Prime Minister
Peter O’Neill
Office of the Prime Minister
National Parliament, PO Box 639
Waigani, Papua New Guinea
Attorney General and Minister of Justice
Kereng’a Ku’a, Office of the Minister,
PO Box 591, Waigani, NCD
Papua New Guinea
Dear Prime Minister, dear Attorney General,
A new law adopted by the Papua New Guinea parliament increases the scope of the death penalty and number of execution methods. This has prompted fears that executions might resume and heightened concerns about the fate of at least 10 prisoners under sentence of death.
The Criminal Code (Amendment) Act (CC(A)) 2013 was adopted on 28 May 2013. The legislation, which was passed by Parliament with reportedly little debate, adds four new methods of execution. Previously only execution by hanging was allowed – now lethal injection, electrocution, firing squad, and “medical death by deprivation of oxygen” are also legal methods of execution.
The law also expands the scope of the death penalty to crimes including robbery and aggravated rape – in cases when there has been accompanying violence, or the use of dangerous weapons, or more than one person committing the crime. It specifies that the death penalty can also be applied for sorcery-related murder. This crime will now be categorized as willful (premeditated) murder, an offense that has carried the death penalty in Papua New Guinea since 1991.
While Papua New Guinea has retained the death penalty in law, it has not carried out executions since 1954.
Sources have asserted that executions could take place imminently now that these amendments have been passed. Numerous religious groups and women’s organizations in Papua New Guinea, as well as prominent political figures, have publicly opposed government moves to start implementing the death penalty.
Papua New Guinea’s moves towards implementing the death penalty and expanding its scope are extremely retrograde, and go against the global trend towards abolition. They also run counter to recommendations, including in recent United Nations General Assembly resolutions on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty to reduce the number of offenses for which the death penalty may be applied.
I am calling on you to immediately halt any plans to carry out executions, and commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment. I am urging you to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty in line with recent UN General Assembly resolutions. There is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime, and that more effective measures to tackle raising crime rates should be sought, compatible with international human rights standards without recourse to the death penalty.
Sincerely,
Dr. Heinz Leitner
Vienna, Austria