the death penalty was put in brackets because in contrast to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which excludes the death penalty even for serious crimes against humanity.
Tedebe Ruth said that she will give instructions to New York to have  the country participate in the vote on the pro-moratorium resolution awaiting the transition to the plenary.
Justice Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul recalled how the death penalty is a legacy of the French Criminal Code but in fact does not exist in a country where the tendency in favour of abolition.
According to the Minister, there is no conflict between abolitionists and maintainers in public opinion. Resistances are rather by certain elites who think that the maintenance contributes to respond to security needs.
He recalled how the revision of the Criminal Code requests a passage in the Council of Ministers where he hopes that we can modernize the country in this respect too.
The Minister of Justice pointed out the serious conditions in which the prisons dwell. in prisons are held about 3,500 people for whom the simple nourishment is already a problem for the state coffers. The Minister also expressed his appreciation for the approach of the radical delegation, very different from the moral lessons that often give other stakeholders.
This was followed by a meeting with the Minister of Land Jean Bernard Padare who said he was in favour of abolishing also because of his activism against the death penalty when he was President of the League for Human Rights of Chad.
He also stressed the need for awareness-raising campaigns for a country which in his opinion is not yet ready to abolition.
He did not fail to draw attention to the conditions of prisons and stressed the importance of the visit of the radical delegation that, in its view, will leave of the tracks in the country.
The Radical delegation then met with representatives of the international community such as the Ambassador of the EU Commission in Chad, Helene Cave, the counsellor for political affairs of the German Embassy Marthi Larretgere and the French Ambassador Michel Reveyrand.
All stressed the progress made by a country that only in 2008 saw the end of 20 years of conflict. It is a country where almost miraculously resists a climate of relative peace and stability despite the tensions of the Sahel, the Great Lakes region and Sudan.
they have also emphasized that serves the greater involvement of the international community in a country that ranks at the bottom for development aid received.
At the end of the day there was a meeting with the NGO Human Rights Without Borders, represented by Daniel Deuzoumbé Passalet.
The human rights activists have pledged to campaign in order to Chad to vote in favor of the UN Resolution and internally stressed that the main resistance to the abolition come from the judiciary.
They have also stressed the importance of following the international path for the abolition through the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to then have the time to launch domestic level awareness-raising campaigns aimed at parliamentarians, judges and the public opinion. (Sources: HOC, 22/11/2012)