Our Stakeholder report to Equatorial Guinea鈥檚 Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Amna Nazir, makes specific recommendations to the government on the issue of capital punishment.
Researchers
Consultancy background
In March 2024, the UPR Project at BCU submitted a Stakeholder Report to Equatorial Guinea鈥檚 fourth UPR cycle, led by Dr Amna Nazir. This submission focuses on capital punishment. We make recommendations to the Government of Equatorial Guinea on this key issue, implementation of which would also see Equatorial Guinea moving towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16 which aims for peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice for all and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
On 2 September 2024,听the UN鈥檚 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Equatorial Guinea, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
鈥淪everal submissions recommended that Equatorial Guinea ratify the Optional Protocol to CAT; the Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.鈥� (para 3)
鈥淭he UPR Project at BCU (UPR-BCU) stated that supported recommendations19 from the previous UPR to create an independent national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles had not been implemented. It stated that, although Equatorial Guinea had established the Office of the Ombudsman, it did not satisfy the requirement of independence and pluralism outlined in the Paris Principles. In particular, in accordance with Article 123 of the Constitution, the Ombudsman was appointed by Parliament and under the directive of the President of the Republic. UPR-BCU recommended that Equatorial Guinea establish an independent national human rights institution, in line with the Paris Principles.鈥� (para 9)
鈥淯PR-BCU stated that supported recommendations from the previous UPR on the abolition of the death penalty had been partially implemented.鈥� (para 12)
鈥淗uman Rights Foundation (HRF) recommended that Equatorial Guinea repeal the provisions of the Code of Military Justice that provided for the application of the death penalty. Several submissions made similar recommendations.鈥� (para 13)
听
Following the citations in the Stakeholder Summary Report. The outcome of the review published on 16 December 2024 in the Report of the Working Group stated that听Equatorial Guinea听will be included in the outcome report adopted by the Human Rights Council at its fifty-eighth session:
Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Recommending state:听Paraguay (117.2); Chile (117.14); Estonia, France, Luxembourg & Malta (117.15); Ireland (117.16); Iceland (117.17); Belgium & Nepal (117.18); Australia (117.19); Colombia (117.20); Gambia (117.25); Angola (117.37); Ukraine (117.60);
Remove death penalty provisions from the Military Code of Justice to facilitate the complete abolition of the punishment.听Recommending state:听Canada (117.59); Ukraine (117.60);听
Establish an independent National Human Rights Institution, in line with the Paris Principles, fully independent from the government.听Recommending state:听Timor-Leste (117.40); Lebanon (117.41); Chile (117.42); Namibia (117.43); Niger (117.44); Armenia (117.45); Gambia (117.46); Zambia (117.47); Luxembourg (117.48);
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU鈥檚 Report for Equatorial Guinea.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through听taking part in the听UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of听stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project听is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help听ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages听with the UPR听regularly as a stakeholder,听having submitted numerous reports and been听cited by the OHCHR.