A delegation from the International Secretariat of Amnesty International is expected to visit Dominica to gather information on what has been described as “several human rights concerns” including the death penalty.
The delegation is expected to arrive on the island on Thursday, December 1 and will leave on Sunday, December 4 and will comprised of James Burke, campaigner for the Caribbean, Chiara Sangiorgi, campaigner on the death penalty and Chiara Liguori, researcher Caribbean Team.
According to Amnesty International the visit is part of a wider project against the death penalty in the English-speaking Caribbean has identified Trinidad and Dominica as destinations for its first mission. The organization said, “While Trinidad and Tobago has been identified as the country with more entrenched support towards the retention of the death penalty (including mandatory death penalty) and where there is a higher risk for resumption of executions, Dominica is seen as the most likely to take steps towards.”
During the visit to Dominica the team will meet with authorities, lawyers and civil society organisations and learn about activities carried out by the Dominica Social Justice and Peace Committee and discuss the possibility of campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty in Dominica.
Dominica has a death penalty nuh? Papa Mette, and all these killers are going free?
Dominica needs the death penalty!!
I vote for a remaining life of hard labor as repentance. This is because some people are wrongly convicted in the system.
Can you pinpoint one person that was wrongly convicted for murder in Dominica? When you would think of removing the death penalty, there would be more killings, I have person say “I will you and go and take my 4 years”
What happen, these so-called Amnesty International people have noting better to do? Why dont they focus on feeding the people that are starving. Help Haiti, the women of Nepal who are being sold as sex slaves, the innocent of Lybia, Egypt, Africa and the list goes on and on. Can someone please tell me when was the last time did Dominica put someone to “sleep”? Tell these people to stay out of our internal affairs/laws. If they want work to do, go put a stop to the executions in the US, when this is done, then they can focus on other courntries capital punishment….
They are executing people for drugs in Iran when found guilty, why dont these Amnesty Internationals go to Iran and help to curb these executions?
These reader comments are the very reason Amnesty International should examine Dominica. And for those of you who think you are being singled out, and telling them to go to Iran, Texas etc – get yourselves an education. Amnesty are international – it’s their nature. They go everywhere in the world to investigate human rights abuses. And as for Dominica – homosexuality as an illegal act, unreported and widespread child abuse, sex abuse, wife beating, human trafficking, the death penalty, do I need to continue ? It’s time to advance from the dark ages. My only complaint is that they are late.
I wonder how much the economic idea of economies of scale figure into AI’s calculations re the death penalty. In other words, do they think that poor countries like ours have the deep pockets required to maintain each person whose sentence is commuted to life imprisonment? Consider this: It takes about $1 billion dollars (over a 20-year period average) to fund the appeals process for an American inmate seeking commutation of a death penalty against him/her. Meantime, every case should be determined on its own merits to be adjudged a death penalty case. We should not assume every case of homicide meets exactly the same test.
I can believe these comments. Humans rights, are human rights. Every human has rights. But you won”t understand, because dont know what it’s like.
ignorance!
Amnesty international, how about Iran? Have you gone there yet?
Are you saying that as long as Dominica is not as bad as Iran, then it doesn’t matter? That’s a pretty low standard you think us capable of.
And what about Iran? CNN and FOX News Right?
Amnesty International you have lost your direction. Let me redirect you to Georgia and Texas.
tell them to start in certain american states.you want to harrass the caribbean whilst there are bigger fishes to fry.sets of hypocrites.hang dem high
is the same set of people who want Dominica to support those kind of boggar man laws and they want to take out death penalty… hell no
Take out the stone in allu own eyes because people playing blind can never be my Taxi Driver. The US has the Death Penalty on their books and Actively and routinely enforce it so please explain to me why Amnesty International want to come to little Dominica and remove the Death Penalty when We haven’t executed anyone for about as long as we’ve been independent
An eye for an eye.
These guys must be seriously confused. Murderers can hardly get convicted in this country much less to receive the Death Penalty and they targeting Dominica first? What a joke.
When violent crimes like murder occur these ‘do-gooders’ are never here to pick up the pieces or offer consolation, but they always swoop in to tell you how to dispense punishments.
Somehow they must have heard the cries and anguish of the victims of murder in Dominica and realized that the population is getting fed up.
Who are these Amnesty InernationalPeople? They support abortion but against the death penalty
Amnesty international need to pack up and leave.with the rise of crime in D.A. who need amnesty international, like the other comment let them clean up the mess in the U.S.A. first starting Texas, by time they are done in the usa all the criminals on death row in D.A. will be dead thru old age or natural couses.
Ask Amnesty who is going to feed those criminals for the rest of their lives. And who is going to guarantee that they remain safely locked up.
What they must lobby for most of all,is the deportation of criminal in the us, canada Eu and the developed countries that can handle these criminals, we down here will deal with thoes that want to get out of hand, and do things that is gross.
What great Christians!! WOW!
Let’s see them stop it in the united states first, then we will speak about the english speaking caribbean.
Amnesty International cannot interfer with the laws of a sovereign nation unless we allow them. Did they stop the execution of that black guy in Georgia? No; they protested and talked but there was nothing that they could do. So why do they want to focus on our little island. Send Amnesty packing.
Like Amnesty International, I, too take a principled stance on the death penalty. Whilst generally it does not deter crime, I believe in retributive justice: certain crimes warrant the death penalty. Rulings by the Privy Council and the ECSC have removed the mandatory application of the death penalty in murder cases. I propose therefore we look at the revised law of Trinidad on the death penalty, which provides for its application in certain cases in light of the rulings of the Privy Council.
Ahhh, so many stupid people in the world……..
There is “murder” and there is ‘manslaughter” When one is convicter of murder, he/she should be given life without parole or death for wilfull murder. For the conviction of manslaughter , some times one would call a misshap, one is expecting to get
a few years with parole.I can say , for the past 30 past years, we hav’nt had any execution
oh please amnesty international… stay put where u all are and send the Scotland Yard instead to question and investigate the corruption that’s been going on… we’d be more than happy
to hell with amnesty international we do not need their advice go to hell
Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah from the supreme leader. “Go to hell it is not all you D&*( business where labor party getting money for their campaign” Now we know we the monies we coming from! Same way you may want Amnesty International to intervene if God forbid you loved one would happen to be a candidate for the death penalty!! You never know, it could even be you! Thanks Amnesty International for encouraging nations all over the world to abolish this barbaric practice!! Thank you!
If my love one stupid and wicked enough to commit heinous crimes then let him/her pay yes!!! I have and uncle in jail. I love him but he was stupid enough and wicked enough to rob someone at gun point, so he is where he belongs… In Jail!!! Sure I love my uncle but I could only imagine what the victim felt when he saw that gun in his face…
shut your mouth… if one of my family members commit murder they should die as well..
Please keep the DP in Dominica.
It’s not inhumane it’s our only detterance against murders, it needs to be enforced.
Unlike many other countries we do not have one case in our history of wrongful DP.
We connot afford to keep killers either, what are they going to provide the $s to keep them? Send them to Texas.
What the hell is wrong with these people…. If you want to interfere with places carrying out death penalty…. Go mess with Texas… They carry out death penalty year round. Season is always open, No one seems to want to address that but before small islands try to make a decision to address their own problems…..these demons want to dictate our laws and rules. Give Dominica a solution to the growing crime problem not come investigate “a possiblity”
Ya dat I checking there WTF GTFO we need the Death Penalty, watch that eh they going to full people mind with a load of bull and then people going to be against death penalty
Why do these agencies interfere with our laws? They are the same ones who lobby for travel advisory against us when our crime rate reaches their artificial threshold. Look at the number of senseless murders we are having on the island, Do they offer any advice or assistance in how best to solve this problem?
Do they interfere with the U.S.? They are executing criminals even in 2011, yet none of these organisations think it necessary to express their concerns to the powers that be in the U.S.
It is over thirty years since Dominica executed a criminal, America had its most recent execution less than a month ago.
Their assumption, reading the above piece is baseless and it is not supported by the evidence. It states:“While Trinidad and Tobago has been identified as the country with more entrenched support towards the retention of the death penalty (including mandatory death penalty) and where there is a higher risk for resumption of executions, Dominica is seen as the most likely to take steps towards.” On what basis is such a statement made? Is it because of our high incidence of murders?
Some one please help, I believe we should tell these folks to stay out of our affairs!! Do we have the testicular fortitude to express these sentiments? Please Help!!!!!
This could not be said any better!!!
Ridiculous, what these people are asking…..
The campeigners for the abolition of the Death Penalty do not live in Dominica and some of the members on that committee in Dominica do not care wether those that are commiting these crimes of murders that are so common in the island , when they are given light sentences, in two years they are back on the streets and then i have lost my loved one,then in a couple years they go back to the courts for he same thing . LET THE DEATH SENTENCE BE BROUGHT BACK.
I encourage all Dominicans to support the death penalty. we need to enforce that punishment for all indictable offenses including rape.
amnesty international has to get real in the world today where violent killings continue to occur i think we should never remove it from our books.When or if we should use it will depend on the severity of the act committed but we should always leave it as a deterrent to the most violent crimes.Case in point what those two Dominicans are presently on trial in st.Marteen for.