Ghana urged to ratify UN Convention on PWDs

Accra, June 25, GNA - Mrs Janet Amegatcher, Director, Mind Freedom Ghana (MFG), a mental health non-governmental organization on Friday called on government to ratify the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).

She said ratification of the Convention would send a strong signal to people who continued to abuse PWDs in the country.

Mrs Amegatcher was addressing participants at a workshop organised by the management of MFG to sensitise selected judges, lawyers and other government institutions on aspects of the legal system with regard to the non-enforcement of rights of PWDs and the need for it to be ameliorated. The workshop was under the theme: "Ensuring Durable Justice on Disability Rights: Raising Our Voices on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Ghana".

It also sought to court the support of participants to get Ghana to endorse the UN Convention by the end of the year. Mrs Amegatcher said even though Ghana had enacted legislation on PWDs, people continued to flout the law because the process of implementation was weak.

She said PWDs over the years had been regarded as individuals, who required social protection and evoked sympathy rather than respect. Mrs Amegatcher said even though the UN Convention did not create new rights, it ensured the protection of individual rights as well as full and equal enjoyment of all human rights.

She said governments had shown interest in issues concerning PWDs and approval of the Convention could concretize local legislation to enhance the plight of PWDs.

Mr Dan A. Taylor, Executive Secretary of MFG said it was formed in 2004 with its core activities focusing on advocacy, awareness creation and sensitisation on mental health issues. He urged government to approve the Convention since its endorsement would encourage state institutions mandated to enforce the law to be proactive.

Mr Taylor said about 145 countries had signed the UN Convention, 85 countries had ratified it while 89 countries had signed the protocol with four of them in West Africa. They are Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso.