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CHRAJ to champion passage of legislation on women's rights
Accra, April 14, Ghanadot/GNA - The
Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ),
would from this year begin a process to facilitate the
passage of legislation on women's rights, Ms. Anna Bossman,
acting Commissioner of CHRAJ, said on Monday.
She said; "The Commission will pay particular attention to
government's Affirmative Action Policy and monitor the
recommendations contained in the Women's Manifesto with the
view of passing legislation in favour of women's rights with
particular regard to women's economic empowerment."
Ms. Bossman made the announcement at a brief ceremony, where
the Danish Ambassador, Mr. Flemming Bjork Pedersen handed
over a torch to her to symbolise a call on her to "do
something extra" for the realisation of gender equality and
women's empowerment, which is the third Millennium
Development Goal (MDG3).
She is one of three women in Ghana, who would bear the torch
and champion a campaign launched on March 7, 2008 by the
Danish Minister of Development Co-operation, Ms. Ulla
Tornaes, to ensure that all governments consider gender
equality and women's empowerment key development issues.
The other two Ghanaian torchbearers are Nana Oye Lithur,
Country Coordinator of Commonwealth Human Rights Institute,
and Ms. Adisa Lansah Yakubu, Project Co-ordinator for Africa
2000 Network.
The campaign was initiated as a result of the fact that
despite global acknowledgement of the importance of efforts
to ensure women's empowerment, half way to 2015, when MDG3
should be achieved, the status of women still leaves a lot
to be desired, Ms. Tornaes underscored.
Ms. Bossman stated that her campaign would be under the
banner: "Not because of your perfection, but because of your
potential", saying that even though they were not perfect,
women and girls had great potential to be factors of
positive change in their societies.
"But they must strive to recognise and accept that they, do
have potential and all of us must encourage and help them to
believe in themselves," she said.
She noted that, added to the fact that women and girls are
largely marginalized in terms of opportunities for
education, economic and political empowerment, among others,
the fact that women themselves do not come forward when they
could and when they should was a problem.
Ms. Bossman said, besides seeking the passage of legislation
on women's rights, she would also work with NGOs and
institutions that advocated gender equality and equity to
further deepen the Commission's commitment to promoting
gender mainstreaming in state institutions and consistency
in ensuring sustainable gender
equality.
"On a personal level, I commit to speaking, motivating and
encouraging young girls and women in all social spheres in
any way I can, by organizing fora, activities to let them be
seen and heard and to make them aware of their rights and
what they can
do to achieve economic empowerment.
"I plan to join up with like minded persons locally and
internationally to consider
setting up a foundation, much on the lines of Ms Foundation
for Women and Girls," she said.
Mr. Pedersen said, as part of the campaign, a 12-member
internationally acclaimed MDG3 Champion Network, which
includes Mrs. Akoss Ofori Mensah, a Ghanaian Publisher had
been constituted to champion the cause of women world-wide
and there would also be the MDG3 Conference on April 17 this
year to discuss solutions for accelerating the
implementation of MDG3.
Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic
Planning, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas and ECOWAS Commission
President, among other prominent Ghanaians would attend the
Conference.
GNA
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