Target: Ousmane Bougouma, President of Burkina Faso Transitional Legislative Assembly
Goal: Veto reinstatement of death penalty as a punitive measure.
For centuries, capital punishment was used as a weapon of intimidation and torture on the African continent. In recent years, the tide seemed to have turned, with two dozen nations abolishing the death penalty and two more seriously mulling it. But this progress is being lost as executions have tripled, according to global organization Amnesty International.
Now, a nation in the iron-fisted grip of a military coup may strike another blow. The new regime of Burkina Faso has proposed reinstating the death penalty. In 2018, the country’s National Assembly formally ended capital punishment after the practice had seen a previous 30-year moratorium.
Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly will have to approve this repeal before it can become law. Sign the petition below to urge this body of legislators to respect the will of its people to end this deadly practice.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear President Bougouma,
As a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Burkina Faso is bound by some key pledges. One of this covenant’s stated missions is an abolishment of the death penalty. This nation did honor that mission – as well as the majority of citizens who opposed the practice – by ending capital punishment several years ago.
Please do not take a step back now. Do not return to this nation a deadly practice increasingly viewed as a best-forgotten relic of more barbaric times.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Imagno
73 Signatures