HRAC organises seminar to mark Valentine's Day

Human Rights Advocacy Centre, (HRAC) an NGO on Tuesday organised a seminar for market women in Accra Metropolis to mark Valentine’s Day celebration on the theme: “Share the love, know your rights”.

It was to empower and create awareness on the need for women to know their rights and to enlighten them about laws that protect women, and educate them to be firm in all situations they find themselves.

Nana Oye Lithur, Chief Executive Director of HRAC, said the seminar was a gift and sign of love to market women as they celebrated Valentine’s Day.

In addition, to educate them on human rights, custody and child support for children of single mothers, domestic violence, property rights and gender based violence, sexual abuse of "Kayayei" (female porters) and other adolescent girls.

She said the centre had received various complaints from market women within Accra Metropolis on issues relating to their rights, saying this was just a way to demonstrate to them how to handle such issues and the institutions that were available to settle them.

“We are here to demonstrate to the women various forms of human right violations in the form of drama, and to educate them on where and how to lodge complaints,” she added.

Nana Lithur noted that the forum would promote access to justice among the indigent and vulnerable women and children in Ghana, and urged the market women to take advantage of the seminar and use all that they were taught fruitfully.

Mrs Joy Anima Debrah, Senior Public Education Officer at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said most women knew their rights but found it difficult to seek redress.

She said CHRAJ is an institution that dealt with different forms of human rights violation and always ready to help the vulnerable in society, and urged the women to always report cases of violation against them to have their rights protected.