Education Ministry to incorporate human rights issues

Accra, Nov. 30, GNA - Mr Joe Donkor, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, said on Tuesday that torture was still being used to abuse the rights of citizens in West Africa although governments were obliged by various international conventions to protect the rights of their people.

He said torture had become a tool for use in times of peace or war in the Region not only by those in authorities but by ordinary people as well.

The Deputy Minister said this on Monday in a speech read for him at the opening of a training workshop on a West African Human Rights Education Project in Accra being currently run by Amnesty International and the European Union.

Mr Donkor said it was the vision of the Ministry of Education to incorporate human rights education into the curriculum of basic schools to ensure that children were kept informed about respect for the rights of others.

Mr Ken Attafuah, Executive Secretary of Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said it was important for communities to focus on gender-based violence in addition to other human rights issues.

He urged men to appreciate the rights of women and do everything to support them, saying most domestic violence cases mainly involved men. Mrs Marie Petrus, Project Manager of the West Africa Human Rights Education, said the project aimed at training Journalists, Teachers and Civil Society on human rights issues.