Amnesty condemns Trinidad hangings
Amnesty International is objecting to the recent execution of nine men by the Trinidad and Tobago Government and is urging it to invest resources into finding and developing effective means to reduce the violent crime rate in that country. In a press statement the organisation stated that it recognised that the nine men were convicted of a heinous crime and expressed sincere sympathy on behalf of its worldwide membership to the survivors of the Baboolal family, members of whom were executed. Amnesty stated that the Trinidad and Tobago government had said that capital punishment was necessary to combat the rise in violent crime in the country over the past ten years, but, according to the organisation, studies have never shown that the death penalty was an effective deterrent to crime. It continued that contrary to statements made by Attorney General, Ramesh Maharaj, the death penalty was a human rights issue. It stated that in April this year, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights created a resolution which called on state parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty. According to the release, international human rights standards require that states like Trinidad and Tobago, which retain the death penalty comply with safeguards requiring that the human rights of a person under sentence of death are respected. These rights include the right to a fair trial and the right to be treated with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. In recent years, international human rights monitoring bodies have found that the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago have violated the human rights of people under sentence of death, Amnesty said.
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