In Paris for the 9th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, the Cameroonian MP is championing a phased approach to ending capital punishment.
Participating in an international gathering of justice ministers and parliamentarians from over 130 countries, Cabral Libii is advocating for a shift in the legal landscape of Cameroon. He believes that a mature democracy is defined by its ability to protect life while ensuring public safety and upholding the rule of law.
According to Libii, the fundamental challenge lies in “building institutions that are strong enough to inspire judicial confidence without having to resort to the irreversible.” He points out that while Cameroon has not officially struck the death penalty from its statutes, the nation has not carried out an execution since 1997, effectively making it an abolitionist state in practice.
A vision for legal reform in Cameroon
During his address at the 9th World Congress, Libii outlined several key pillars for his advocacy for reform:
- The sanctity of life: He highlighted that the international community is increasingly moving toward a total reduction of capital punishment. He argues that taking a life to demonstrate that killing is wrong prevents any chance of repentance and makes it impossible to rectify potential judicial errors.
- Socio-cultural context: The MP stressed that the transition toward abolition must be an internal democratic process. It requires extensive public education and the active involvement of civil society and elected officials to ensure the change is accepted and sustainable.
- The quality of justice: Libii maintains that the fight against crime depends more on an independent, impartial, and efficient judicial system than on the sheer severity of sentences.
Libii concluded by stating that the debate should not create a divide between human rights activists and those concerned with public security. Instead, he believes the focus should remain on creating a legal framework where the state’s power is balanced by the fundamental right to life and a reliable justice system that does not need to use the death penalty to prove its authority.