Boat Disiater: Petition to Amnesty International

Ghanaian Angered by Barbaric Eviction of Fishermen Along the Volta Lake sends Petition to Amnesty International!

INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT
Amnesty International
1 Easton Street
London
WC1X 0DW, UK

Dear Sir/Madam,

On Saturday April 8, 2006, over ten fishing communities along Ghana?s Volta Lake were forcefully evicted by officials of the Wild Life Division of Ghana?s Forestry Commission. In the process about 120 Ghanaians lost their lives. This exercise involved about 8,000 Ghanaians who had lived in these communities for more than 30 years.

Furthermore, there was a clear act of negligence in this case. According to the Ghanaian Daily Graphic, 150 people were packed in a boat which had a capacity for only 70 passengers. In addition to the excess number, there was property, including livestock and personal effects on board. Several of the people drowned in the Volta Lake when the boat capsized.

According to news reports, representatives of the over ten communities affected by the eviction order told the Ghana News Agency at Mancherikope that "we have been maltreated, harassed and deprived of our daily livelihood, we beg the Government and the International Community to help us."

In any country with a strong and independent judiciary, and rule of law, the victims will not be begging the perpetrator (i.e., the government of Ghana in this case) of such a negligent act. They would simply take the government to court. Just compensation ought to be their right and not a matter left to the whims and caprices of the state. And in the case in question, the victims did not only lose their properties and livelihood, they also lost their loved ones.

While the government of any country has the right to exercise the state?s power of eminent domain this must, nevertheless, be done in a just and fair manner. In the United States, the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution requires that just compensation be paid when the power of eminent domain is used. Just compensation constrains the state?s ability to abuse its power of eminent domain. In young democracies like Ghana, the need for an external agency like Amnesty International to ?keep the state in check? is even stronger. The matter is being investigated but we hope you know the flippant manner in which these matters are typically handled in weak democracies. This is why you must treat this case with the urgency that it deserves. This is an outrageous and preposterous violation of human rights.

We respectfully urge you to use your good offices to demand accountability in this matter, raise the international profile of this case, and once again demonstrate, as always, your gallant effort to protect human safety and rights.

The petition concluded.