The Community of Sant'Egidio expresses in a note great satisfaction with the decision of President Hakainde Hichilema of the Republic of Zambia to abolish the death penalty. Since 2010, Sant'Egidio diplomacy-a veritable "shadow" foreign ministry supported by the Vatican-has accompanied the African country on the path toward abolition. Numerous ministers and representatives from Zambia have participated in the Justice Ministers' Conferences sponsored in Rome to promote the moratorium and abolition of capital punishment. In 2011, a delegation from Sant'Egidio traveled to Zambia to meet with the vice president and other state officials as part of the abolitionist campaign. In 2018, another delegation attended the Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Lusaka. The abolition of the death penalty in Zambia is an important step forward for Africa to become the second capital punishment-free continent.
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