Weak implementation of legislations affects human rights-UN Rapporteur

Accra, July 14, GNA-A UN Rapporteur for Violence against Women, Professor Yakin Erturk on Saturday said weakness in the implementation of legislations against human rights abuses and lack of political will was making it difficult to eliminate abuses against the vulnerable. She said Parliament must therefore allocate appropriate funds in the 2008 Budget to ensure effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Law and corresponding action plans, if the law would serve its purpose.

Briefing newsmen in Accra on findings of a survey on women and children's rights abuses in Ghana, Prof. Erturk said Government must identify priority areas and work together with other state structures such as the traditional authorities to ensure compliance on laws protecting human rights.

She said using traditional authorities who have direct access with the people, especially those in the rural areas would empower the people for attitudinal and social change to insist on human rights. She stated that although it was difficult to know whether domestic violence was on the increase or decrease due to the absence of empirical data, the plight of porters (Kayaye), widows, Trokosi and women at the Gambaga Outcast Home branded as witches, still persisted.

The UN Rapporteur bemoaned the situation at Gambaga Witch Camp, saying that public perception on witchcraft must be changed so that such women would re-integrate with their families and the society. " If with time Europe was able to change public perception on the phenomenon during the witch hunt period, then this part of the world could also work at it", she added.

She said the plight of "Kayayee"', must be seriously considered since majority of them who had came to the urban centres to seek greener pastures were abused or even trafficked for sex trade.

Prof. Erturk identified low enrolment of boys and girls in the three regions in the Northern part of Ghana as a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals objective of Education For All by 2015. " Despite Government's Capitataion Grant and the School Feeding Programme, may families living in extreme poverty are still struggling to keep their children in school."

She therefore called on donor communities to prioritise an increased support for civil society and state initiatives aimed at empowering women and ending all forms of violence against the vulnerable in society. "As Ghana celebrates its 50th anniversary, all Ghanaians must join hands towards a new vision to ensure a life free of all forms of violence against women and children," which would lead to the enrichment and development of society at large".