France creates website for African human rights organisations

Accra, Sept. 12, GNA - The French government has embarked on an information technology project to create a website for 11 African human rights organisations to boost their network of sharing experiences. The project covers human rights organisations in countries France considered as having democratic institutions and dynamic civil societies.

The project has already taken off in Ghana and Nigeria. Mr Jean-Michel Berrit, French Ambassador to Ghana, who announced this in Accra on Friday, listed other beneficiary countries as South Africa, Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Mr Berrit was speaking when he presented a computer and its accessories, which cost about 2,500 dollars to Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to help the Commission hook-on to the website.

He said: "France, a country committed to the protection of human rights, takes a very active part all over the world within the general framework of her co-operation in favour of good governance, in the protection and promotion of human rights, in respect of which has become a fundamental clause of international aid".

Mr Berrit expressed the hope that the key role played by CHRAJ would help to maintain and promote the rule of law in Ghana.

Mr Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ thanked the French government for the assistance, saying: "France has been assisting Ghana from time to time as a sign of the good relationship the two countries enjoyed."

He said the project would help deepen the relationship between beneficiary human rights organisations, strengthen the democratic processes in their various countries and documentation of major human rights activities and projects.

France would organise training programmes for officers, who would be in-charge of the website as part of the project's sustainability. 12 Sept. 03