Topic: Rights of Accused
Country: Ghana
Delegate Name: Suzy Deems
School: East Grand Rapids High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ghana position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
The law of Ghana is written to protect the people and those accused of crimes that have not been proven guilty. Ghana has a strong history of representing the views of its people and those of West Africa since its independence in 1957. Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to achieve independence from colonial rulers. Ghanaian law reflects our history as a sub saharan country, our struggle for independence and the precepts of British law which we have adopted.
Although parts of our law reflect the British heritage many parts of our law are based on our native view of our heritage of laws and the historical views of our people. As most of the international laws were written by European and their descendants they do not always reflect Ghanaian law. We reserve the right to give our own interpretation to legal concepts that represent our native views which differ from European legal codes, even when those legal codes are adopted by the United Nations. We reserve the right to make that distinction.
The reported possitions with regard to homoseulaity are contrary to the laws of the country of Ghana. Indeed, they are contrary to the laws of many African countries but we will let our brother and sister African countries speak for themselves. Our laws do not protect homosexuals. They prohibit such conduct. This is not just an aberrant position of the government. Ninety six percent of our people oppose such behavior. We believe that our position mirrors that of all or almost all African Countries. We would encourage the United Nations to rethink this position regarding homosexualitiy. At a minimum we do not think that United Nations should be trying to foster this view point on countries and regions where it is contrary to their history, culture and laws.
Ghana's laws respect the rights of the accused. Accused people are given protections reflecting the protections in British and Commonwealth law. They are not verbatim the same but they are written into law to seek to protect the accused until their guilt is determined. While we may be occasionally be accused of not protecting accused people sufficiently, we do not believe this is any different than the news we often see in the Western press regarding the insufficient protections afforded the poor and accused in Western countries. Ghana respects efforts to support the rights of the accused to the extent possible.
Ghana prohibits homosexuality but does recognise the rights of the accused and seeks to protect them.
Works Cited
"Ghana Achieved Independence in 1957 But Not Freedom." Ghana Achieved Independence in
1957 But Not Freedom. 5 Mar. 2011. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
"LGBT Rights in Ghana | Equaldex." LGBT Rights in Ghana | Equaldex. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
