UN Day of Torture Victims observed

A Human Rights Activist on Wednesday urged Governments to ensure law and order and provide services that together would enable all citizens to enjoy their rights. Mr Chrismek Christopher Mensah, the Activist, made the call on Wednesday at a Press Conference to mark the UN Day in Support of Torture Victims on a global theme: "Together Against Torture" in Accra.

The Day, commemorated yearly on June 26, has been set aside by the International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture (IRCT) to encourage rehabilitation centres and health, legal, human rights, media and other professional organisations to fight the war against torture.

Mr Mensah, who is also the President of the Chrismek Rights Foundation, a local non-governmental organisation, described the two forms of torture as physical, which is visible and carry injuries and scars and the psychological or mental torture, the invisible, such as a marathon interrogation, legal torture, mock execution and intimidation, among other things.

According to him various forms of torture were perpetrated in Ghana, including domestic violence, gender related deprivations, widowhood rites, trokosi, tribal marks, rape and sexual abuse and media related torture.

Mr. Mensah, therefore, urged governments to officially condemn torture in any form saying, victims of torture suffered from flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, severe anxiety, insomnia, nightmares, depression, memory lapses and breakdown in familial and social relations that destroy the dignity, worth and hope of its victims.

He called for action against torture at all levels to include the denunciation of perpetrators, redress and reparation for torture victims, developing and enforcing national and international legislation against torture and promoting human rights education. "The State must also provide safeguards during interrogation or in custody, prosecute alleged torturers irrespective of their status or political affiliation and custody payment of compensation and rehabilitation of victims of torture,"

Mr, Mensah said.

The Reverend Dr Robert Aboagye-Mensah, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, who chaired the function, called for the total abolition of some of the negative cultural values in the country, saying, they also constituted a form of torture. He urged all to stop tortures from the home, where children are continually maltreated and wives battered by their husbands.

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in a message read by Mr Iddrisu A. Siddiq, Information Officer, UNDP, said the horrific events of the September 11,

2001 have prompted a debate on many fronts about the means that might be required and justified to combat the threat of terrorism.

He said security could not be achieved by sacrificing human rights, therefore, humankind must continue to stand united in the fight against torture. Mr Annan called on all governments to support the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture so that an even greater number of projects could be funded in the coming year to eradicate torture.