Koforidua, Sept. 28, GNA- Mr. Richard Quayson, the Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has observed that Ghana was confidently enacting laws that could help protect the rights of the citizenry. He, however, said the machinery for the dissemination and explanation of the laws to the people to enable them to take advantage of the legislations was lacking.
Mr. Quayson was speaking at a symposium, organized by the Commission, for district directors of CHRAJ in the Eastern Region and human rights based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), at Koforidua on Thursday.
He stressed that human right NGOs should help in the dissemination of laws on human rights to enable people to take the appropriate steps to protect their rights.
Mr. Quayson said the Commission was investigating the impact of mining on people in mining areas and expressed the hope that the report could help avoid the type of problem in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. He reminded Ghanaians that the mandate of the Commission extend to individuals and public and private organizations and added that as at 2005, CHRAJ was receiving over 15,000 complains annually. Mr. Duke Hammond, the Director of Administration and Finance of the Commission, called on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) secretariat to establish the necessary structures to enable NGOs to make inputs into the APRM report.
He called on the Secretariat to constantly engage the groups at the grassroots in discussions and documentations of APRM report to give it a true national character.
Mr. Stephen Okporti-Mensah, Eastern Regional Director of CHRAJ, called on civil society organizations and NGOs to sustain their collaboration with CHRAJ towards the achievement of its goals.
