Ghana - Amnesty International

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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
GHANA: END IMPUNITY THROUGH UNIVERSAL JURISDICTIONNo Safe Haven Series No. 10109enable Ghana to comply with the request. 383Ghana may also volunteer to provide legal assistance without a request, but there do not appear tobe any statutory criteria governing this decision. 384 In the case of a request to confiscate propertybelieved to be located in Ghana, the request must also include details of the property to be traced,restrained, seized or confiscated, and, in case of temporary transfer, the current location of exhibitsrequired in the case. 385383Mutual Legal Assistance Act sects. 8 - 9. These requirements include:• the identity of the authority or entity initiating the request including contact details;• the nature of the criminal matter including a summary of the facts if applicable and correlativeoffences and penalties;• an indication of whether or not criminal proceedings have been instituted;• an indication of the purpose for which any evidence, information or material is sought;• specification of the nature of the assistance required, including details of any particular formality orprocedure that the foreign state or entity wishes to be followed in Ghana;• specification of the period within which compliance with the request is desired with stated reasons;• where criminal proceedings have not been instituted, the offence which the Central Authority of theforeign state or competent authority of the foreign entity has reasonable grounds to suspect has been,is being or will be committed with a summary of the known facts; and• any other information that may assist in giving effect to the request.384See Mutual Legal Assistance Act, sect. 78.385Mutual Legal Assistance Act, sect. 8 (f). Section 55 (1) also states:“Without limiting section 8, a request for the freezing or seizure of property as proceeds of crime shall beaccompanied with(a) relevant information available to the Central Authority of that foreign srare or the competentauthority of that foreign entity that may be required for procedures in Ghana,(b) a certificate in respect of the property,(c) known details of the property in relation to which the request is sought,(d) known details of the location and the estimated value of the property,(e) the nexus between the serious offence and the property for which the request is made,(f) a certified copy of a restraint or confiscation order made in the foreign state where applicable,(g) details of any known third party interests in the property, and(h) any other, relevant statement.”Index: AFR 28/004/2012 Amnesty International November 2012
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Ghana - Amnesty International

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