In win for human rights, Ghana abolishes death penalty

topic:	Death Penalty
located:	Ghana
editor:	Bob Koigi

The recent decision by the Ghanaian parliament to abolish the death penalty is not only a welcome relief for the 176 prisoners currently on death row in the country, but a progressive move demonstrating the nation's commitment to upholding human rights and strengthening the protection of the right to life.

Although the West African country last carried out an execution in 1993, it continued to impose death sentences for serious crimes.

It now becomes the 29th country in Africa and 124th globally to do away with the death penalty. Across 20 countries, about 883 executions were recorded in 2022, representing a 53 per cent rise since 2021, according to Amnesty International. The NGO further reported that inmates on death row often fail to access fair trials and and are being imprisoned under poor conditions.

Ghana's abolition of capital punishment is a commendable move that is inspiring similar actions across Africa. More countries that have previously entrenched capital punishment in their constitutions are now revising their laws to adopt more humane forms of sentencing.

Having abolished the death sentence, Ghana, along with other countries that have taken this step, now faces the crucial responsibility of ensuring that capital punishment is no longer enshrined in their constitution.

Capital punishment has no place in modern democracies, as it violates the right to life as spelt out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Research has consistently shown that capital punishment does not serve as an effective deterrent for serious crimes to the extent that the threat or imposition of life imprisonment does.

To quote the words of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who welcomed the Ghanaian parliament's decision: "Infliction by the State of the death penalty – the most severe and irreversible of punishments – is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity, and with the fundamental right to life. It is an atavistic relic from the past that should be shed in the 21st Century."

Image by Denny Müller.