Attempting to end one’s own life is now a criminal offence, according to changes made by Parliament to the Criminal Offences Act of 1960.
Parliament passed a new law on Tuesday, March 28, recognising that those who have attempted suicide have mental health problems and should be provided with treatment rather than imprisonment.
Several lawmakers had previously fought to make suicide attempts less of a crime.
Former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu stated in 2019 that attempting suicide should be treated as a crime and not be forgiven during a discussion in Parliament over whether to decriminalise the act or not.
According to him, suicide is inappropriate behaviour, and the perpetrators of the conduct should be punished to prevent others, particularly young people, from engaging in the same act.
He said, “You do not want to think that when you have depression and distress, the ultimate thing is that you go and take your life since you cannot recover your life back.”
Yet, during the opening of a call centre in Accra, the CEO of the Mental Health Authority, Prof. Akwesi Osei, announced plans to have suicide decriminalised on the grounds that it is a medical illness that requires health assistance rather than jail.
This comes after an “unprecedented wave” of suicides and suicide attempts, particularly among young people, in 2017.
Prof. Osei expressed concern over the language used to characterise suicide cases and said that an attempt at suicide should not be treated as a crime.
“I am trying harder not to say ‘people who wanted to commit suicide’ – it’s a language we want to move away from. So, don’t say ‘somebody who committed suicide’ because that criminalises the offence.
“We are trying to get us to understand that attempted suicide is not a crime, even though we don’t encourage it. It is [rather] a condition that requires support, largely mental illness.
“So, in all our discourses, let’s move away from ‘committed suicide’ to say ‘take his/her life by suicide’ or ‘die by suicide’,” he said.
Since then, health professionals in Ghana have advocated for a legislative change, arguing that attempted suicide is a medical illness that requires medical treatment rather than imprisonment. There have been calls for preventative funding from those who have survived an attempt at suicide. Nevertheless, there are around 1,500 suicides recorded annually nationwide.
Source – Tru News Report
