Training

The Death Penalty Project regularly organises inter-active training for local lawyers and NGOs, with the provision of relevant reference and resource materials.

TRAINING/JUDICIAL COLLOQUIUMS

  • China -  The Project designed and planned workshops in Beijing and Guangzhou in June 2009 for judges of the Supreme People’s Court, and for provincial judges who also have the discretion to impose the death sentence. The Executive Directors Saul Lehrfreund and Parvais Jabbar presented papers at the workshop. The Death Penalty Project is a partner organisation with the Great Britain China Centre who are contracted by the European Union to deliver a three year project promoting reform of the death penalty in China. In  2007, we contributed to the launch seminar held in Beijing and also implemented a themed workshop on death penalty reform for the Legislative Affairs Committee of the National Peoples' Congress. Click here for further details.
  • Trinidad - In collaboration with the University of the West Indies, a conference was held in Trinidad in March 2009, for key-stakeholders in government, parliament, the executive, the judiciary, the legal services and other interested parties. The broad purpose was to explore the case for legislation to be introduced to abolish the mandatory death penalty based on the research findings of Professor Roger Hood and Dr Florence Seemungal in their 2006 Report on Homicide in Trinidad & Tobago.  Click here for further details of the report.
  • Uganda - In February 2009, a regional strategy meeting was organised by the Death Penalty Project to bring together all partner organisations working with us in Africa. Appropriate regional strategies were defined and improved methods of co-operation between NGOs, human rights workers and national human rights organisations were promoted.
  • In partnership with the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, an NGO based in Kampala,  we organised a judicial colloquium held in Entebbe in September 2007, which was attended by nearly every member of the judiciary including the Chief Justice of Uganda and the President of the Court of Appeal. It was followed that same month by a separate training seminar for prosecution and defence lawyers in Kampala, attended by almost 150 lawyers. Both seminars focused on resentencing issues and the training was conducted by the Hon. Mr Justice Abdulai O. Conteh, the Chief Justice of Belize, Edward Fitzgerald QC and Keir Starmer QC.  Copies of our publication A Guide to Sentencing in Capital Cases, by Edward Fitzgerald QC and Keir Starmer QC were distributed free of charge to all participants. 
  • Malawi - The Malawi Human Rights Commission invited us to assist judges and lawyers in adjusting to the new discretionary capital sentencing system. In collaboration with the Malawi Human Rights Commission, we conducted a judicial colloquium held in Zomba in September 2007. This was followed by a separate training seminar for prosecution and defence lawyers held in Blantyre. As in Uganda, the training was conducted by the Hon. Mr Justice Abdulai O. Conteh, Edward Fitzgerald QC and Keir Starmer QC.  Copies of our publication A Guide to Sentencing in Capital Cases, by Edward Fitzgerald QC and Keir Starmer QC were distributed free of charge to all participants. 

 

STRATEGY MEETINGS/CONFERENCES

  • African Regional Strategy Meeting 2011 -- On 30 March 2011, we held a regional strategy meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. 27 participants from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, United States of America, United Kingdom and Zimbabwe attended the meeting. The current status of the death penalty in the region was reviewed and current challenges considered. 

    Photos of the meeting can be viewed here. 

  • Caribbean Regional Strategy Meeting -- Upon invitation by the British High Commissioner, we co-ordinated a regional strategy meeting on the death penalty in September 2010, in Bridgetown, Barbados at the Residence of the British High Commisioner. Our partners and legal experts from the Caribbean region, including participants from Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica, as well as international experts, attended the meeting. British Diplomats in the Caribbean Region were also in attendance. The current status of the death penalty in the region was reviewed and current challenges considered. All participants benefited from the exchange. 
  • Taiwan -- In November 2009, the Executive Directors conducted a training seminar at the Judges and Prosecutors Training Institute in Taipei, Taiwan. During the visit, the Executive Directors held meetings with, amongst others, the British Trade and Cultural Office and the Taiwan Alliance against the Death Penalty.