Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, Foreign Minister of DRC

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: MINISTERS IN FAVOR OF AN IRREVERSIBLE MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS

March 31, 2012: At the interregional conference against the death penalty in Central Africa, organized by Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and the Congolese Association “Culture pour la paix et la justice”, which was held in Kinshasa on 30 and 31 March, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, Foreign Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo has officially announced that his country is poised to establish an irreversible moratorium on executions.
Luzolo Bambi, Minister of Justice, for his part, said to be in favour of a "responsible" abolition of the death penalty in the context of a reform of the Congolese prison system to ensure the certainty of punishment.
These announcements confirm the trend towards abolition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has observed a moratorium on executions since 2003. The Congolese Constitution, which came into force in 2006, under Articles 16 and 61, proclaims the right to life of every human being.
At this conference, Raphaël Chenuil-Hazan, Director of ECPM, said that "after the abolition of slavery and torture, the abolition of the death penalty has become a universal struggle for humanity. The DRC should have a strong political will to act towards abolition of the death penalty, since many neighboring countries have already abolished it (Angola, Burundi, Gabon, Rwanda, ...).” Lievin N’Gondji, president of “Culture pour la paix et la justice” and coordinator of the Coalition Against the Death Penalty in Central and East Africa, for his part, has called on Congolese Members of Parliament "to legislate against the death penalty as Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda did, since the abolition is one of the victories that mankind has to achieve.” (Sources: www.abolition.fr, 04/05/2012)