Report: Abolition Of Death Penalty In Ghana

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death penalty
death penalty

REPORT ON A WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY FRANCE EMBASSY AND AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL, GHANA ON ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN GHANA
TO MARK THE 12TH UN INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DEATH PENALTY : –
ACCRA, GHANA ON 9TH OCTOBER 2014

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Introduction
The Embassy of France in Ghana and Amnesty International, Ghana organized a workshop in Accra to discuss the abolition of the death penalty in Ghana. The event which took place on 9th October, 2014 was organized to mark the 12th UN International Day Against Death Penalty. The aim of this workshop was to enable the participants to discuss the way-forward for abolition of the death penalty in Ghana as the country prepares for a possible referendum on whether the death penalty should be abolished in Ghana or not. See attached for detail background information on the workshop.

The Embassy of France in Ghana funded the workshop.

Participants

There were about 80 people who attended the workshop. The participants were made up of about 40 media men & women and about 40 people drawn from CSOs, government institutions, and para-statal institutions. See attached list of participants.

Facilitator & Presenters

The France Embassy invited Anne Souleliac, an Expert from the World Coalition on Abolition of the Death Penalty based in Paris, France to make presentations and also facilitate the workshop. Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Ghana (CHRAJ), chaired the occasion. There were various national expert and stakeholder presenters including the France Ambassador to Ghana, the Director of Amnesty International Ghana, the Director of Human Right Advocacy Centre (HRAC), a Chaplain at the Ghana National Catholic Secretariat and two (2) Human Right Activists – Mr. George Aggrey of the Ghana Education Service and Dr. Vincent Adzahlie-Mensah of the University of Education, Winneba.
Mode of the Workshop

Various experts and stakeholders made presentations at the workshop. The presentations were then followed by an open forum for brainstorming and discussions by the participants. The discussions were moderated by Anne Souleliac, the Visiting Expert, Mr. Pierre-Yves, Kervennal, Democracy & Governance Advisor of the France Embassy in Ghana and Lawrence Amesu, Director of Amnesty International, Ghana.
The deliberations at the workshop focused mainly on the strategies that Ghana might adopt to ensure that the death penalty clause would be expunged from the country?s 1992 Constitution which is currently under review. Various suggestions and recommendations were made for discussions and the following were the agreed action plan and conclusions.

ACTION PLAN/OUTCOME/CONCLUSION OF THE WORKSHOP
? A Coalition of organizations including CSOs and other related institutions was formed. Related institutions (e.g. National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), which were not present at the workshop should be encouraged to join the Coalition.

? The Coalition will have a mandate to carry out country wide advocacy and human right education for the abolition of the death penalty in Ghana.

? Amnesty International, Ghana will host the Coalition.

? Media men and women should be engaged to give public education on the need to abolish the death penalty.

? There should be a call for a de jury moratorium by the President – the Coalition should take this recommendation forward.

? Amnesty International Ghana should create a link at her website solely for social media interaction and information dissemination on issues regarding abolition of death penalty in Ghana.

? The Coalition will submit its action plan/proposal to the Embassy of France and other interested Embassies for consideration of funding support.

? The Coalition should react (e.g. press release, press conference etc) immediately to every death sentence that may be passed by any Court in the country.

Media Coverage

The Ghanaian media (both print and electronic) covered and reported extensively on the proceedings at the workshop. Three national TV stations (Metro TV, Multi-TV and TV3) telecast their report during their main evening news broadcast to nation in the evening of 9th October. See enclosed a copy of Ghana Daily Graphic report of 10th October, 2014 titled ?Expunge death penalty from Constitution ? Panelists? Also enclosed is a list of links to social media reports on the event.

Also, on 6th October 2014, prior to the workshop, media men from Ghana?s TV3 station visited the office of Amnesty International, Ghana and interviewed the Director of the Section on the purpose and the intended objectives of the 9th October planned workshop. The interview was telecast at the evening news on the same day (6th October 2014). The Ghana Television Station-24 (GTV24) also hosted a 2-man live television panel discussion on the topic ?Abolition Death Penalty in Ghana ? the Wayforward?. The 2 panelists were the Director of Amnesty International, Ghana who presented the issues from the perspectives of abolitionists and a Ghanaian Social Commentator, who presented the issues from the views of retentionists. There were also phone-ins from the Ghanaian public. While some of them (phone-in callers) called for the abolition of the death penalty others called for its retention in the Ghana?s Constitution.

Preceding Activities
A) France Ambassador?s Lunch Meeting ? 8th October, 2014

Prior to the workshop, the France Ambassador to Ghana, hosted a lunch meeting at his residence on 8th October 2014. This lunch meeting was held for 14 selected individuals with interest in the issue of abolition of the death penalty in Ghana to discuss the issue and make suggestions which would feed into the workshop on 9th October. These individuals were made up of heads and/or representatives of selected CSOs (e.g. AI Ghana, HRAC, Ghana UPR Coalition) and other institutions including the Commissioner of CHRAJ, The President of Ghana Bar Association, the Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional, Parliamentary and Legal Select Committee of the Ghana Parliament, the Chairman of Ghana Constitutional Review Implementation Committee and representatives of selected Embassies.
The main outcomes of the lunch meeting include:

– Confirmation that there was no other alternative legal means to abolition the death penalty in Ghana other than going to referendum for the people of Ghana to make the decision. It was also confirmed that this decision must be made by at least 40% of Ghanaian voting population voting at the referendum and 75% of this voting population must vote ?Yes? for abolition of the death penalty in Ghana for the DP clause to be removed from the 1992 Constitution which is currently under review.

– Confirmation that the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee?s on-going Regional Consultative process has been suspended because the issue of whether the Committee has a mandate to continue the consultative process was pending at the Supreme Court of Ghana.

– It was expected that the Courts will be able to make a decision by end of December 2014. It was also confirmed that if the Courts decided that the Constitutional Review process should go ahead, it would take at least six (6) months of consultations before a referendum could be conducted to decide on the entrenched constitutional issues including the abolition of the death penalty in Ghana.

– It was recommended that strategic and mass education of Ghanaians was necessary to ensure that the abolition of the death penalty would receive 75% ?Yes? votes at a referendum.

B) Meeting with Representatives of Selected Institutions

As part of the event/workshop to mark the 12th International Day Against the Death Penalty, the France Embassy and Amnesty International, Ghana organized a series of meetings with selected organizations on 8th October 2014. These meetings were arranged to enable the visiting Expert from the World Coalition Against Death Penalty, Anne Souleliac to interact and share ideas with representatives of CSOs and other institutions that are campaigning for abolition of death penalty in Ghana. Pierre-Yves Kervennal, the Development & Governance Advisor of the France Embassy and Lawrence Amesu, Director of Amnesty International, Ghana, accompanied Anne Souleliac to these meetings. The team met with the representative of the following organizations/institutions:
– the Executive Director of Human Right Advocacy Centre,
– representatives of the Executive Director, Human Development Department of the National Catholic Secretariat, Ghana
– the President, Ghana Bar Association
– the Deputy Commissioners, Commissioner on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Ghana
The discussions and suggestions at these meetings were also fed into the deliberations at the workshop on the following day ? 9th October.

Report Compiled by: Lawrence Amesu, Director, Amnesty International, Ghana
October 21, 2014.

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