On July 15, 2008, the Liberian Senate adopted...

On July 15, 2008, the Liberian Senate adopted a law introducing the death penalty for homicides committed during acts of armed robbery, terrorism or hijacking, confirming a May 7 vote of the Chamber of Representatives. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who could have opposed the legislation, signed it into law on July 22, 2008.
Liberian law already included the possibility of the death penalty, but the new law goes against Liberia’s international commitments. On September 16, 2005, the National Transitional Government, led by Charles Gyude Bryant, subscribed to 103 international treaties. Among others, Liberia acceded to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
The National Transitional Government was established under the September 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement following 14 years of civil war. The war came to an end with all-party peace talks in August 2003, after the capitulation of then-President Charles Taylor to international pressure and rebel forces. Under Taylor’s rule, Liberia was frequently denounced for human rights violations by international and humanitarian organizations. The National Transitional Government led the country up to Presidential elections held in October and November 2005. Economist and former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won the run-off against former footballer George Weah in the second round of the poll. She took office in January 2006, becoming Africa’s first elected woman head of state.
Liberia’s endorsement of the 103 treaties under Gyude Bryant’s leadership was hailed by then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as “a landmark in Liberia’s journey away from a difficult past and towards a more tenable future grounded in the rule of law, respect for human rights and good democratic governance.”
The Second Optional Protocol commits its members to three main obligations: it forbids them to resort to executions, asks that members abolish the death penalty within their jurisdictions and abstain from reintroducing it. Under customary international law, as reflected in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which Liberia ratified on 29 August 1985, a state “may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as a justification for its failure to perform a treaty.”
Liberia should have in principle abolished the death penalty after its accession to the Second Optional Protocol in 2005, but some members of Parliament have been questioning the Protocol’s status. “The President may have signed an international document aiming at abolishing the death penalty, but the Parliament knew nothing about. No such document was ratified by the Assembly,” Isaac Red, the Chamber of Representatives’ spokesman, said.
In a release from the Executive Mansion, President Johnson-Sirleaf indicated that she is fully cognizant that Liberia as a State Party is a signatory to the UN’s Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. However, the release continued, saying that she shares the view and responded to the appeal of the majority of citizens for a robust response to the increasing level of crime involving robberies that include physical assault, rape and murder by robbers who attack innocent citizens, thereby creating panic and a crisis of confidence in the society. The President has also said that she remains committed to revisiting the Act for possible amendment as soon as the situation is brought fully under control and sustainable peace is assured.
The last executions in Liberia, 14, took place in 2000.
On December 18, 2008, Liberia abstained from the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.