Parliament on merits of Geneva Convention Bill

Accra, July 14, GNA-Parliament Monday took the Geneva Convention Bill, which is to, among other things, regulate the use of Red Cross emblems, through the second reading.

The House noted that the object and purpose were in agreement with the constitution of Ghana.

The Bill, presented and read for the first time in October 2007, is to provide effective penal sanctions for grave breaches of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two Protocols of 1977, protect the fundamental guarantees of the Conventions and Protocol to limit the effects of armed conflicts.

Moving for the second reading of the Bill, Mr Kwame Osei- Prempeh, Deputy Attorney General and also Deputy Minister of Justice, in a historical overview of the Bill, noted that Ghana was the first signatory to the Additional Protocols of 1977, and was therefore among the states which have undertaken to respect the rules of humanitarian law as required by the Conventions and Protocols. The Geneva Conventions and the Protocols are part of Humanitarian Law, a set of laws that seek to protect people who do not take part in fighting during war.

These people, who do not take part in war include civilians, medical religious and military personnel. Also, humanitarian law protects persons who are no longer participating in hostilities or have ceased to take part in war, who include the wounded, shipwrecked, sick combatants and prisoners of war. These people are entitled to respect for their lives, physical and mental integrity, as the sick and wounded for instance are to be collected and care for by the party in whose custody they find themselves.

The Memorandum of the Bill, which called the Bill the "Law of War" and the "Law of Armed Conflict", said international humanitarian law restricts the means of methods of warfare. The principal treaties of international law humanitarian law are: the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols; the 1954 Hague Cultural Property Conventions and its Two Protocols, the 1980Conventional Weapons Conventions and five Protocols; the 10097 Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Landmines; and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Under the Conventions and Protocols, State Parties are required to enact legislation and take administrative measures to ensure the implementation of and respect for international humanitarian law. Mr Yaw Baah, Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who seconded the motion on the Geneva Convention Bill, said the Bill provided for a range of offences and corresponding penalty regimes including particularly the offence of grave breaches and the penal sanctions which are unknown to Ghana's criminal justice system.

"The Committee considers the incorporation of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols in Ghana's domestic legislation through the passage of this Bill appropriate", Mr Baah said. The House, also took the Anti-Terrorism Bill, through the consideration stage. The Bill seeks to combat terrorism, suppress and detect acts of terrorism, prevent the territory, its resources and financial services from being used to commit terrorist acts. It is to protect the rights of people in the country to live in peace, freedom, and security and to provide for related matters. The bill is organised in five distinct sections, namely, terrorist acts, terrorist offences; specified entities, search, seizure and forfeiture of properties, and miscellaneous matters. Deputy Attorney General, who is also Deputy Minister of Justice of Justice Mr. K. Osei-Prempeh, withdrew and re-introduce the Road Traffic Amendment Bill, Act 683, that takes a second look at penalties for road traffic offences.