Respect rights of women - Hanna Tetteh to soldiers

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hanna Tetteh, has bemoaned the trampling of the rights of women and girls by some African soldiers during peacekeeping missions.

Speaking at a flag raising ceremony to mark the 53rd African Union Day on Wednesday May 25, the Minister called on Africans to work towards meeting the theme for this year's celebration – Africa's year for Human Rights with a particular focus on women's rights.

She said: “In order for us to achieve our objective, it is just not enough for us to commemorate our union a day in Ghana. It is something we should begin to find the structures and the platform to ensure that we allow participation of all the stakeholders in our society and the agenda 2063 must be driven by the civil society, by the private sector, by traditional rulers, by religious leaders, by governments, but also, more importantly, by our African citizens, so that, indeed, we will be closer to creating the Africa that we want”.

The Awutu Senya-West legislator added that: “As we focus on women’s right in particular as an aspect of human right, it is also important for us to pay attention to what we have done wrong and make sure that it never happens again. It is unfortunate that it has come to the attention of our various member states that some of our officers on peacekeeping activities have not behaved in a manner that we would expect peacekeeping officers to behave, especially when it relates to the treatment of women and girls”.

Ms Tetteh, however, lauded the Ghana Armed Forces for their professionalism during peacekeeping missions abroad.

“The Ghana Armed Forces and our other security agencies that have participated in peacekeeping and peace support operations have been known to maintain the highest standards of performance and excellence. We want to encourage them to continue just that”.

Meanwhile, the Dean of Diplomatic Corps of Zimbabwe, Pavelyn Tendai Musaka, has commended Ghana's visa-free policy for African countries, which will begin to take effect from July this year.