Ghana - Amnesty International

108 GHANA: END IMPUNITY THROUGH UNIVERSAL JURISDICTIONNo Safe Haven Series No. 107.2.1.5. Recognition and enforcement of awards of reparationGhana has a framework in place for the recognition and enforcement of awards of monetaryreparation made to victims in foreign states. 377 The Courts Act provides that the President may, bylegislative instrument, authorize a reciprocal arrangement in respect of enforcement of judgmentsmade in Ghana and in a foreign country. 378 After an arrangement has been established betweenGhana and that foreign country, judgments made in foreign courts can be enforced in the Ghana. Tobe enforced, a judgment creditor must first register the judgment in the courts of Ghana within sixyears of the judgment. 379 A foreign judgment will not be registered, however, if it has already beenwholly satisfied or if it could not have been enforced by execution in the country of the originalcourt. 380Ghana also has a bilateral arrangement for recognition of its judgments in the United Kingdom. TheUnited Kingdom’s reciprocal enforcement framework, guided by its Administration of Justice Act,1920 and Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, 1933, provides that judgments madein Commonwealth countries – including monetary reparations – can be recognized and enforced inthe United Kingdom. Successive orders in council extended this arrangement to Ghana. 381 Withinthis framework, judgments made in Ghana can be enforced in the United Kingdom if the judgmentshave been registered in the United Kingdom within 12 months of the date of judgment or within alonger period by extension. 382Neither the non-binding Harare Scheme nor the ECOWAS Mutual Assistance Convention expresslyprovide for this type of assistance.7.2.1.6. Procedure for requesting and accepting requests for assistanceThe general procedure for a foreign state to request assistance from Ghana is as follows: Acompetent authority must provide the Ghana Ministry of Justice with sufficient basic information to377See Courts Act, 1993 (Act No. 459), sects. 81 - 88. See also High Court Rules, Order 71.378The judgment to be enforcement must be final and for a specific sum. Courts Act, sect. 81. Contestingjudgment debtors may apply to have the judgment registration set aside for jurisdictional, immunity, and otherreasons. Sect. 83.Without a recent list of reciprocal enforcement arrangements, it is not possible to accurately account for howreciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments for individual states would be handled in a particular case.379Courts Act, sect. 82 (1) - (3).380Courts Act, sect. 82 (4).381See Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments (Administration of Justice Act, 1920, Part II) (Consolidation)Order, 1984.382The judgment to be enforced must be final and for a specific sum. Contesting judgment debtors may apply tohave the judgment registration set aside for jurisdictional and other reasons. Administration of Justice Act, 1920,Pt. II, sect. 9.Amnesty International November 2012 Index: AFR 28/004/2012