A four-day visit to Zambia by a delegation from the...

A four-day visit to Zambia by a delegation from the Italian Senate's Human Rights Commission and HOC officials marked the point of no return in the process towards abolition in the country judging from political commitments made and the huge public exposure the delegation's abolitionist brief was given, HOC said.
All the authorities and representatives of civil society met by the delegation stated that abolition will be determined through the constitutional review process, that includes wide consultations with non-governmental organizations. Constitution Review Commission chief Willa Mungomba said the force of the arguments presented by both sides will carry the issue, rather than simply a majority in numbers.
All political authorities met by the delegation have already taken a stance in favour of abolition and intend to play a leading role in the public debate.
HOC's proposal to organize in Lusaka a regional conference on the death penalty was welcomed by both government officials and NGOs. The conference is planned for 2005 and will provide a forum for discussion between retentionist and abolitionist states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The aim is to plan an African strategy towards death penalty abolition.
The visit to the Mukobeko Maximum Security Prison was badly-managed and disappointing, HOC Secretary General and delegation member Sergio D'Elia said.
The delegation was barred from visiting death row and speaking to inmates. D'Elia said they were only allowed to see some locals well primed for the visit, nevertheless the delegation was still shocked at the overcrowding and concerned about the health hazards this could cause.
The prison houses 1,324 inmates, and as many as 100 occupy cells built for 10.
Jail authorities also furnished previously information previously unavailable outside the country: there are 259 people condemned to death in Zambia, and all are held at the Mukobeko jail except four male prisoners transferred to a Lusaka facility for health reasons and a woman, also detained in the capital.
"The authorities did not want us to see what they themselves don't like to see," D'Elia told the media at a conference at the Italian embassy in Lusaka that concluded the visit.
D'Elia said the curtailing of the visit the delegation was allowed in the jail was not attributable to censorship by an authoritarian regime but rather to "a form of discretion, considering the strong political will to improve human rights standards that we gauged in this country."
The delegation consisted of senate commission president Enrico Pianetta (FI) and includes senators Antonio Iovine (DS), Alessandro Forlani (UDC), and Cinzia Dato (Margherita). HOC was represented secretary general Sergio D'Elia and senior annual report editor Elisabetta Zamparutti.