Amnesty International has urged members of Trinidad and Tobago's parliament to vote against a constitutional amendment Bill which would allow executions to be resumed in the country.
Under the proposed Bill, scheduled to be debated on 18 February, courts across the country would be able to circumvent judicial rulings that enhanced human rights protection and resulted in a halt to executions in 1999.
Authorities in the Caribbean nation claim carrying out executions is a way to tackle rising numbers of murders and deter others from committing violent crime.
"Trinidad and Tobago has a real problem with murder and violent crimes, but experience has shown that facilitating executions is not the solution," said Chiara Liguori, researcher on Trinidad and Tobago at Amnesty International.
"Hurrying executions or ignoring appeals already in progress violates defendants' rights by denying them due process guaranteed under international law.
"The proposed Bill would allow people to be executed even if they were appealing against their sentence, which is their right."
"We urge Parliament not to accept the proposed Bill and instead tackle the root causes of violent crime and reform the police and justice systems."
"What may seem a technical change in the Constitution is in fact a matter of life and death for many people."
More than 40 people are currently on death row in Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1984, the United Nations' Economic and Social Council said an execution should not be carried out if there's any appeal or recourse procedure pending on the case.
The new Bill would circumvent this principle and allow for expedited executions.
Currently, under a ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, acting as the highest court in the country, any execution carried out five years after the original sentence constitutes torture, which is illegal under the country's Constitution.
The lengthy appeals process for death penalty cases means that, in practice, no executions are able to be carried out within the five year period and most sentences have been commuted to prison terms.
But Amnesty International says the proposed Bill will ignore that ruling and make the constitution inconsistent with human rights.
We are extremely concerned that the New Bill would allow for someone to be executed within a short period after a sentence is passed, not allowing for proper appeals and that others could be kept on death row for years on end," said Chiara Liguori.
The prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has been reported as referring to the death penalty as a "weapon in [our] arsenal" to fight the murder rate.
She is quoted on her Facebook website as saying: The Government that I have the honour to lead will ensure that this law is implemented and convicted murderers must suffer and pay the ultimate price by having the sentence of death carried out."
The country is one of 93 countries in the world which retains the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
Even though death sentences have continued to be handed out in Trinidad and Tobago, no executions have been carried out since 1999.
Source: Amnesty International, Feb. 16, 2011
URGENT ACTION APPEAL - From Amnesty International USA
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO -- Dozens of People on Death Row
On 18 February the Congress of Trinidad and Tobago will debate changes to the constitution that could put dozens of people on death row in immediate danger of execution. The new legislation is aimed at resuming executions, which have not taken place in the country since 1999.
On 14 January 2011, Trinidad and Tobago’s government, led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, submitted a Bill for approval by the Parliament aimed at reforming the Constitution in relation to the implementation of the death penalty. The Bill is scheduled to be debated on 18 February, and the law could be implemented in the following weeks. Amnesty International is concerned that the adoption of the Bill, as currently drafted, will put dozens of people currently on death row at serious risk of being executed in violation of international human rights laws and standards.
The Bill would enable death sentences to be carried out while appeals before international bodies are pending. In particular, it will give power to the President of posing time-restrictions for individuals under sentence of death to appeal, consult, communicate and conclude appeal with any person or body of persons outside Trinidad and Tobago. After the time limits ends, executions could be carried out even if the appeal has not been concluded. Implementing a death sentence while an appeal is pending is against international human rights standards related to the due process of law.
The Bill would also permit authorities to circumvent a 1993 ruling by the highest court of appeal for Trinidad and Tobago, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. This stated that a delay of more than five
years in implementing a death sentence would be cruel and inhuman treatment. If the Bill is passed, people who will be in the future sentenced to death could be executed even if they remain on death row for more than five years.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the desire to resume executions is being presented as a crime-control measure, despite the lack of convincing evidence of the deterrent effect of the death penalty on the crime situation.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Trinidad and Tobago, along with all English speaking Caribbean countries, retains the death penalty. The last executions took place in June and July 1999, when 10 men were hanged. The country has previously executed prisoners who still had legal avenues of appeal available to them. In 1994, Glen Ashby was executed as two courts examined his appeals. One of the courts issued a stay of execution at the same time as the hanging was taking place. On 22 June 1999, Anthony Briggs was executed despite an order, issued on the 25 May 1999, from the Inter-American Court on Human Rights that his life "be preserved until such time as the Court... issues a decision on the matter".
Even though no execution has been carried out since 1999, death sentences have continued to be handed out. The execution of Charles Elroy Laplace in St Kitts and Nevis in December 2008 was the first in the English-speaking Caribbean since 2000. His execution sparked fears that other English-speaking Caribbean nations will follow suit as pressure grows on the region's governments to be seen to be tackling an increase in violent crime.
The jurisprudence of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court of final appeal for most English-speaking Caribbean nations, and of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have set important standards to regulate the implementation of the death penalty.
Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are the only English-speaking Caribbean countries which retain mandatory death penalty for murder. However Barbados has pledged to remove the mandatory sentence, as Guyana did it last October 2010. The proposed Bill in Trinidad and Tobago retains the mandatory imposition of the death penalty for certain categories of murders, meaning that sentences of death are not the product of individualized determinations and are imposed without affording the convicted person the opportunity to present mitigating circumstances. The UN Human Rights Committee stated that "the automatic and mandatory imposition of the death penalty constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life". Regional and national jurisdictions have been continuously ruled out the mandatory imposition of the death penalty.
Trinidad and Tobago suffers from high levels of violent crime -- there were 472 reported homicides in 2010 and already 46 murders are reported just for January 2011. Scientific studies have consistently found no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Given the low conviction rate in Trinidad and Tobago, the emphasis should instead be put on improving the capacities of the police to detect and solve crimes, on the implementation of an effective witness protection programme and the implementation of effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The organization recognizes the duty of governments to tackle violent crime but believes that the death penalty is by nature ineffective and arbitrary, and is not an effective deterrent to crime. The application of death penalty inevitably leads to inconsistencies and errors, inescapable flaws which are exacerbated by discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct and inadequate legal representation. It brutalizes those involved in the process of executions and wider society as a whole. The organization believes that the rise in crime affecting much of the Caribbean will only be solved by addressing urgent reforms to police and justice systems and by implementing effective measures tackling the root causes of crime and violence, not with state killings.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Asking the Head of the ruling party and the Leader of the opposition to instruct the Members of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago to reject the proposed amendment to the Constitution, contained in the Constitution (Amendment) (Capital Offenses) Act, 2011, as it would enable executions in violation of international human rights laws and standards;
- Reminding them that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime;
- Calling on them to ensure that all people on death row are not executed;
- Calling, pending abolition, to immediately remove all provisions in national law which are in breach of international human rights law and standards, in particular by abolishing all provisions which provide for mandatory death sentences.
APPEALS TO:
Head of the ruling party
The Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Office of the Prime Minister
13 - 15 St. Clair Avenue, St. Clair
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 622 0055
Email: opm@ttgov.gov
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
Leader of the opposition
The Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley
Parliament
Red House P.O. Box 878
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 625 4672
Salutation:Dear Sir
COPIES TO:
President of the Senate
Senator the Hon. Timothy Hamel-Smith
Parliament
Red House P.O. Box 878
Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago
Fax: 011 868 625 4672
Ambassador Glenda Patricia Morean-Phillip
Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
1708 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 785 3130
Email: info@ttembwash.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
_________________________
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