Ghana - Amnesty International

72GHANA: END IMPUNITY THROUGH UNIVERSAL JURISDICTIONNo Safe Haven Series No. 10recognizing a particular principle of superior responsibility in the laws of Ghana, which is adeparture from international law. However, an individual who commands another person to commit acrime is liable under Ghanaian law as an abettor. 209With regard to other principles of individual criminal responsibility, Ghanaian law is roughly similarto Article 25 of the Rome Statute. The common law and the Criminal Code provide for thecommission of a crime, individually or jointly (Rome Statute, art. 25 (3) (a)); ordering, soliciting orinducing a crime (Rome Statute, art. 25 (3) (b)); aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting thecommission of a crime (Rome Statute, art. 25 (3) (c)); contributing to the commission or attemptedcommission of a crime by a group of persons acting with a common purpose (Rome Statute, art. 25(3) (d)); and attempting to commit a crime (Rome Statute, art. 25 (3) (f). 210 However, there is noexpress provision in Ghanaian law making it unlawful directly and publicly to incite others to commitgenocide (Rome Statute, art. 25 (3) (e)).6.1.3. DEFENCESAs discussed below, there are a number of defences in Ghanaian law that are broader than defencespermitted under international law with respect to crimes under international law or which are notappropriate for such crimes, such as the defences of superior orders, insanity and voluntaryintoxication, which could lead to impunity for the worst imaginable crimes. 211CAT/C/GC/2, 24 January 2008, para. 26.209Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu, The General Part of the Criminal Law – A Ghanaian Casebook, Accra: BlackMask, 2001, p. 495210Under common law, those who assist in the commission of a crime, though not present at the scene of thecrime, are accessories and those who are present at the crime scene are principals in the second degree.However, the Criminal Code streamlines accessorial liability by classifying all who assist in the commitment of acrime – whether at the scene of the crime or not – as abettors. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, The General Part of theCriminal Law – A Ghanaian Casebook 480 – 90 (2001). Section 20 (1) of the Criminal Code states:“A person who, directly or indirectly, instigates, commands, counsels, procures, solicits, or in any othermanner purposefully aids, facilitates, encourages, or promotes, whether by a personal act or presence orotherwise, and a person who does an act for the purposes of aiding, facilitating, encouraging, or promotingthe commission of a criminal offence by any other person, whether known or unknown, certain or uncertain,commits the criminal offence of abetting that criminal offence, and of abetting the other person in respectof that criminal offence.”Under common law and the Criminal Code, if two or more persons agree or act together with a common purposein order to commit or abet a crime, they are guilty of conspiracy. See Criminal Code, sect. 23; Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, The General Part of the Criminal Law – A Ghanaian Casebook 386 – 458 (2001).Under the common law and the Criminal Code, an attempt to commit a criminal offence is itself a criminaloffence. See Criminal Code, sect. 18 (2); Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, The General Part of the Criminal Law – AGhanaian Casebook 459 – 479 (2001).211This section is not intended to cover the full range of defences to criminal charges under Ghanaian law, butsimply to discuss some of the most significant features regarding defences that have implications forprosecutions for crimes under international law based on universal jurisdiction.Amnesty International November 2012 Index: AFR 28/004/2012