CHRAJ records more human rights abuses in Central Region

The Central Regional office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), last year, recorded a total of 667 human rights infractions compared with the 2018 total of 660 cases.

Five hundred and seventy-seven (577) of the cases involving rights violations, administrative justice and corruption, reported to the Commission, were successfully dealt with.

Mr. Theophilus Tetteh Tuwor, the Regional Director, who made this to the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast, said 125 of the cases were pending and the majority of these were from the year 2018.

Child rights violations - non-maintenance, education, name, access and custody topped the list of cases. There were as many as 334 cases. Next came non-payment of salary, SSNIT contributions, right to work and breach of agreement, with the total number of cases reported, standing at 117.

There were 101 property rights related cases and these included destruction of property, retrieval, truancy, the share of property and inheritance, during the period.

Those of women’s rights non-maintenance, non-performance of customary rites and denial of paternal responsibility totalled 81.

The least reported cases had to do with civil and political issues and these mainly involved the right to bury, respect and dignity. The number of such cases stood at 32.

Mr. Tuwor said these complaints were made to the district offices of the Commission - Agona Swedru, Winneba, Cape Coast, Dunkwa-on-Offin, Saltpond and Abura-Dunkwa, Ajumako, Breman-Asikuma, Apam, Assin-Fosu, Elmina and Twifo-Praso.

He encouraged parents, family members and community leaders to report cases of sexual abuse of children, to expose the offenders, adding that, CHRAJ was ready to offer protection to citizens who reported crimes to avoid victimisation.

The Commission, he said, had scaled-up its public education programmes through active engagement with the communities, schools, groups and institutions on how they could demand accountability from public officers.

Such engagements, he said, offered the citizenry the opportunity to learn basic human rights and allowed those who ordinarily would not have had the opportunity to access legal services to also report and pursue corruption-related cases.