14 October 2011 :

this morning in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the Inter-African conference against the death penalty opened. The conference was held by the Rwandan government with Hands off Cain under the aegis of the African and European Unions. Representatives of about twenty African governments were present, as well as various exponents from the international community and many non governmental organisations. After the opening ceremony Jean Ping, Louis Michel and Aldo Ajello gave speeches, before the official speech by Paul Kagame, the charismatic president and historic Rwandan leader.
“In Rwanda in 1994, death was on every street corner," the Justice Minister reminisced in his opening. "The only hope was to survive until the next day. After the genocide we didn't have judges or prosecutors or police, yet we still achieved justice and not revenge: who would have done this better than us? It was an extraordinary experience, that today we are allowed to live in harmony. We have humbled death by not giving it the dignity of the law.”
The president of the African Union, Jean Ping of Gabon, gave a eulogy to Rwanda and to Kagame: “This country, after having suffered so much, knew to arrive at forgiveness. Taking Gabon as an example, we could never have believed Rwanda would abolish the death penalty in turn. Today Rwanda is making enormous progress in all sectors. To protect life, the Rule of Law needs to be established and citizens must be educated about democracy. Today the African Union supports abolition or a moratorium in all its efforts.” Ping concluded by acknowledging Marco Pannella and his commitment against the death penalty in Africa and all over the world.
Louis Michel, co-president of the ACP-UE parliamentary assembly, emphasised the fact that the country that had known absolute evil had decided to hold the abolitionist conference. “It is a struggle in all people against barbarism. Democracies that want to be defined as such, are embarrassed by the continued use of this perverse institute."
With the death penalty, China, Iran, and the United States have a ancestral relationship, centred on the inequality of citizens before the law. Abolition is therefore an act of political courage, without cultivating the illusion of the deterrent effect of executions.”
Aldo Ajello, honourary president of Hands Off Cain, remembered the organisation's long fight as a part of the Non Violent Transnational and Trans-party Radical Party led by Marco Pannella. Ajello also remembered how the success of the UN pro-moratorium resolution was achieved by exceeding the Eurocentric conception: “prudence isn't always a good advisor.” Ajello also emphasised the courageous act of processing those guilty of genocide without resorting to revenge, rather by reconciling the end of impunity and the culture of forgiveness. “We have awarded Kagame and we are honoured to have done it, rejecting all the charges, to not confuse the assassinated with the assassins.”
Paul Kagame then spoke of the absolute ineffectiveness of the death penalty for dissuading criminals. “Our experience teaches us that abolition has contributed to harmony, because crime has decreased. We have put genocide in front of judicial problems and morals, because to punish the guilty with death would have meant killing another thousand people. We did not put those guilty of genocide to death, instead we preferred to break with the past, and we have never regretted this decision," the Rwandan president concluded.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini sent a message to the conference, in which he said that “the Italian government is proud to take part in an broad coalition of nations, from all continents, to support the international campaign against the death penalty. We are convinced that the death penalty denies a person of their fundamental rights and does not provide any value in terms of security or deterrence. This campaign represents an Italian foreign policy priority, in full harmony with Parliament and civil society.”
The Kigali conference will run for the entire day. The closing is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.