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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Amnesty International ...ons ( BBC )...</span>
Amnesty International has urged MPs in Trinidad and Tobago not to vote to allow capital punishment to resume. On Friday, MPs are due to debate a constitutional amendment that would remove some obstacles to executions.Trinidad's government says capital punishment, not used since 1999, is needed to tackle the high murder rate.The government has proposed amending Trinidad's constitution in order to be able to overturn rulings by the Privy Council.Members of parliament will consider such a bill during Friday's parliamentary session.Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called the death penalty "a weapon in [our] arsenal" to fight the murder rate.Human rights group Amnesty said it was urging MPs not to back the bill, and should instead tackle the root causes of violent crime while reforming the police and justice systems.There are more than 40 people currently on death row in Trinidad and Tobago.Capital punishment enjoys widespread public support in the country, as in other Caribbean nations.Last year, the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago was 36 per 100,000; UN figures for 2008 for Jamaica showed a murder rate of 59. In the US, it was just more than five.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Amnesty International ...ons ( BBC )...</span>
Amnesty International has urged MPs in Trinidad and Tobago not to vote to allow capital punishment to resume. On Friday, MPs are due to debate a constitutional amendment that would remove some obstacles to executions.Trinidad's government says capital punishment, not used since 1999, is needed to tackle the high murder rate.The government has proposed amending Trinidad's constitution in order to be able to overturn rulings by the Privy Council.Members of parliament will consider such a bill during Friday's parliamentary session.Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has called the death penalty "a weapon in [our] arsenal" to fight the murder rate.Human rights group Amnesty said it was urging MPs not to back the bill, and should instead tackle the root causes of violent crime while reforming the police and justice systems.There are more than 40 people currently on death row in Trinidad and Tobago.Capital punishment enjoys widespread public support in the country, as in other Caribbean nations.Last year, the murder rate in Trinidad and Tobago was 36 per 100,000; UN figures for 2008 for Jamaica showed a murder rate of 59. In the US, it was just more than five.