As part of a broad commitment against the death penalty, since 2005 Sant’Egidio has started regular meetings of Ministers of Justice from both abolitionist and retentionist countries, in order to create a space for dialogue and discussion between different systems of the exercise of justice, and to foster processes of moratorium and abolition of capital punishment.
Over the years, this method of work has shown remarkable positive aspects, involving an increasing number of countries, European Union authorities, the United Nations and Pope Francis, who has never failed to support this process.
It is also possible to attribute to the Justice Ministers’ Congresses a number of successful events that have advanced the
abolitionist campaign: the signing of the Optional Protocol of Mongolia and its subsequent de jure abolition of the death penalty (2015);
the elimination of the death penalty from Guinea’s penal code (2016); the signing of the UN Protocol on the Death Penalty of the Ivory Coast (2013);
abolition by Burundi (2009), Togo (2009), Gabon (2010), the Central African Republic (2022) and Zambia (2022).
After a suspension caused by the pandemic, the Congress will be held again in presence, on March 1 and 2, 2023, in Rome.
Those interested in attending the proceedings in person can request admission (free of cost) by sending an email to segreteriagenerale@santegidio.org.
The event will be LIVE STREAMED in Italian and English on this website and on the Community of Sant’Egidio’s website and social networks.
PROGRAM
Wednesday 1st March 2023
