Ghana - Amnesty International

30GHANA: END IMPUNITY THROUGH UNIVERSAL JURISDICTIONNo Safe Haven Series No. 10Ghana has defined grave breaches of that treaty as crimes under its national law by incorporatingthat treaty by reference. 96 It has also provided its courts with universal jurisdiction over such gravebreaches. 974.3.1.3. War crimes in international armed conflict: 1998 Rome Statute, other treaties andcustomary international lawIn addition to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Protocol I, there are other war crimesin international armed conflict that are defined in the 1998 Rome Statute, in an ever-expandingnumber of international humanitarian law treaties and in customary international law.Rome Statute. Article 8 (2) (b) of the Rome Statute defines a broad range of war crimes ininternational armed conflict. Ghana has defined some of these crimes as crimes under national law.For example, the offences found in Rome Statute Article 8 (2) (b) that are also non-grave breachesof the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols are defined as offences in Ghana’s GenevaConventions Act. 98 As discussed below, some, but not all, of the remaining offences found in RomeStatute Article 8 (2) (b) are defined in other pieces of Ghanaian legislation, though their definitionsdo not meet the strictest requirements of international law. It is not clear that the courts of Ghanawould exercise universal jurisdiction over these remaining offences.Outrages upon personal dignity and recruitment of child soldiers. Ghana’s Children’s Actcriminalizes only some of the conduct involving the degrading treatment of children, 99 but nolegislation could be found outlawing the degrading treatment of adults. This falls short of Article 8(2) (b) of the Rome Statute, which defines “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliatingand degrading treatment” of all persons as a war crime under international law. 100 The Children’sAct also criminalizes exploitative child labor, which includes any labor that “deprives [a] child of itshealth, education or development.” 101 It does not, however, expressly criminalize conscripting orenlisting children under fifteen into the national armed forces nor does it expressly criminalizeengaging children to actively participate in hostilities, as in Article 8 (2) (b) of the Rome Statute. 102Rape. The Criminal Code defines rape in Ghanaian law as “the carnal knowledge of a female not lessthan sixteen years without her consent,” with carnal knowledge demonstrable by “proof of the least96See Geneva Conventions Act, 2009 (Act 780), sect. 1 (1) (e).97See Geneva Conventions Act, 2009 (Act 780), sect. 1 (4).98Geneva Conventions Act, 2009 (Act 780), sect. 1 (3).99Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) (Children’s Act), sect. 13.100Rome Statute, art 8 (2) (b) (xxi).101Children’s Act, sect. 89. Sections 88 and 91 also prohibit engaging children under fifteen in labor at nightand engaging of children under eighteen in hazardous work, though neither expressly prohibits the recruitment ofchildren into armed forces or engaging children in hostilities.102See Rome Statute, art. 8 (2) (b) (xxvi).Amnesty International November 2012 Index: AFR 28/004/2012