Champion human rights of all Ghanaians - HRAC charges media

The Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC) has asked the media to advocate for the human rights of all Ghanaians irrespective of their origin, status, gender and religion -as every human being is entitled to enjoy these basic inalienable rights in the modern nation-state.

According to Mr. Robert AkotoAmoafo, Executive Director of HRAC, human rights are the freedoms and entitlements the human beings have because they are human beings. “This means that once you are born, you have human rights. It does not matter who you are or where you were born,” Mr. Amoafo said.

He was speaking at a two-day media training workshop on human rights held in Dodowa, Greater Accra Region. The workshop was attended by close to about 20 journalists from various media houses. The objectives of the workshop are to increase participants' understand the concept of human rights; make participants appreciate the importance of human rights; enable participants see journalism as a tool for the protection of human right; and encourage journalists to adopt a human rights approach to journalism.

He stated that human rights are an objective benchmark for measuring government's action or inaction, thus holding government accountable. He said human rights are also an objective guide for the development of national and local policies and programmes aimed at developing the country and its people; as well as contributing to generational changes in the law, and in the behaviour and attitudes of the people.

The HRAC Executive Director said human rights are derived from the rules that naturally govern human behaviour and apply to all humans, adding that these natural law principles are codified through constitutions, international treaties, and other legislative instruments

He said in Ghana, human rights are in the Fundamental Human Rights as enshrined in Chapter 5 of 1992 Constitution. He said the establishment of Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Chapter 19 of the Constitution and the Human Rights Court were to protect and defend rights of the individual.

He said some civil society organisations (CSOs) in Ghana have the mandate to protect human rights, while some laws also protect the rights of all citizens. The laws, he pointed out, include the Children's Act, Labour Act, Mental Health Act, Persons with Disability Act, Domestic Violence Act and the national STI/HIV policy.

Mr. Charles Yao Mawusi, a Media and Communication Advisor with Trans-Media Network, noted that development was now considered based human rights. “It is difficult to delink human rights from development. The media should conscientise the citizens to put more pressure on duty-bearers to improve human rights,” Mr. Mawusi said.

He said though the human rights situation in the country has improved and made some progress, media practitioners must take up the task of making duty bearers account for their stewardship.