Ghana: Pressure Mounts On Gov't to Ratify Protocol On Rights of Women
By: Ivy Benson

September 27, 2006 – (Ghanaian Chronicle) Women rights advocates are mounting pressure on government to ratify the African Union Protocol on Women's Rights, a key regional document that pushes for the advancement of women's rights considering the numerous discriminations that they encounter. To the Ghana branch of the Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF-Ghana), a non-governmental women's rights advocates, government's failure to endorse the AU Protocol denies women equal rights, and this constitutes a violation of their human rights that need to be protected.

At the opening ceremony of a two-day regional colloquium on gender equality work held in Accra from September 20, 2006, the National Programmes Coordinator, Bernice Sam, called on government to ratify the protocol as soon as possible. "It is a shame that to date Ghana has not ratified the African Union Protocol on Women's Rights, one of the key regional documents for the advancement of women's rights," she bemoaned. According to the coordinator, the satisfactory words applied in international treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration, the Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender Equality and the AU Protocol on Women do not reflect the daily realities of the millions of women.

The colloquium, which was organized in collaboration with the Commonwealth Foundation, UK, brought together participants from Ghana, Nigeria, some East African countries and some civil society groups to critically reflect on their work as gender equality or women's rights advocates. Participants further questioned gender mainstreaming and analyzed how their various governments had complied with the many international treaties they had ratified.

The workshop also informed participants about the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and its impact on gender equality work, and studied about the Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (CWAMM) scheduled for Kampala, Uganda, in 2007 as well as the Commonwealth Women's NGO Network. Women's rights are central to the democratic principles of the society as indicated by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and subsequent international treaties and declarations.

The WiLDAF-Ghana coordinator noted that of the 1.3billion people living in poverty, 70% are women, indicating a high female illiteracy as compared to that of the male. Majority of the world's refugees are women; women and girl children are exposed to cross-boarder prostitution rackets and pornography; female genital mutilation continues to stare Africa in the face with women in every country subjected to regular domestic violence; women also lack access to reproductive healthcare and are targeted in armed conflicts. Without ensuring women's rights, Bernice Sam emphasized that peace, security and sustainable economic development would elude societies.

In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, noted that government had ratified a number of treaties including the convention on the elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Among Women, the Beijing Platform for Action, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and was in the process of ratifying the Protocol on the rights of Women in Africa. According to her, the document is before Parliament for approval. She was further of the view that it required the concerted efforts of government, civil society groups and the citizenry to realize the commitments made by government.

From : http://allafrica.com/stories/200609270621.html