Current action: Abolish the death penalty in Ghana

Index Number: AFR 28/001/2004
Date Published: 14 July 2004
Categories: Africa, Ghana

Although nobody has been executed since 1993, death penalties continue to be pronounced by the tribunals. We therefore urge the Ghanaian authorities to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in order to bring about total abolition of the death penalty in this country. Ghana’s president, John Kufuor, is also the current ECOWAS president. A move on his part towards abolition would represent a unique and exemplary contribution to the death penalty debate all over West Africa given his position in the sub-region.