Since the Executive Committee meeting held in New York on July 15, 2013, the International Law and Human Rights Program has started preparations towards the creation of a Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, welcoming a proposal of the PGA UK Board member Mr. Mark Pritchard, MP and the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, chaired by PGA member Baroness Vivien Stern (member, House of Lords).
On October 10, 2013, PGA Board member Dr. Ruth Wijdenbosch, MP (Deputy Speaker, Suriname) delivered a forceful statement on this subject-matter at the IPU in Geneva on the occasion of the International Day against the Death Penalty.
On September 26, 2013, a leading PGA member from Uganda, Ms. Alice Alaso, MP, deposited a legislative initiative on abolition.
On September 18, 2013, 10 Parliamentarians of the PGA Sierra Leone Group chaired by Ms. Veronica Sesay, MP, organized a meeting with the former Chair of the PGA Italy Group, Marco Perduca, to discuss ways and means to support a national and sub-regional conference that the international NGO “Hands Off Cain” will co-organise in Freetown together with the Government of Sierra Leone and the direct participation of the President of the Republic, Hon. E. B. Koroma (long-standing PGA member), and of the Foreign Minister of Italy, Hon. Emma Bonino, former PGA Board member: The PGA Sierra Leone National Group decided to participate and fully support the realization of this event to advance the cause of abolition in West Africa.
