General News of Tuesday, 15 July 2003
Source: GNA
....but He's Unlikely To Disclose Names
Accra, July 15, GNA - The Commission of Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on Tuesday appealed to Former President Rawlings to co-operate with the Police in the investigation into the serial killings without setting any preconditions.
A statement signed by Mr Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ in Accra on Tuesday, said it was unfortunate that after condemning the atrocities against women and having called on the Police to employ all powers vested in them by law to discover the perpetrators of the serial killings of women former President Rawlings had failed to co-operate with them.
The Commission, therefore, called on the Police to intensify the investigations into the murders and deploy all logistical and human resources to bring the perpetrators to book.
It also appealed to all persons with information or evidence in connection with the matter to co-operate with the Police and provide them with evidence or information that would assist them in the resolution of the atrocious crimes.
The statement said the Commission was mandated by the Constitution and its enabling legislation to, among other things, investigate complaints of violations of fundamental human rights and freedom and was also required to take appropriate action to call for the remedying, correction and reversal of these violations.
"When these serial killings are targeted at women, there is not only the violation of fundamental human right to life but there is also the gender dimension to it, which raises further human rights concerns."
CHRAJ, therefore, called on the public to root out crimes and evil from society and be mindful of the utterances of and positions taken by the former President.