AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER RIGHTS SITUATION IN AFRICA

Amnesty International addressed the African commission on human and people’s rights on the state of the situation of human rights in Africa. While Gabon abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2010, more executions and death sentences were recorded in the region in 2010 than in 2009. Despite continued calls from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights for the establishment of a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition of the death penalty in Africa, executions resumed after a hiatus in Equatorial Guinea and under the transitional federal government of Somalia. A significant increase in death sentencing was also registered, particularly in West Africa where Nigeria alone accounted for the imposition of more 150 new death sentences. The number of crimes for which the death penalty is applicable was expanded in the Gambia.