On September 14, Human Rights Commission (HRC) Chairperson...

On September 14, Human Rights Commission (HRC) Chairperson Judge Lombe Chibesakunda said the trend internationally was to move towards the development of a principle of law that prohibits the imposition of capital punishment no matter what crime is involved. Speaking at the International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights in Africa, she said the importance of the right to life is signified by the debate on capital punishment that has raged for decades. Judge Chibesakunda stated that despite atrocities committed in the 1994 Rwanda genocide - with 800,000 people killed - the United Nations did not provide for capital punishment in the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as one of the punishments to be imposed on those found guilty of having committed genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity.