CHARAJ HOLDS MEETING ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES (PAGE 40)

THE call for partnership or collaboration to tackle the chronic and emerging issues confronting mankind has been touted at several regional and international conferences and conventions over the years.
That was the essence of the stakeholders meeting organised recently by the Volta Regional
branch of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to sensitise a cross-section of the population to the need to operate in conformity with laid down regulations.
The participants at the forum, including civil servants, the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), were also trained to educate the general public on human rights.
Human rights span the right to life, the right to personal liberty, respect for human dignity, protection from slavery and forced labour, equality and freedom from discrimination, protection of privacy of the home and other property to the protection from deprivation of property.
The rest are the right to fair trial, freedom to practice any religion of conscience and belief and administrative justice.
The administrative justice Act (Act 23) clearly states the rights on labour laws, special provision on women rights, children’s rights, rights of disabled persons, and the rights of the sick.
It was, therefore, relevant for the CHRAJ and Green Globe Society, an environmental and human rights organisation, to organise a seminar of student nurses of the Nurses’ Training College in Ho.
The Principal investigator of CHRAJ, Mr George Hornuvor, who delivered the main lecture, stressed that the commission was not a witch hunting organisation, saying “We educate the people on their rights and freedoms to enable them to assert their rights and fight for their freedoms.”
He said the commission could not know if somebody’s rights were violated unless the matter was reported.
He added that even if the commission knew the issue, it could not by itself initiate investigations without first receiving a petition from a complainant.
Mr Honuvor stated that it was only in cases of alleged corruption, bribery and misappropriation of funds that the CHRAJ could initiate investigations without necessarily receiving a petition from a complainant.
The Executive Director of Green Globe Society, Mr Sammy Deh, expressed delight about the massive attendance of students at the lecture.
He, however, advised the participants to apply the knowledge they had gained at the seminar, especially the rights of patients as contained in the patient’s charter.