US: Ghana made significant improvements in human rights

Accra, March 19, GNA - The Ghana government generally respected human rights and made significant improvements during 2007 although there were problems in several areas, including incidents of vigilante justice, according to the US annual Human Rights Report on Ghana released in Accra on Wednesday said.

The report said human rights problems included deaths resulting from the excessive use of force by police; vigilante justice and harsh and life-threatening prison conditions.

Others listed by the report are police corruption and impunity; prolonged pre-trial detention; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; corruption in all branches of government; violence against women and children; female genital mutilation (FGM).

The rest are societal discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, homosexuals, and persons with HIV/AIDS; trafficking in women and children; ethnic discrimination and politically and ethnically motivated violence; and child labour, including forced child labour. The report said, during the year, the government took significant steps to improve the protection of human rights, including amending the criminal code to criminalize the practice of FGM and passing legislation on domestic violence.

"There were no reports that the government or its agents committed political killings; however, the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in the deaths of several criminal suspects and other persons during the year."

The report said: "Government forces continued to beat and forcibly evict hundreds of illegal residents, resulting in injuries and destruction of property."

It cited an incident in May 2007 when approximately 10,000 traders, carpenters, masons, traders, and farmers were evicted from areas alongside a railway.

"Some of the squatters had lived in the areas for over 20 years. During the eviction, agents, servants, and officials of the railway authorities, destroyed property, beat inhabitants, and forced them to sleep without shelter. There were no reported deaths or injuries resulting from any forcible dispersion of demonstrators by security forces."

The report said as in previous years, chieftaincy disputes resulted in deaths, injuries, and destruction of property. However, there were no reported killings resulting from disputes between indigenous locals and migrant herdsmen during the year. The report also cited the chieftaincy dispute in Anloga in the Volta Region, which resulted in at least five deaths, including one police officer and two persons who died in police custody. The report noted that numerous deaths resulted during the year from vigilante-style justice on suspected criminals by angry citizens and mobs.

The report said there were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

On torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, the report said the constitution and law prohibit such practices, but there were credible reports that police beat and abused suspects, prisoners, demonstrators, and other citizens. "Severe beatings of suspects in police custody reportedly occurred throughout the country but largely went unreported in official channels. In many cases, police denied allegations or claimed that force was justified by the circumstances.

"The many fatal cases of police brutality during the year led several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), lawyers, and civil society organizations to publicly denounce the tendency of police to use excessive force and to call for the IGP to take action against those responsible."

It cited the land guards menace as causing injury and property damage during the year.

On prison conditions, it said in most cases these were harsh and sometimes life-threatening, despite government efforts to improve them. "Much of the prison population was held in buildings that were originally colonial forts or abandoned public or military buildings, with poor ventilation and sanitation, dilapidated construction, and limited space."

It said according to the 2006 Prisons Service Annual Report, 12,847 prisoners were held in prisons designed to hold approximately one-third of that number. It was common for as many as 55 inmates to share a cell meant for 12.

"Overcrowding contributed to a prevalence of communicable diseases, medical facilities were inadequate, and the prisons supplied only the most basic medicines. Prisoners relied on families or outside organizations for additional food, medicine, and other necessities. Shortages of food, bedding, and clothing for prisoners persisted." The report said although the constitution and law provided for protection against arbitrary arrest and detention the government did not always observe these prohibitions.

"The government continued to conduct arbitrary arrests and detentions during the year," the report said, adding that the authorities routinely failed to notify prisoners' families of their incarceration; such information often was obtained only by chance. It said lengthy pre-trial detention remained a serious problem with the Prisons Service's 2006 Annual Report, saying that 29.5 percent of the prison population was in pre-trial status and detainees sometimes served more time in detention awaiting trial than the sentence for the crime required.

The report said the constitution and law provided for an independent judiciary, but "the judiciary was inefficient and subject to influence and corruption".