Promote human rights of women
Gilbert Boyefio
25/11/2006
A human rights activist of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Nana Oye Lithur, has appealed to the judiciary and the media to promote issues that affect the human rights of women in Ghana.
She observed that provisions in the Constitution of Ghana that tackle human rights abuses as pertain to women are few and even these are grudgingly enforced by the authorities. "Most of the laws that protect and promote women rights are enshrined in international law", she added.
Nana Oye Lithur said that according to article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, countries shall accord to women equality with men before the law, and in civil matters, they shall have a legal faculty identical to that of men and the same opportunity to exercise that faculty. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.
Speaking at a one day workshop for journalists organised by the Journalists for Human Rights, a Canadian-based NGO, she said notwithstanding the provisions made in the Convention, women in Ghana continue to face a lot of challenges that deter them from accessing justice.
She cited several instances where the human rights of women were abused by those who were supposed to protect them.
One of such instances she touched on happened in June, 2006 in Accra, when several prostitutes arrested, detained and charged with soliciting by the District Magistrate Court in La, were made to undergo mandatory HIV tests by the court and the test results subsequently announced in open court.
Another one was a case where a woman who filed a case to regain her deceased father's property from paternal relatives had to wait for eight years for judgment to be passed.
Nana Oye Lithur said statistics from the domestic violence and victim support unit reveals that assault, rape and threats are the most common in cases involving women. For children, of whom girls are in the majority, the most prevalent cases are those of defilement.
According to her, from 2002 to the third quarter of 2006, 4468 cases of defilement had been reported and most of the victims are girls aged 13 to 18. "Most of the perpetrators were husbands, boyfriends and ex-husbands, this reveals the vulnerability of the girl child and the women folk as far as sexual offences and assault are concerned".
Nana Oye Lithur pointed out that from surveys conducted on knowledge of rights, it became obvious that many people, majority of whom are women are unaware of the constitution and for that matter do not know their rights and responsibilities. "How then can they assert their rights and access the court system", she asked worryingly.
She said the few women that access the courts normally go there with cases concerning non-maintenance, divorce and matrimonial issues.
Nana Oye Lithur observed that another factor that militates against women in their access to justice is the high court fees. "Although the 1992 Constitution guarantees access to justice for all, the high court fees make it unattainable", she argued.
She however pointed out that currently, several attempts including the introduction of the alternate dispute resolution system are being implemented by the judicial service. The Ghana Legal Aid Scheme has also introduced an arbitration system to address the backlog of cases.
The workshop was to afford journalists the opportunity to upgrade their skills in human rights reporting.
25/11/2006
A human rights activist of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Nana Oye Lithur, has appealed to the judiciary and the media to promote issues that affect the human rights of women in Ghana.
She observed that provisions in the Constitution of Ghana that tackle human rights abuses as pertain to women are few and even these are grudgingly enforced by the authorities. "Most of the laws that protect and promote women rights are enshrined in international law", she added.
Nana Oye Lithur said that according to article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, countries shall accord to women equality with men before the law, and in civil matters, they shall have a legal faculty identical to that of men and the same opportunity to exercise that faculty. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals.
Speaking at a one day workshop for journalists organised by the Journalists for Human Rights, a Canadian-based NGO, she said notwithstanding the provisions made in the Convention, women in Ghana continue to face a lot of challenges that deter them from accessing justice.
She cited several instances where the human rights of women were abused by those who were supposed to protect them.
One of such instances she touched on happened in June, 2006 in Accra, when several prostitutes arrested, detained and charged with soliciting by the District Magistrate Court in La, were made to undergo mandatory HIV tests by the court and the test results subsequently announced in open court.
Another one was a case where a woman who filed a case to regain her deceased father's property from paternal relatives had to wait for eight years for judgment to be passed.
Nana Oye Lithur said statistics from the domestic violence and victim support unit reveals that assault, rape and threats are the most common in cases involving women. For children, of whom girls are in the majority, the most prevalent cases are those of defilement.
According to her, from 2002 to the third quarter of 2006, 4468 cases of defilement had been reported and most of the victims are girls aged 13 to 18. "Most of the perpetrators were husbands, boyfriends and ex-husbands, this reveals the vulnerability of the girl child and the women folk as far as sexual offences and assault are concerned".
Nana Oye Lithur pointed out that from surveys conducted on knowledge of rights, it became obvious that many people, majority of whom are women are unaware of the constitution and for that matter do not know their rights and responsibilities. "How then can they assert their rights and access the court system", she asked worryingly.
She said the few women that access the courts normally go there with cases concerning non-maintenance, divorce and matrimonial issues.
Nana Oye Lithur observed that another factor that militates against women in their access to justice is the high court fees. "Although the 1992 Constitution guarantees access to justice for all, the high court fees make it unattainable", she argued.
She however pointed out that currently, several attempts including the introduction of the alternate dispute resolution system are being implemented by the judicial service. The Ghana Legal Aid Scheme has also introduced an arbitration system to address the backlog of cases.
The workshop was to afford journalists the opportunity to upgrade their skills in human rights reporting.
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