Participants and speakers in a group picture after the first session of the workshop
The Perfector of Sentiments (POS) Foundation has called on government to partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to uphold the human rights of citizens.
Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director, POS Foundation said, “Considering the current government’s adopted policy on Public, Private Partnership (PPP) to push the agenda of economic growth, it will be beneficial for government to actively partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to promote good governance and social development with emphasis on upholding the human rights of her citizens, as well as having maximum respect for the rule of law.”
He said this during a two-day UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) workshop for CSOs which is aimed at preparing a joint human right report to be forwarded to the UN Secretariat in Geneva.
“We want to see a Ghana that has its prisons decongested, a Ghana that upholds the rights of children against child trafficking and labour, a Ghana that respects the rights of women and gives them equal opportunities to participate in governance, and finally a Ghana that respects the rights of the minority groups in our society,” Mr Osei Owusu said.
He encouraged participants to actively participate in the workshop to be able to collectively make input to facilitate the preparation and compilation of the UPR report and also find sustainable solutions to the most sensitive and complex problems in upholding human rights in Ghana.
Gifty Twum Ampofo, Deputy Minister Designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection said, “CSOs work directly with citizens and so they give the government a clearer picture of human right abuses in our societies. The government will give CSOs the recognition they deserve so that they support the government in addressing human right issues confronting citizens.”
The workshop brought together 70 participants, representing CSOs in Ghana, to prepare them to submit a joint report and provide opportunity for the CSOs to learn more about the UPR.
The Universal Periodic Review is a Human Rights mechanism adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2016 to assess the fulfillment of human right obligations and commitments where the 194 UN Members states are peer-reviewed on their human rights records every five years.
By Abigail Owiredu-Boateng