The United Nations Association of Ghana (UNA-GH) has called on Ghana’s Legislature and the office of the Attorney General to speedily see to the passage of a bill currently before it seeking to abolish the death penalty.

According to the Association, the death penalty falls within the confines of the UN Sustainable Development Goals 10 and 16.

“The UNA – Ghana wishes to call on Parliament and call for the support of the Attorney General to expedite action on the PMB to abolish the death penalty,” it said.

“Furthermore, Death Penalty is within the confines of UN Sustainable Development Goals 10 and 16 that is Reduced Inequality within and among Countries, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions,” it added.

This was contained in a statement yesterday by the Association to mark this year’s UN Day against Death Penalty which was on the theme: “Women and the death penalty, an invisible reality.”

Background

According to Amnesty International, 1,477 death sentences were imposed in 54 countries, down 36% from at least 2,307 in 2019.

At the end of 2020, at least 28,567 people were known to be under sentence of death. Of this figure, 483 executions were recorded in 18 countries in 2020, a decrease of 26% from 657 recorded in 2019.

This figure represents the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the past decade.

In Ghana, as of the end of 2020, 160 people – 155 men and five women – were under sentence of death. For 2020 alone, three (3) new death sentences were imposed in 2020; eight (in 2019; and twelve (12) in 2018.

Globally, the following methods of execution were used across the world in 2020: beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection, and shooting.