Amnesty International Ghana is urging a constitutional amendment to completely abolish the death penalty from Ghana’s legal framework.
The call came during the launch of two major global human rights reports—The Death Sentences and Executions Report 2024 and the Annual Human Rights Report—held on Wednesday, May 21.
Following the passage of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and the Ghana Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) in July 2023, which removed the death penalty from certain statutes, the advocacy group insists that retaining it in any form remains a violation of fundamental human rights.
Speaking at the launch, Genevieve Partington, Country Director of Amnesty International Ghana, emphasized that the group is working with the Constitutional Review Commission to eliminate all legal grounds for capital punishment.
“Ghana took a bold step by removing the death penalty from its Criminal and other Offences Act. But we must finish the journey and abolish it completely from all laws.
We’re engaging with the Constitutional Review Commission for the removal of the death penalty, which is still in our Constitution. High treason needs to be removed from our law books,” Partington stated.
Despite progress in repealing certain laws, the death penalty still exists in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, specifically for offences such as high treason. By the end of 2024, 182 individuals remained on death row in the country.
Amnesty International Ghana continues to advocate for the protection of human rights and the expansion of civic freedoms, urging lawmakers to take the final step in aligning Ghana’s laws with its international human rights obligations.
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