In Kenya, Wildlife Poachers To Face Death Penalty
Najib Balala, Kenya's Minister of Tourism and Wildlife Protection, said that the death penalty could be reinstated in Kenya, but only for poachers, according to China's Xinhua news agency. The objective is to save these endangered species harmed by poachers for their precious horns and ivory tusks.
"We have in place the Wildlife Conservation Act that was enacted in 2013 and which fetches offenders a life sentence or a fine of US$200,000. However, this has not been deterrence enough to curb poaching, hence the proposed stiffer sentence." Najib Balala said, to justify his decision.
The government member explained that he wanted to ensure that a law to this effect was quickly adopted, reported The Independent on Monday. Last year, 69 elephants and nine rhinos were killed in the country, with 34,000 and fewer than 1,000 animals of each species respectively.
However, since the 2013 passage of the Wildlife Conservation Act, the slaughter of wild animals in the country has come to a standstill. Between 2012-2013 and 2017, rhinoceros poaching has decreased by 85% and elephant poaching by 78%, says the ministry.
The announcement, however, surprised in a country where the death penalty is less and less applied. While convictions are still being pronounced, the last execution of a death penalty was in 1987. Similarly, in 2009, President Kibaki commuted the death penalty of 4,000 prisoners to life imprisonment, while President Kenyatta did the same in 2016 for 2,747 condemn to death.
But the Kenyan minister and his decision are also against the will of the United Nations (UN), several resolutions call for the gradual abandonment of the death penalty in the world. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights advocates its pure and simple universal abolition.
No comments