by Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
The Community of Sant’Egidio invited me to attend The First International Conference on The Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean. It was held in Madrid from 17 – 19 October, 2011 and was organized in collaboration with the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, The Puerto Rican Coalition Against The Death Penalty, and the Death Penalty Project. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation sponsored the Conference.
I was asked to be one of the Discussants – commenting on 2 of the Keynote Speakers’ presentations from my own experiences. A Media Release on the proceedings is available at: http://www.nodeathpenalty.santegidiomadrid.org/ . Gregory Delzin, TT Attorney-at-Law, and long-time advocate against the death penalty also participated in the Conference. It is significant that on 30 Sept, Catholic News Service reported statements made by Tommaso Di Ruzza, officer at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and expert on capital punishment and arms control.
While he acknowledges that the Catholic Church’s position on capital punishment has evolved over the centuries, he makes it clear that “there is no room for supporting the death penalty in today’s world.” He referred to changes in our 1997 Catechism which reflected Pope John Paul II’s 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life. Read the 2 page report on: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103884.htm . Pope Benedict XVI continues to praise countries that have abolished the Death Penalty.
Our own Caribbean Bishops have said in their Pastoral Letters on Capital Punishment (2000) and in The Gift of Life (2008): “The Church’s teaching does not provide the basis for the re-introduction or the renewed use of the death penalty which is presently under discussion in the region.” They expressed their “firm desire that the leaders and people of Caribbean Society move toward the total abolition of the Death Penalty.”
They rightly encourage rehabilitation and non-lethal forms of punishment which are more in keeping with “the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.” The AEC President, Archbishop Pinder of Nassau, has also called on parishes to establish victim support groups so that the faithful stand in solidarity with those who are hurting and grieving for their loved ones who have been killed as a result of crime. Let it not be said that the Catholic Church is only concerned about the welfare of offenders. God loves both the victims and the perpetrators of crimes. We are all made in His image and likeness and are endowed with inherent, inalienable, and inviolable dignity. All life is of worth.
Most of the English speaking Caribbean countries voted against the adoption of the UN’s 2007, 2008 and 2010 resolutions on a Moratorium on the use of the Death Penalty – with a view to its eventual abolition. There is a continuing trend towards abolition around the world. Amnesty International states that 139 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice.
There are 25 countries in the “Great Caribbean” region. Nine are abolitionist for all crimes (all Spanish speaking countries – see the Conference’s Media release). Two are de facto abolitionist, Grenada and Suriname, because they have not carried executions in the last 10 years and because they do not attempt to. Thirteen countries are retentionist, out of which 11 are from the Commonwealth (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bahamas, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Guatemala). The last hanging was in St Kitts and Nevis in December 2008.
Those attending the Conference agreed that while we recognise the urgent need to reduce crime in the region, we must devise anti-crime plans that reject the death penalty as a crime-fighting tool. It will not help us create safe, secure communities. See the views on the place of the death penalty as a crime fighting tool in Peter D. Hart Research Associates’ 1995 poll in the USA of randomly selected police chiefs:
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ front-line-law-enforcement-views-death-penalty
One of the outcomes of the Conference is the establishment of a Working Group entitled: The Great Caribbean Network For Life. The group comprises 5 persons: Simeon Sampson, SC, Belize; Mario Polanco, Guatemala; Dr Lloyd Barnett, OJ, Jamaica; Carmelo Campos Cruz, Puerto Rico; and me, Leela Ramdeen, Trinidad and Tobago. This is a temporary group established inter alia, to communicate information, to consult widely and to draw up an operational plan. Dr Barnett O.J., former Senator and current member of the Regional Judicial & Legal Services Commission, is a member of the Group and is currently drafting a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the Group’s work.
Our vision for the Caribbean must be to build a culture of life and to promote integral human development of all our people. Please pray for the success of our work.
