CHRAJ, iWatch Africa join forces to empower journalists

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has partnered iWatch Africa, a not-for-profit organization that draws on their expertise in data and investigative journalism and data visualization, to fight corruption and human rights abuse in Ghana.

The project, ‘Leveraging the power of data and digital tools to Stop Human Rights Abuse – An iWatch, CHRAJ and Police Collaboration’, will train and empower journalists and student journalists with these data and digital tools to find and report on cases involving human rights abuses and corruption.

The goal is to support CHRAJ and the police to use these effective communication tools to educate the public and report more about these topical issues, for them to take real action to resolve the reported cases.

When iWatch Africa paid a courtesy call on the Commission last Tuesday, Commissioner Joseph Whittal praised iWatch’s initiative and creativity to bring human rights issues to life and expressed support for the project.

“We are happy to partner this initiative as it sinks well with our mandate and efforts to bring human rights abuse issues to the fore,” he said.

“This connects perfectly with our efforts which is captured in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The Project Lead for iWatch Africa, Nana Boakye-Yiadom, was optimistic about the future and the impact of the project, which is funded by the American Embassy Ghana.

“The Police administration has also agreed to partner us on this all-important project. This underscores the commitment of these two very important institutions to deal with these critical fundamental issues of human existence”.

The project will officially be launched on October 22, 2019 at the University of Ghana campus.