The Catholic church of Papua New Guinea says it’s adamantly opposed
to moves by the Attorney General to reactivate the death penalty for
treason, wilful murder and piracy.The death penalty is already provided for in the country’s criminal code but has not been used for over five decades.
However the church’s Father Victor Roche says the move goes against the concept of dignity of human life, which holds that no court or person has the right to kill someone.
He adds that international data indicates that the death penalty does not help reduce crime rates.
Father Roche says the state should take the more positive approach of seeking to reduce the chances of people taking up crime.
“Churches are quite active so give more funds and more programmes for the churches to continue to bring more programmes for the youth and the jobless and also the interior places. And if there are some NGOs in the cities where crimes are quite high, they should have some very tangible programmes that can take place.”