HANDS OFF CAIN HANDS THE 2010 ABOLITIONIST OF THE YEAR AWARD TO JEAN PING, PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

July 31, 2010: during the ceremony that was held today at the Hands Off Cain headquarters, Senate Vice President Emma Bonino handed the “Abolitionist of the Year” award to the President of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping.

The award is given by Hands Off Cain in recognition of the person who above all others was committed to the moratorium on capital punishment and the abolition of the death penalty.

Before being elected president of the African Union Commission in February 2008, Jean Ping was the Foreign Minister of Gabon. During his mandate, the Government of Gabon approved and presented in Parliament the proposal for the abolition of capital punishment in the country. In this period, Gabon also stood out amongst the cosponsors and protagonists at the United Nations struggle in December 2007 for the successful achievement of the Resolution for the Universal Moratorium on capital punishment.

The most significant steps towards the abolition of the death penalty were taken in Africa and, in particular, in countries that have ample evidence of the martyrdom of this continent. However, these countries also demonstrate the will to heal the conflicts, achieve democracy and launch messages of non violence and tolerance.

In the last two years, Rwanda, Burundi and Togo abolished capital punishment, however it is in the first two countries that abolition had an extraordinary symbolic value. More than just judicial and political value, these were lands where the continual chain of vengeance may be the most real and tragic representation of the story of Cain and Abel.

During the ceremony, a message from President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano was read in which he wrote that: "The choice of conferring the ‘Abolitionist of the Year’ award to the president of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping, represents a deserved recognition of the contribution given by president Ping to the international abolitionist cause of the death penalty, a goal of judicial civility in favour of Italy’s coherent work in every forum."

"The prize furthermore has the merit of underlining the necessity of a particular force for the abolition of the death penalty in the African continent, where in the last few years encouraging steps in an auspicious direction were taken."

Chamber President Gianfranco Fini also applauded the choice of awarding the prize to Jean Ping in a message sent to the Association. "A deserved and prestigious acknowledgement that rewards his huge contribution towards creating the necessary conditions to the approval of the proposal for the abolition of capital punishment in Gabon and accelerating the abolitionist process in the entire African continent." (Sources: Hands Off Cain, Agi, 31/07/2009)