Ghana to introduce Bill to give effect to Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has announced that the AG’s Department is working on a Bill to domesticate the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Although he didn't give deadlines on when the Bill might be ready, Mr. Dame in his Keynote address to commemorate the 75th International Human Rights Day on Tuesday, indicated that aside from enabling the courts to try offences under the Rome Statute, the Bill will also provide a legal framework in which the ICC can prosecute cases in circumstances where Ghana's courts cannot. 

“A significant omission in our human rights protection regime is a failure to domesticate the Rome Statute into our laws to enable national courts to assume jurisdiction over offences created by the Rome Statute. 

The Office of the Attorney-General is filling this lacuna by preparing an International Criminal Court Bill to give effect to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to incorporate the Statute fully as part of the laws of Ghana," he said. 

Ghana signed the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, on July 18, 1998. According to the Rome Statute, it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes. Among other things, it sets out the crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the ICC, the rules of procedure and the mechanisms for States to cooperate with the ICC.

For some time now, civil society groups like the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), while commending Ghana's original commitment to ratify the ICC founding treaty, have pushed for the government to take steps to giving the Statute effect under domestic law.