Africa-Press – Ghana. Amnesty International (AI) Ghana has called for reintroduction of the Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, in Parliament to complete the eliminate of the death penalty for all offenses.
The Bill seeks to amend relevant Sections of Act 29 and the Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) to replace Death Penalty with life imprisonment.
This call was made during the organisation’s Annual Human Rights Report on the Death Sentences and Executions Report on Wednesday, 21 2025.
Speaking at the launch, Madam Genevieve Partington, Country Director of AI Ghana,
said the report was not merely about the collection of statistics and cases but an avenue to deepen the practice in international solidarity as a core value of human rights work.
She said highlighted the role of media in amplifying human rights issues and make it more apparent for duty-bearers to account and expose violations.
She said the organisation would continue to promote human rights education, activism, research and advocacy regardless of the challenges.
“We shall continue to light the candle in the darkness ensuring that human dignity and rights remains non-negotiable, even in times as challenges.”
Madam Charity Batuure, the Vice Chairperson of AI Ghana, said the organisation recorded six new death sentences in 2024, all for high treason under Articles 3 of Ghana’s 1992 constitution.
She said by the end 2024 182 people remained under death sentence, an increase from 180 the previous year.
She called on the President of Ghana to ratify the Second Optional to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.
She said the organisation’s research reveal that there was 32 per cent increment in executions globally with 1,518 documented cases in fifteen countries, the highest figures since 2025.
She said the methods of executions included beheading, hanging, lethal injection, shooting and nitrogen gas asphyxiation.
The countries including China one, Egypt two, Iran thirty, Iraq one, Saudi Arabia nine and Yemen two.
She said in Sub-Sahara recorded executions and death sentences decreased by 10 per cent.
She said for the second consecutive year, Somalia was the only country in the region to carry out executions,counting thirty-four.
She said the Middle East and North Africa witnessed an alarming thirty-four increase in executions, rising from 1,073 in 2023 to 1,442 in 2024.
According to research In advanced democracies, the United State of America stands out in the application of the death penalty.
It excuted 19 people,including 6 blacks in 2025, as of May 22.
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