The workshop was held in collaboration with KASA initiative Ghana
The POS Foundation, which currently serves as the Secretariat of the Ghana Human Rights NGOs Forum, on Wednesday organised a sensitization workshop for media professionals on Ghana’s Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR), in Accra.
The workshop was held in collaboration with KASA initiative Ghana, UPR Info Africa Office and the Office of the United Nations in Ghana; with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
The UPR is a mechanism established by the UN to peer-review, which examines the human rights records of each Member State every five years.
The workshop, which was also attended by representatives of civil society organisations, discussed the status of human rights in Ghana as part of the ongoing UPR which tracks the progress of Ghana’s human rights obligations and commitments.
Ghana’s human rights record was reviewed at the Human Rights Council’s UPR in 2012 and 2008.
In reaction to the 2012 report, Ghana received 150 recommendations from 63 States.
Out of these recommendations, the majority was accepted, and 25 noted.
The purpose of the workshop was train participants on the UPR process, the UN mechanism and efficient reporting on its operations.
This is in preparation towards Ghana’s third cycle UPR Human Rights review by the UN Human Rights Council in November at Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director, POS Foundation, said this was the third review cycle for Ghana and that the media and CSOs had been brought together to enable them understand the UPR processes to be able to follow the monitoring of the recommendations that would be made by the UPR Council.
He said this would enable the media and the CSOs to hold government accountable on the implementation and enforcement of the recommendations.
He also called on the government to ensure that these recommendations were adhered to, to address human rights challenges in the country.
Mr Gilbert O. Onyango, UPR Regional Representative for Africa, hailed Ghana for having an opened space for the CSOs community to operate in; stating that “in the whole of Africa, Ghana has the freest and safest CSOs space”.
He urged Ghanaians to zealously safeguard and to protect the CSOs space; which according to him, would go a long way to ensure freedom of expression.
On the role of the media, Mr Onyango said Ghana had a vibrant press and that the media had a role to play in promoting human rights.
Mr Onyango also urged the media in Ghana to actively participate in the UPR process.
Mr Kwame Mensah, Care International, Technical Expert to KASA Initiative Ghana, said in the forthcoming Ghana’s UPR, the extractive industry would be included because there were some forms of human rights violation occurring in it.
He urged the Government to desist from going ahead with the setting up of a coal power plant in Cape Coast; because according to him the usage of coal in power generation would contribute to the production harmful gases into the environment, which would lead to global warming; thereby derailing Ghana’s efforts to abide by the Paris Agreement.
