How can abolition in Ghana be encouraged?

 

Testimony of a person sentenced to death

Matthew Kwame Sabbah, 58, who has been sentenced to death at age 31 and served a total of 27 years at the Nsawam Medium Prison recounts his experience after his release through a presidential pardon in March 2020.

“Prison is not a place somebody should stay at all, it’s indeed a very bitter place to live especially when you’re sentenced on death row. There is a lot of torture we go through. We sleep like the way they pack sardines in tins. The quality of the food and health care we receive in prison is to be deplored. To get prison officers to take you to the hospital whenever you are sick is a problem. As a result, some people have even lost their lives, the food we eat, even if you give it to the dog, it will not eat it.”

That is why, ACAT Ghana calls on the government, police and prison services, and the court and justice system to uphold human rights law and conventions and abolish the death penalty.

 

PRESS RELEASE

Access to counsel - A matter of life or death

In commemoration of the 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty and the 30th anniversaries of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and the IBA Standards for the Independence of the Legal Profession, the members of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute take the opportunity to:

Stress the importance of the right to effective legal representation in capital punishment cases, where the consequences that can arise from the lack thereof can be nothing less than the difference between life and death; Recall that the imposition of the death penalty following a trial in violation of due process and fair trial standards would render the sentence arbitrary and in violation of the right to life; Emphasize that the independence of the legal profession and access to justice are prerequisites to democracy and the rule of law; Recognize the challenges that limit the work of lawyers, such as a lack of adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense; a lack of necessary training for complex proceedings; being confronted with pressure and interference in their work; and deficient legal aid systems; Urge all States to protect lawyers from any form of attack, harassment, or pressure, and to fully recognize, uphold and protect their role in upholding human rights, free and democratic societies, and the rule of law; Advocate for universal abolition and call on States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to guarantee the right to effective legal representation at all stages of capital cases without distinction of any kind.

Signatories :

The Advocates for Human Rights Children Education Society Coalition Tunisienne Contre la Peine de Mort Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide Center for Prisoner’s Rights ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) FIACAT (International Federation of ACATs) Legal Awareness Watch Paris Bar Reprieve UIA-IROL ( the Institute for the Rule of Law of the International Association of Lawyers)

To the attention of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies and the Human Rights Treaties Branch of the OHCHR.

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, write to you concerning the functioning of the UN Treaty Bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on the work of the Treaty Bodies, with the postponement, cancellation and scaling-down of nearly all sessions scheduled for 2020. Since July 2020, most of the Treaty Bodies have met virtually and limited their activities, rescheduling all the reviews of states parties planned. The effects of the pandemic have been exacerbated by the financial crisis that the OHCHR and the UN are undergoing. This is an unprecedented situation which requires exceptional efforts from all stakeholders to overcome it. Appreciating the significant efforts of Treaty Body members to continue many activities, we remain concerned that the challenges and constraints analyzed very well by the Treaty Bodies’ Working Group on COVID-19 still apply.

The 28th August letter of the High Commissioner to Member States recommended that all sessions until the end of the year will take place online, while some will be cancelled. Although we understand that the current situation has created enormous challenges, we are seriously concerned by the increasing backlog and protection gap due to the fact that the Treaty Bodies are not reviewing States. We are also concerned that there is lack of clarity as to what work they will be able to carry out in the coming months.

We urge the Treaty Bodies and their Secretariats to schedule State reviews no later than 2021, and OHCHR to prioritise resources and tools for this. We recommend anticipating risks and possible scenarios with clear mitigation and contingency plans that are public and proactively communicated to civil society. Should the pandemic further prevent the scheduling of physical sessions of the Treaty Bodies in 2021, we consider that a pragmatic approach should be taken which allows online State reviews on a temporary and exceptional basis.

Learning from the experiences of the past months, the Treaty Bodies should define the conditions for online State reviews and be supported by the OHCHR and the other UN departments accordingly to allow such reviews to take place online or in a hybrid mode. Moreover the webcast is essential in the specific context of online public sessions and must be reliable.

Predictability, transparency, inclusivity, and accessibility are essential conditions to enable the full participation of civil society, and all stakeholders, in the work of the Treaty Bodies, in particular if online reviews are organised. Civil society organisations require advance notice of the up-coming work of the Treaty Bodies, to enable them to undertake human rights monitoring, prepare alternative reports, plan briefings and raise the funds to undertake this work. In addition, sufficient time allocation and technical requirements, including accessibility for persons with disabilities relying on screen readers and sign language, and availability of good quality audio for interpreters, should be ensured for online private briefings with members of civil society organisations.

Given the plethora of human rights restrictions and violations arising from the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial for rights-holders that the Treaty Bodies, who are the only independent and expert monitors of the legally binding human rights treaties, are able to fulfill their mandates and independently assess states’ compliance. In fact, the relevance of the Treaty Bodies is at stake, if they are not able to continue to perform their fundamental mandate in the midst of a human rights crisis.

Sincerely yours,

Joint statement on the report of the Secretary General on the question of the death penalty

Human Rights Council - 45th session

24 September 2020

Agenda Item 3

Thank you, Madam Chairperson,

FIACAT, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, the Advocates for Human Rights, Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM), Reprieve and UIA – Union Internationale des Avocats, with the support of the Children Education Society (CHESO), the Center for Prisoner’s Rights (CPR), the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide and Legal Awareness Watch (LAW), organizations that are members of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which also co-signs this statement, welcome the report of the Secretary-General on the Question of the Death Penalty. We wish to stress the importance of the right to effective legal representation in capital punishment cases – the focus of this year’s World Day Against the Death Penalty1.

Lawyers play a pivotal role in protecting human rights and upholding the rule of law. The right to effective legal representation at all stages of criminal proceedings is widely enshrined in international human rights standards as part of the right to a fair trial. We recall that the imposition of the death penalty following a trial in violation of due process and fair trial standards renders the sentence arbitrary and in violation of the right to life.

Coinciding with the 30th anniversaries of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and the IBA Standards for the Independence of the Legal Profession, we emphasise that the independence of the legal profession and access to justice are prerequisites to the rule of law and democracy and must be guaranteed.

However, too often lawyers lack adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence, or the necessary training to face complex proceedings; they face pressure and interference in their work; and legal aid systems are inadequate. This disproportionately affects people living in poverty, making them particularly vulnerable to injustice.

While advocating for abolition worldwide, we call on States that have not yet abolished the death penalty to recognise, uphold and protect the role of lawyers and to guarantee the right to effective legal representation at all stages of capital cases without distinction of any kind.

Thank you.

 

1. October 10th, 2020.