As the World marks Day Against the Death Penalty, Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS) and Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) on Thursday drew attention to the negative impact of the death penalty on children.
October 10 has over the years been slated as World Day Against the Death Penalty. It is a day set aside every year to advocate the abolition of the death penalty and raise awareness on the conditions and the circumstances which affect prisoners on death sentence. The day was first organised by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty in 2003.
To commemorate the day, two Human Rights Organisations, HURILAWS and LEDAP have drawn public consciousness to the effect of the penalty on children in the society. In a statement jointly signed by Mr. Collins Okeke and Mrs. Pamela Okoroigwe, representing both organisations, they, among others, called on government to put in place modalities with a focus on children.
“In its 2018 global report on death sentences and executions, Amnesty International recorded that in Nigeria; at least 19,336 people were on death row. Many of these people have children connected to them either as daughters, sons, nephews, or nieces. The effect of this does not only affect the person who is sentenced, as family members of the sentenced persons are also collateral victims”.
HURILAWS and LEDAP call on the Federal and State legislators and executives in Nigeria to:
“Put in place an official moratorium on the imposition of death sentence and the carrying out of executions on the parent of a child.