UN to review Ghana on human rights in November
Ghana will in November be reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism by the United Nations Human Rights Council on the performance on its human rights situations in the country.
The Council reviewed Ghana previously and made over 140 recommendations of which government accepted 123 and rejected 25.
In November, Ghana would be peered reviewed on the following thematic reports including access to justice and right to life, freedom of expression, disability rights, women and children’s rights and right to work.
Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, the Vice Chairman – Ghana Human Rights NGOs Forum, told the GNA at the end of a three-day Ghana Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Pre UPR Reports validation workshop in Accra, said after the last review session, government has not implemented the UN recommendation.
The UPR’s raison d’être is to promote and deepen respect for human rights through the provision of feedback to UN member states on their human rights performance.
In 2006, the UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251 established the Human Rights Council and mandated the establishment of the UPR, which emphasized that the UPR mechanism should be cooperative, constructive, non-confrontational and non-politicized.
He said Ghana needed to reconsider, taking the UPR process seriously and work with the recommendations.
He said this time round, government together with Civil Society Organisations would submit nine reports to the council to be reviewed, and expressed the hope that the processes leading to the review would be coordinated well.
“Government must be committed to the implementation of the recommendations this time round to continue to promote the fight against human rights,” he added.
Mr Emile Short, the Former Commissioner for Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice commended the civil society organisation for their efforts to promote the fight against human rights.
Commenting on the death penalty, he said Ghana needs to abolish the death penalty as recommended by the UN Council to enhance the country’s image in the eye of the international community.
He called on the CSOs to be objective in the writing of the reports to reflect the situation on the ground to be submitted to the UN for the review process.
He commended the international donors for their support in building the capacity of CSOs in their activities and for the help in fighting human right issues in the country.
Mr Kwame Mensah, the Founder, Kasa Initiative said human rights abuse in the extractive industry needed to be looked at very well and addressed, adding that there was gender disparity in natural resource allocation in term of land.
He said Kasa initiative was committed in supporting the process to submit reports for Ghana to be reviewed.
He said there was the process of developing an advocacy campaign to engage the media and other donors to dialogue on human rights.
Source: GNA