The United Nations Association of Ghana (UNA-GH), an affiliate of World Federation of United Nations Associations, has called for support for the Attorney General to expedite action on the Private Member Bill to abolish the death penalty.

The Association said as stated by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, "the death penalty has no place in the 21st Century".

A statement issued in Accra by the Association to commemorate the UN Day Against Death Penalty, said according to Amnesty International, 1,477 death sentences were imposed in 54 countries, down 36 per cent from at least 2,307 in 2019.

The Day, celebrated on October 10 every year was on the theme: "Women and the death penalty, an invisible reality," for this year.

It said at the end of 2020, at least 28,567 people were known to be under sentence of death out of which, 483 executions were recorded in 18 countries in 2020, a decrease of 26 per cent from 657 recorded in 2019.

"This figure represents the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in the past decade," it said.

In Ghana, as of the end of 2020, 160 people, 155 men and five women were under death sentence.

For 2020 alone, three new death sentences were imposed; eight in 2019; and 12 in 2018.

Globally, the following methods of execution were used across the world in 2020: beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.

Death penalty is within the confines of UN Sustainable Development Goals 10 and 16 -reducing inequality within and among countries, and peace, justice, and strong institutions.

Death sentence is condemning a convicted defendant to death.