Zimbabwe
On the 31st of December 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed The Death Penalty Abolition Act, abolishing the death penalty for ordinary offences in Zimbabwe.
This landmark moment followed over a decade of The Death Penalty Project’s collaborative efforts with our longstanding partners Veritas, as well as Zimbabwean parliamentarians, to promote criminal justice reform.
We started working in Zimbabwe following an invitation by the Swiss government as experts in the field of the death penalty and international human rights to connect with key leaders seeking abolition.
Progressive steps towards outlawing capital punishment were ongoing with the introduction of a new Constitution in 2013, which had reduced the number of crimes punishable by death, removed the compulsory death penalty for certain crimes and outlawed capital punishment for women and men aged under 21 or over 70.
Momentum for abolition grew through sustained advocacy, research, capacity-building programmes, and engagement with parliamentarians and civil society.
We identified a need for academic research to question widely held assumptions and deepen understanding about the death penalty. Working closely with our longstanding partners Veritas and The Death Penalty Research Unit at the University of Oxford, we commissioned a two-part series of empirical research on public attitudes towards the death penalty in Zimbabwe. Further research was undertaken on the opinions of public leaders, drawing on 42 in-depth interviews with representatives from public service, law, religion, civil society and others. These studies laid the groundwork for the political shifts that followed, providing evidence that supported policy reforms.
We also supported Veritas in mounting strategic litigation that challenged cruel and inhuman sentences, such as life imprisonment without parole.
Together, we also provided technical expertise and advocacy support to advance legislative reform. We worked closely with Edwin Mushoriwa MP on the development of a Private Member’s Bill, which was introduced in Parliament in November 2023. The Death Penalty Abolition Bill was approved and adopted by cabinet in February 2024, signalling an intention to abolish the death penalty. Alongside Veritas, wider civil society and government, we helped to sustained political momentum as the bill progressed through the parliamentary process.
The Death Penalty Abolition Act was enacted on the 31st of December 2024, removing the death penalty for all ordinary offences.
We continue to work with Veritas, advocating to abolish the death penalty for military offences as well as supporting the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).