This brief aims to provide the ECOWAS Court of Justice with information on international legal and human rights standards and jurisprudence relating to: (i) the clear trend that exists internationally and in Africa to abolish the death penalty; (ii) the evolving norms of the right to life and freedom from inhumane treatment, under which the death penalty may constitute arbitrary deprivation of life; and (iii) the requirement of strict observance of fair trial standards and due process in death penalty cases.
