8 Sep 2014

Kiribati churches mobilise against death penalty

5:23 pm on 8 September 2014

Churches in Kiribati are mobilising against a new bill to bring back the death penalty.

The Kiribati parliament has passed the first reading of the bill and leaders are supposed to hold consultations with their electorate before the second reading and the vote in a month.

The President Anote Tong says the bill is a deterrent against deliberate killings in the country.

His comment comes after five women recently lost their lives allegedly at the hands of their husbands or former partners.

But the chairman of the Kiribati Council of Churches, Catholic Bishop, Paul Mea, says they will fight the bill because it will not stop the killing in the community.

"The thing that is going to stop them, is the education. Preparing the man and wife before their marriage. To understand what love is, to give them input on what the church teaches about real love between a husband and wife and all that. Counselling, introducing counselling for all those who have problems. But capital punishment is not going to give any solution."

The chairman of the Kiribati Council of Churches, Catholic Bishop, Paul Mea.

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Photo: RNZ