The number of defilement cases in Ghana appears to be increasing, with a reported incident of forced sexual intercourse with a minor appearing almost daily in the media.
Expert s say the rampant cases of defilement across the country could pass as pedophilia, when assessed which is being disguised as defilement.
The Acting Chief Psychiatrist of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei told Public Agenda that although pedophilia is against the law in Ghana, it is not treated as such; instead it is treated as defilement. If we really realize that some of these people are actually pedophiles, then the first point of call should be somebody requiring psychiatric treatment, Dr. Osei emphasized.
According to Dr. Akwasi Osei, Ghana has overlooked this aspect of sex crimes for far too long and it is important to take it into consideration now. For now, Ghana is only scratching the face of the matter, he said.
In the first two months of this year, the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service (DOVVSU) reported 77 cases of defilement.
March figures have not yet been computed.Last year, the Accra Division of DOVVSU recorded 552 reported cases of defilement, up 81.3 percent from the 449 reported in 2007. In 2008, defilement cases ranked third among all crimes.
The Western Regional office of DOVVSU last year recorded a total of 2,071 general cases, 133, or .06 percent, of which were cases of defilement, defined as corrupting the chastity of or debauching, violating or raping.
But Eric Appiah Okrah, a child protection specialist at UNICEF in Accra, cautioned that although the number of sexual assaults against children would appear to be on the rise, in reality it may just be that more people are reporting the crime because of increased education on the issue.
"As more people get to be aware of this and the consequences on future child development, then the likelihood is that more cases are reported to the police and come into the limelight," Mr. Okrah said, adding that getting people to report the crime in some regions of the country is still an up-hill battle.
"It is shrouded in a kind of secrecy. You realize in the rural areas in several quarters that (the topic of) sexuality is a no-go area and so when it happens there is a tendency to treat it in-house within the family because of the stigma and disgrace it could bring to the family."
The fact that some perpetrators of defilement are arrested several times for the crime has raised concern as to whether the nation is really dealing with pedophiles and Ghana is refusing to name the criminals as such.
Pedophilia is defined as an obsession with children as sex objects. Overt acts, including taking sexually explicit photographs, molesting children, and exposing one's genitalia to children are all crimes.
Pedophilia is also commonly treated as a mental illness, and the pedophile is often released onl to repeat the crimes or escalate the activity to the level of murder.
Dr. Osei said Ghana is criminalizing all offences, including defilement, some of which may be a psychiatric condition and not a criminal condition.
Dr. Osei explained that since pedophilia is a subconscious personality development or a psychological makeup a person forms as he grow up, perpetrators of defilement need to be assessed to determine if they are really pedophiles.
An assessment can include talking to relatives and friends about the persons history, he said. He admits, though, that certainly a good number of defilers found may actually be pedophiles, as pedophilia is just one of the abnormal types of sexual activity.
He added that other abnormal sexual activity include a preference for animals, feces, etc. However, Dr. Osei said that others may be defiling under-aged females not for sexual pleasures, but because they have been fed with the wrong information.
"Some people think that if you are HIV positive and you go in for a young girl or a virgin, you could be cured. Others also do it just because they want to have an adventure."
He added that although it is not impossible, pedophilia is difficult to treat, as such persons need to be taken through a whole kind of behaviour therapy.
"Generally, there are lots of loopholes in our system. Unlike developed countries, there are no security psychiatric units within the prisons which provide reformed training and psychiatric treatment."
Consequently, he said, such convicts come out of prison only to repeat their crime."Dr. Osei called for a revision of the law so that such people can be assessed.
He said it is dangerous for Ghana to be putting a good number of people in prison as criminals while ignoring psychiatric treatment, which is a disservice to the perpetrator and society at large.
Proper methods of handling such cases need to be put in place, he said.
"The idea is not to imprison the person because he has committed a crime, but we need to revise our laws and deal with it as (a mental illness). The fact is that if you assess and he is found to be a pedophile then you treat him as such."
Dr. Osei said he hopes that when the National Identification System becomes operational and the biometric data of the citizenry imputed, it will help Ghana to solve the problem.
A source at the Accra office of DOVSSU told Public Agenda that the unit is unable to keep track of perpetrators of defilement after their conviction because there is no mechanism to do so. Complicating the matter is the poor addressing system in the country as a whole.
"It makes things difficult because after their release from prison society needs to be aware of their history so they can be alert," said the source, who asked not to be identified.
More stringent laws and greater enforcement of those laws, said Mr. OKrah, will discourage pedophile and become a deterrent to the crime.
A legal associate at the Centre for Public Interest Law, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, argued that the issue is not about what to call the sexual deviancy, rather, he said, the most important thing is that there is a law that prohibits pedophilia with a seven-year minimum penalty and 25-year maximum confinement.
"Although there have been bold attempts by officialdom to deal with the issue, it could be better."
Mr. Okrah agrees, adding that overall Ghana is doing a "good" job in addressing the issue of defilement.
"We have laws on defilement and rape that are there. Now we have specialized enforcement institutions (DOVVSU, the police anti-human trafficking division) which have a bias for the victim. However, it's one thing establishing such institutions and making laws and it's another thing to provide the resources," he said.
"The government needs to strengthen the institutional capacity not only in terms of logistics but the human resources, in terms of training, for them to be able to detect the issues. So, when I say that Ghana is doing well, there is a lot of room for improvement.
"Meanwhile, reports of defilement are reported almost daily in the nation's newspapers.
The Daily Guide newspaper reported last month that a 24-year-old fisherman allegedly defiled a 7-year-old girl at New Takoradi in the Western Region.
In another report, the newspaper reported that 44-year-old Eric Engman was arrested by Nima Police in Accra for allegedly defiling five girls ranging in age from 6 to 8.And Public Agenda in its Friday edition published a report of a 20-year-old man, Yaw Nyatseh of Sankore, near Kukuom in the Asunafo South district, who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in hard labour for defiling two teenagers.
Public Agenda also reported that a 24-year-old man was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in hard labour after pleading guilty to a charge of defiling a 10-year-old pupil.
In a 2005 United Nations survey of 2,011 women from throughout Ghana, 6 percent of the women said they had been defiled before.
Seventy-eight percent of the perpetrators, the women in the survey reported, were either close relatives, acquaintances or family friends.In the same survey, of the 1,035 males who participated, 52 percent said men have sex with very young girls because of weak morals.
Fourteen percent thought that men who do that are opportunists, 13 percent said the men lack self respect and 8 percent thought that such men are not normal and may have psychological problems.
The survey, "Violence Against Women: The Ghanaian Case," was coordinated by the United Nations' Division for the Advancement of Women.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Swedish-Norwegian Co-orporation Fund
It was put up after the Second World War.
In spite of its limited size, the fund has been able to do a lot for students from Sweden and Norway.
According to Mr. Klingberg the fund is a sign of goodwill and so is the Voksenaasen centre. He said the source of the fund is mainly from trading activities between the two countries. He disclosed that until 1975, Voksenaasen was managed through the fund and was more of a cultural centre and not commercial guest centre.
"When they build out to a hotel, they switched to a professional operator; therefore the fund withdrew its support. But then, it still sends money for cultural activities".
In spite of its limited size, the fund has been able to do a lot for students from Sweden and Norway.
According to Mr. Klingberg the fund is a sign of goodwill and so is the Voksenaasen centre. He said the source of the fund is mainly from trading activities between the two countries. He disclosed that until 1975, Voksenaasen was managed through the fund and was more of a cultural centre and not commercial guest centre.
"When they build out to a hotel, they switched to a professional operator; therefore the fund withdrew its support. But then, it still sends money for cultural activities".
A tale of two Scandinavian nation: Norway and Sweden
History has it that Sweden and Norway had previously been united under the same crown on two occasions, from 1319 to 1343, and briefly from 1449 to 1450 in opposition to Christian of Oldenburg who was elected king of the Kalmar Union by the Danes.
The Act of Union, which was given royal assent on 6 August, 1815, was implemented differently in the two countries. In Norway it was a part of constitutional law known as Rigsakten, and in Sweden it was a set of provisions under regular law and was known as Riksakten.
Norwegian history and culture were glorified in the literature of the period. Norwegian farm culture served as a symbol and focus of nationalistic resistance to the forced union with Sweden. A growing sense of nationalism also influenced political affairs.
(Derry, T.K. (1973), A History of Modern Norway 1814-1972. Clarendon Press, Oxford).
Following growing dissatisfaction with the union in Norway, the parliament unanimously declared its dissolution on June 7, 1905.
This unilateral action met with Swedish threats of war. A plebiscite on August 13 confirmed the parliamentary decision by a majority of 368,208 to 184.
Negotiations in Karlstad led to agreement with Sweden in September 23 and mutual demobilization. Both parliaments revoked the Act of Union October 16, and King Oscar 11 of Sweden renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne and recognized Norway as an independent kingdom on October 26.
The Norwegian parliament offered the vacant throne to Prince Carl of Denmark, who accepted after another plebiscite, had confirmed the monarchy. He arrived in Norway on November 25, 1905 taking the name Haakon VII.In an interview, Michael Klingberg, Programme Manager of the Voksenaasen, described the historical relationship between Sweden and Norway as a longstanding one dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
He said that Sweden and Norway governments were under the same king because there was no parliament at that time.
He recalled that the two countries separated in 1905 and that Norway celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005 but Sweden chose to mark it.
He said during the separation, there was a tensed situation but not armed struggle though there was military buildup from both sides but then everything was smooth.
According to him, relations between the two Scandinavian nations have been more intense than before since 1905.
However, in terms of development, he observed that Norway was quite richer in the 1920s trading in forestry and other similar products but Sweden developed industrially. He said although by the Second World War both countries were developed they were not very rich.
"Norway took off in the early 1970s because of the oil as the richest even in the world. Sweden doesn't seem to have that industrial advantage anymore due to world decline generally."
He noted there are more commonalities but also there exist some differences between the citizens of the two. For instance people in cities from both countries may be the same but people in rural towns in both countries may differ.
He recalled that traditions of industrialization in Sweden differ from that of Norway because the latter had only three classes and not nobility."Sweden in 18th and 19th century had a class of nobility that even spoke French so it was more culturally-oriented than Norway. Consequently, Sweden had lots of inspired writers, musicians, painters, etc but it had its the bad side, they exploited the rural folks."
He said Norway has only one castle but Sweden has several remaining of the nobility. However, he said in the last century traditions have merged and Norway has come to grips with culture.
Mr. Klinberg emphasized the countries were converging and that there were more commonalities that differences. He said there are more big companies / brand names in Sweden than Norway such as Volvo.
Swedes are said not to be bureaucratic in decision-making, they make room for consensus building; Norway on the other hand the top guided approach is the other of the day and can easily be opposed by those affected.
He said while Norway is not part of European Union but Sweden.
On the other hand Sweden is not part of NATO but Norway is, indicating some of the political differences between the two.
Karl Einar Ellingsen, General Manager of Voksenaasen, said among the Nordic countries Sweden is the main land since it has a population of about nine million whereas Norway, Denmark and Finland has about half each.
He said Sweden produces a lot except oil and fish, commodities in which Norway dominates. However, unemployment rate in Sweden is higher than in Norway and that financially, the latter is in good standing than the former.
On Swedish-Norwegian Co-operation (SNC), Karl Einar described it as complementary and not that of a competition.
"The cooperation between the two countries is good and because we have different kinds of industry financing situation is different."
He added, "I wish we could be one country because we are so alike, though I don't know how that could happen."He emphasized that the two countries need to co-operate more at the international level, particularly on Africa.
Michael Klingberg also said SNC is very strong pervading all sectors.
"We are each other's biggest trading partner. Of course we are two separate countries with different laws so in some circumstances it makes difficult to take decisions. We are only limited by laws and different finance systems."
In his opinion, there are always sectors where co-operation could be enhanced; examples are research and development in academia where investment could be increased.
The Act of Union, which was given royal assent on 6 August, 1815, was implemented differently in the two countries. In Norway it was a part of constitutional law known as Rigsakten, and in Sweden it was a set of provisions under regular law and was known as Riksakten.
Norwegian history and culture were glorified in the literature of the period. Norwegian farm culture served as a symbol and focus of nationalistic resistance to the forced union with Sweden. A growing sense of nationalism also influenced political affairs.
(Derry, T.K. (1973), A History of Modern Norway 1814-1972. Clarendon Press, Oxford).
Following growing dissatisfaction with the union in Norway, the parliament unanimously declared its dissolution on June 7, 1905.
This unilateral action met with Swedish threats of war. A plebiscite on August 13 confirmed the parliamentary decision by a majority of 368,208 to 184.
Negotiations in Karlstad led to agreement with Sweden in September 23 and mutual demobilization. Both parliaments revoked the Act of Union October 16, and King Oscar 11 of Sweden renounced his claim to the Norwegian throne and recognized Norway as an independent kingdom on October 26.
The Norwegian parliament offered the vacant throne to Prince Carl of Denmark, who accepted after another plebiscite, had confirmed the monarchy. He arrived in Norway on November 25, 1905 taking the name Haakon VII.In an interview, Michael Klingberg, Programme Manager of the Voksenaasen, described the historical relationship between Sweden and Norway as a longstanding one dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
He said that Sweden and Norway governments were under the same king because there was no parliament at that time.
He recalled that the two countries separated in 1905 and that Norway celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005 but Sweden chose to mark it.
He said during the separation, there was a tensed situation but not armed struggle though there was military buildup from both sides but then everything was smooth.
According to him, relations between the two Scandinavian nations have been more intense than before since 1905.
However, in terms of development, he observed that Norway was quite richer in the 1920s trading in forestry and other similar products but Sweden developed industrially. He said although by the Second World War both countries were developed they were not very rich.
"Norway took off in the early 1970s because of the oil as the richest even in the world. Sweden doesn't seem to have that industrial advantage anymore due to world decline generally."
He noted there are more commonalities but also there exist some differences between the citizens of the two. For instance people in cities from both countries may be the same but people in rural towns in both countries may differ.
He recalled that traditions of industrialization in Sweden differ from that of Norway because the latter had only three classes and not nobility."Sweden in 18th and 19th century had a class of nobility that even spoke French so it was more culturally-oriented than Norway. Consequently, Sweden had lots of inspired writers, musicians, painters, etc but it had its the bad side, they exploited the rural folks."
He said Norway has only one castle but Sweden has several remaining of the nobility. However, he said in the last century traditions have merged and Norway has come to grips with culture.
Mr. Klinberg emphasized the countries were converging and that there were more commonalities that differences. He said there are more big companies / brand names in Sweden than Norway such as Volvo.
Swedes are said not to be bureaucratic in decision-making, they make room for consensus building; Norway on the other hand the top guided approach is the other of the day and can easily be opposed by those affected.
He said while Norway is not part of European Union but Sweden.
On the other hand Sweden is not part of NATO but Norway is, indicating some of the political differences between the two.
Karl Einar Ellingsen, General Manager of Voksenaasen, said among the Nordic countries Sweden is the main land since it has a population of about nine million whereas Norway, Denmark and Finland has about half each.
He said Sweden produces a lot except oil and fish, commodities in which Norway dominates. However, unemployment rate in Sweden is higher than in Norway and that financially, the latter is in good standing than the former.
On Swedish-Norwegian Co-operation (SNC), Karl Einar described it as complementary and not that of a competition.
"The cooperation between the two countries is good and because we have different kinds of industry financing situation is different."
He added, "I wish we could be one country because we are so alike, though I don't know how that could happen."He emphasized that the two countries need to co-operate more at the international level, particularly on Africa.
Michael Klingberg also said SNC is very strong pervading all sectors.
"We are each other's biggest trading partner. Of course we are two separate countries with different laws so in some circumstances it makes difficult to take decisions. We are only limited by laws and different finance systems."
In his opinion, there are always sectors where co-operation could be enhanced; examples are research and development in academia where investment could be increased.
GUTS gives a helping hand to drug addicts
Formerly an evangelistic centre, GUTS Foundation in Drammen, South of Oslo, has become a rehabilitation center for people addicted to drugs and desiring to stop.
The Church of Philadelphia, a Pentecostal movement, is now managing the centre.
In an interview Audun Langgaard, who doubles as a social worker and a youth pastor in the church, explained to Public Agenda that recruitment was based on recommendation by the various districts / commune who then bore the financial responsibility for the upkeep of persons admitted at the centre.
"People here don't come from the streets but contact their communes to see if they can get help. The commune then assesses and takes a decision because it costs a lot to cater for each person admitted here, about 23, 000 Norwegian Kroner (NOK) approximately 4062.9223 US dollar to."
He said when such persons are brought to the centre; they investigate their history / background, ask for goals of the commune and that of the addicts themselves and try to achieve them so they can be on their own when they go out. In the last three months, their rooms have been full of inmates and there are others on waiting list.
Thus the centre is now embarking on an infrastructural expansion in order to accommodate more people. According to Audun, the ages of patrons of the centre, all males, often range between the ages of 18 to 55 years. He said plans are underway to get a place for couples who come for rehabilitation.
He attributed the upsurge in number of inmates to of a new policy by the various communes to remove drug addicts from the streets and better their lots. The centre has an interesting mix of workers, youth, adults, Christians, house mums and people who have a history of drugs.
Typical of a Christian centre, there is an attempt to inculcate the inmates with Christian principles and so a pastor comes around every Tuesday to share the Word of God with them. Patrons here can after two months go out on their own to start life.
"That is our main goal for them. Others also go for further treatment after here if it is necessary and if their communes can afford".
People who are admitted to GUTS can only go out during the first two weeks under supervision, afterwards when they behave well then they are allowed to go on minor trips. Family members are allowed to visit them and they also permitted to visit them if they behave themselves very well.
Audun disclose that the centre employs stiffer rules on what goes out and comes in at all times adding that there have been positive examples of people living at the centre for three months and not using drugs.
"We carry out a drug test on all of them each week." He seems not perturbed about perceived risks involved in what he and his colleagues are doing there. In his opinion, most of the people who behave violently do so because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. "If we behave well when they are mad then there can be no problems. I have been threatened and screamed at but then it is not them, something else is pushing them so I'm not bothered. I see it as part of my ministry."
He stressed that people's ability to reform will always be about them and what they want, therefore if they want to take the big choices at the right time and resist temptation it will work for them.
He advised that people need to learn to take small steps, be decisive and avoid people with questionable characters.
"Here we also help them to build new and healthy relationships and not the same old drug companies they have. They also learn how to see themselves from broad perspectives; doing basic things like cleaning their own apartments among others".
He added that the fundamental issue is to make them understand why they need to do the things required of them. Abuse of narcotic drugs can mean the illegal or excessive use of drugs.
In Ghana and other parts of Africa marijuana, also known as Indian hemp, is the most commonly used illicit drug. It is estimated that 4.7% of the global population, aged 15 to 64 years, or 185 million people, consume illicit drugs annually.
Majority of teenagers are influenced into taking drugs by their peers when they are made to believe that it can enhance their capacity to learn. Smoking of marijuana affects the lungs.
The injecting of heroin into the body causes the spread of HIV among the users when one is infected, because they share the syringe used in taking in the drug. Users of narcotic drugs more often than not end up in psychiatric hospitals and find it difficult to recover.
Drug addiction causes societal unrest and all forms of social vices. It is hoped that Ghana's new mental health law when passed will include a package to rescue persons addicted to drugs.
The Church of Philadelphia, a Pentecostal movement, is now managing the centre.
In an interview Audun Langgaard, who doubles as a social worker and a youth pastor in the church, explained to Public Agenda that recruitment was based on recommendation by the various districts / commune who then bore the financial responsibility for the upkeep of persons admitted at the centre.
"People here don't come from the streets but contact their communes to see if they can get help. The commune then assesses and takes a decision because it costs a lot to cater for each person admitted here, about 23, 000 Norwegian Kroner (NOK) approximately 4062.9223 US dollar to."
He said when such persons are brought to the centre; they investigate their history / background, ask for goals of the commune and that of the addicts themselves and try to achieve them so they can be on their own when they go out. In the last three months, their rooms have been full of inmates and there are others on waiting list.
Thus the centre is now embarking on an infrastructural expansion in order to accommodate more people. According to Audun, the ages of patrons of the centre, all males, often range between the ages of 18 to 55 years. He said plans are underway to get a place for couples who come for rehabilitation.
He attributed the upsurge in number of inmates to of a new policy by the various communes to remove drug addicts from the streets and better their lots. The centre has an interesting mix of workers, youth, adults, Christians, house mums and people who have a history of drugs.
Typical of a Christian centre, there is an attempt to inculcate the inmates with Christian principles and so a pastor comes around every Tuesday to share the Word of God with them. Patrons here can after two months go out on their own to start life.
"That is our main goal for them. Others also go for further treatment after here if it is necessary and if their communes can afford".
People who are admitted to GUTS can only go out during the first two weeks under supervision, afterwards when they behave well then they are allowed to go on minor trips. Family members are allowed to visit them and they also permitted to visit them if they behave themselves very well.
Audun disclose that the centre employs stiffer rules on what goes out and comes in at all times adding that there have been positive examples of people living at the centre for three months and not using drugs.
"We carry out a drug test on all of them each week." He seems not perturbed about perceived risks involved in what he and his colleagues are doing there. In his opinion, most of the people who behave violently do so because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. "If we behave well when they are mad then there can be no problems. I have been threatened and screamed at but then it is not them, something else is pushing them so I'm not bothered. I see it as part of my ministry."
He stressed that people's ability to reform will always be about them and what they want, therefore if they want to take the big choices at the right time and resist temptation it will work for them.
He advised that people need to learn to take small steps, be decisive and avoid people with questionable characters.
"Here we also help them to build new and healthy relationships and not the same old drug companies they have. They also learn how to see themselves from broad perspectives; doing basic things like cleaning their own apartments among others".
He added that the fundamental issue is to make them understand why they need to do the things required of them. Abuse of narcotic drugs can mean the illegal or excessive use of drugs.
In Ghana and other parts of Africa marijuana, also known as Indian hemp, is the most commonly used illicit drug. It is estimated that 4.7% of the global population, aged 15 to 64 years, or 185 million people, consume illicit drugs annually.
Majority of teenagers are influenced into taking drugs by their peers when they are made to believe that it can enhance their capacity to learn. Smoking of marijuana affects the lungs.
The injecting of heroin into the body causes the spread of HIV among the users when one is infected, because they share the syringe used in taking in the drug. Users of narcotic drugs more often than not end up in psychiatric hospitals and find it difficult to recover.
Drug addiction causes societal unrest and all forms of social vices. It is hoped that Ghana's new mental health law when passed will include a package to rescue persons addicted to drugs.
The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation
Dag Hammarskjold was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until 1961when he died.
He was the son of a provincial governor in Uppsala, South of Stockholm, Sweden. Coincidentally, the office of the foundation named in his memory and which contains his works is situated adjacent the house where he grew up.
Senior Coordinator of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF), Ms Dorrit Alopaeus Stahl, during a briefing said Dag's childhood and adolescence were spent in Uppsala where his father was the governor; therefore Uppsala was important to his life in his formative years.
She disclosed that he was regularly referred to as a world citizen and became known as an extremely efficient and dedicated international civil servant during his period as the UN Secretary-General.
"Dag Hammarskjold highlighted that a major task of the UN is to assert the interests of small countries in relation to the major powers. He also shaped the UN's mandate to establish peace-keeping forces," she stressed.
Subsequently, the Foundation's work is guided by the search for 'Another Development' in support of democracy, human rights and security based on the social and economic transformation of institutions and societies. Its activities are supported by the Sweden Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Dorrit, the DHF's current project is focused on strengthening the UN support to reform initiatives within the UN system by drawing on expertise within its networks to facilitate dialogue and build capacity to increase participation and promote empowerment with respect for democracy and human rights as fundamental principles in human development.
Africa has not been left out in the activities of the Foundation; indeed there exists a memorandum of understanding between the Foundation and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre in Accra, Ghana.
Further, she said that in collaboration with the University in Uppsala, the Foundation works to convene seminars, give lectures and provide space for scholars to spend time studying and researching, after which the various lectures are published.
Now, it is committed to strengthening the capacity within the Burmese democracy movement to meet future development challenges. It is hoping that the new capacity building activities will seek to strengthen further existing democratic forces in the world.
Dag Hammarskjold is also reported to have had strong cultural interests and was a member of the Swedish Academy. His posthumous book the Markings, is deemed to be classic.
At the Voksenaasen, Oslo, Norway, the Dag Hammarskjold Programme works with the Networkers SouthNorth which was established in 2006. Its leader, John Jones, explains that Networkers do not believe that the problems of the world can only be solved by the North and that collective efforts are needed.
He said it is imperative to see fundamental changes in rich industrial countries' behavior in accordance with the framework laid out in sustainability and just development thinking.
He was the son of a provincial governor in Uppsala, South of Stockholm, Sweden. Coincidentally, the office of the foundation named in his memory and which contains his works is situated adjacent the house where he grew up.
Senior Coordinator of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation (DHF), Ms Dorrit Alopaeus Stahl, during a briefing said Dag's childhood and adolescence were spent in Uppsala where his father was the governor; therefore Uppsala was important to his life in his formative years.
She disclosed that he was regularly referred to as a world citizen and became known as an extremely efficient and dedicated international civil servant during his period as the UN Secretary-General.
"Dag Hammarskjold highlighted that a major task of the UN is to assert the interests of small countries in relation to the major powers. He also shaped the UN's mandate to establish peace-keeping forces," she stressed.
Subsequently, the Foundation's work is guided by the search for 'Another Development' in support of democracy, human rights and security based on the social and economic transformation of institutions and societies. Its activities are supported by the Sweden Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Dorrit, the DHF's current project is focused on strengthening the UN support to reform initiatives within the UN system by drawing on expertise within its networks to facilitate dialogue and build capacity to increase participation and promote empowerment with respect for democracy and human rights as fundamental principles in human development.
Africa has not been left out in the activities of the Foundation; indeed there exists a memorandum of understanding between the Foundation and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre in Accra, Ghana.
Further, she said that in collaboration with the University in Uppsala, the Foundation works to convene seminars, give lectures and provide space for scholars to spend time studying and researching, after which the various lectures are published.
Now, it is committed to strengthening the capacity within the Burmese democracy movement to meet future development challenges. It is hoping that the new capacity building activities will seek to strengthen further existing democratic forces in the world.
Dag Hammarskjold is also reported to have had strong cultural interests and was a member of the Swedish Academy. His posthumous book the Markings, is deemed to be classic.
At the Voksenaasen, Oslo, Norway, the Dag Hammarskjold Programme works with the Networkers SouthNorth which was established in 2006. Its leader, John Jones, explains that Networkers do not believe that the problems of the world can only be solved by the North and that collective efforts are needed.
He said it is imperative to see fundamental changes in rich industrial countries' behavior in accordance with the framework laid out in sustainability and just development thinking.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Upholding the rights of women and children in Ghana
The impact of women in the society cannot be underestimated. They form over 52% of the country's population.
Despite gains in some areas, gender inequality, including cultural values and norms, domestic violence and a general acceptance of the superiority of man continues to limit women's ability to participate in and contribute to the growth of the economy.
Even though Ghana is party to several international conventions which require her to uphold the right of women to housing, employment, education, political participation and health care among others, women are the ones who suffer most in deplorable living conditions in slum areas and are often excluded from the planning and implementation of water supply and sanitation programmes.
Ghanaian women have played and continue to play commendable roles in the development of the country from time immemorial.
But their efforts seem not to be recognized well enough in the country's decision-making and democratization process.
Gender based violence Promoting issues concerning women and children is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
Analysts say particular attention should be given to combating violence against women because it often prevents them from participating actively in the development process, as violence negatively affects women's bodies, mind and spirit.
"Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace," Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, stated at a UN Global Videoconference in March in 1999 on 'A World Free of Violence against Women.
'Forms of gender-based violence in Ghana include, but are not limited to, domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment and female genital mutilation among others.
Some gender advocates have argued that since the success of any democratic process presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society, it is necessary that women are empowered to see themselves as equal partners in that endeavor.
Violence against women who are branded witches is reported from all regions but it is more visible in the northern parts of Ghana. In these parts, old women considered to be witches are often violently driven from their communities and homes and forced to take refuge in "witch camps".
They lose their inheritance and their livelihoods as a result and become destitute.Girls in Child LaborA World Bank paper on child labor in Ghana found that girls were more likely than boys to engage in harmful forms of labor.
Many rural families living in extreme poverty send their daughters to urban areas to live with more affluent families where they serve as domestic workers in exchange for shelter, food and sometimes a minimal income.
The report says the realization of commitments to gender equality made under the Constitution, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa remains a challenge to the Ghanaian Government and society at large.
High levels of poverty limit the government's ability to prioritize the allocation of adequate resources for universal basic education, gender parity in education and the economic and social development of marginalized regions and districts.
Political participation Various women right groups have expressed their concern about the abysmal performance of women in last year's parliamentary and presidential elections.
Indeed, the number of women who won their parliamentary seats declined by five to only twenty out of over 200 seats, a serious blow to the realization that women will play equal roles with men in decision-making.
To most women's rights advocates, what has happened is a wakeup call to all who are concerned about the progress of women in Ghana.
Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin, Convenor of the Network for Women's Rights, Ghana (NETRIGHT) has stressed the need for women to rethink the guiding principles on women's development.
This can be done, she said, by demanding that national policies conform to the human rights agenda, which of course include women's rights.
Women in the media
The 1992 Constitution of Ghana guarantees freedom of speech and expression, including the right to freedom of the press and other media, the right to information and the establishment of the independent National Media Commission (NMC).
Analysts believe however that quantity has not necessarily been matched with quality.Today women constitute 41 % of working journalists.
In spite of women's immense contribution to the development of democracy via the media, the media in Ghana continue to marginalize women's concerns and issues. There are numerous newspapers, with new ones emerging each passing day.
While most do political stories to sell, only few like the Public Agenda continue to stick to advocacy and social justice values - it look at the impact national policies make on the marginalized or the less privileged in society. Political stories dominate the content of the Ghanaian media.
Most practitioners hold the view that only political stories sell or make the headlines. Research shows that a liberalized media environment with its commercial pressures often produces news and programmes that do not empower women or promote gender equity.
Women are often portrayed in the media by their sexuality. Certain images in the media depict that female sexuality is related to exchanging sex for money. In advertising, women's bodies are used to sell products more often than men.
Women seen most often in the media are fashion models, singers and actresses. Females get the some space in the media when they fall victim to abuses such as rape, incest and assault.
The potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women.
The Women's Manifesto for Ghana
It is a political document that identifies key national issues of concern to women and calls on policy makers and relevant agencies to address them.
It relates the media's performance to the ways in which governments inform citizens to enable them participate in decision-making and how governments respond to issues of concern raised by and about the media.
It states that, "For democracy to function not only do women need adequate information to make choices at the ballot box but they also need to make decisions about their lives and to monitor and evaluate government policies and actions."
It stresses that government strengthens the institutions set up to regulate media content by providing adequate human and financial resources to enable them perform their functions in a manner which does not jeopardize press freedom, while promoting the goals of gender sensitivity and fairness.
Sexual Abuse
Defilement is defined as the act of having sexual intercourse with a child below the age of 18 or a minor, as stated in the children's Act of Ghana. The UN CRC adopted 20 years ago stresses that the dignity and rights of every child are to be respected in every circumstance.
Since then, it has served as a working tool for Ghana and has been translated into six major local languages, but there is still a long way to go. Many are the children who are defiled each day but do not have the courage to disclose their plight.
Majority of such victims are children who live in compound houses and newly created suburbs or vicinities, where only few people have put up buildings.Other groups of victims are children who seem to have no parental or guardian control.
A recent study on the menace found that about 90 percent of defilement cases were perpetrated by adults, mostly relatives in whose care the children were entrusted.
Most men who abuse these minors sexually have often been successful in deceiving their victims with threats of death, should they disclose to anybody.
Some culprits also give their victims confectionaries or meager sums to prevent them from disclosing their ordeal to anybody.
However, these culprits have often denied such charges at the initial stages only for them to admit later in court claiming it is the devil who lured them to commit such 'sins'.
There is the general perception that such acts by some men are for ritual purposes particularly for money. This is because in some of the cases, fathers were found to have defiled their own daughters as young as one year old. Could this be lack of self-control or simply satisfaction of their selfish pleasures?
Effects of sexual abuse
The trauma that defiled children go through is beyond comprehension and description, according to psychologists.
Sadly, the victims are not able to disclose their ordeal to anybody, not even their parents or their friends and turn to live with their traumatic situation for life.
Psychologists say this is a contributory factor to many unsuccessful marriages.In Ghana, culture plays a major role in our lives, such that even when such cases are disclosed there is often an attempt to settle it amicably between families and not in the law courts.
Until about a decade ago, it was uncalled for to send a neighbor or relative to court for defiling a minor. The number of defilement cases in Ghana appears to be increasing, with reported cases of forced sexual intercourse with a minor appearing almost daily in the media.
Experts say the rampant cases of defilement across the country could pass as pedophilia, which is being disguised as defilement.
In the first two months of this year, the Accra office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), of the Ghana Police Service reported 77 cases of defilement. Last year, there were 552 reported cases of defilement, up from the 449 reported in 2007.
In 2008, defilement cases ranked third among all crimes. The fact that some perpetrators of defilement are arrested several times for the crime has raised concerns as to whether the nation is really dealing with pedophiles and Ghana is refusing to name the criminals as such.
Pedophilia is defined as an obsession with children as sex objects. Overt acts, including taking sexually explicit photographs, molesting children, and exposing one's genitals to children are all crimes.
Pedophilia is also commonly treated as a mental illness, and the pedophile is often released only to repeat the crimes or escalate the activity to the level of murder.
In a 2005 United Nations survey of 2,011 women across Ghana, 6% of the women said they had been defiled before. Titled "Violence against Women: The Ghanaian Case," the survey found that 78% of the perpetrators, the women in the survey reported, were close relatives, acquaintances or family friends.In the same survey, of the 1,035 males who participated, 52% said men have sex with very young girls because of weak morals. 14% percent thought that men who do that are opportunists, 13 % said the men lack self respect and 8% thought that such men are not normal and may have psychological problems.
The Domestic Violence Unit
The creation of the unit has brought a new dimension to fighting defilement and child trafficking. People are now beginning to know their rights and therefore lodge complaints of defilement and other domestic violence cases to the unit.
It investigates such cases of defilement and sends them to the courts for prosecution. Human rights experts attribute the situation to the general breakdown in moral upbringing.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei says that although pedophilia is against the law in Ghana, it is not treated as such; instead it is treated as defilement.
He argues that Ghana has overlooked this aspect of sex crimes for far too long and that it is important to take it into consideration now.He explains that since pedophilia is a subconscious personality development or a psychological makeup people form as they grow up, perpetrators of defilement need to be assessed to determine if they are really pedophiles.
He stressed the need for the revision of the law so that such people can be assessed.
"It is dangerous for Ghana to be putting a good number of people in prison as criminals, while ignoring psychiatric treatment, which is a disservice to the perpetrator and society at large."
Child rights activists have also cautioned that although the numbers of sexual assaults against children would appear to be on the rise, in reality it may just be that more people are reporting the crime because of increased education on the issue. Sadly, DOVVSU unit is unable to keep track of perpetrators of defilement after their conviction because there is no mechanism to do so.
Complicating the matter is the poor addressing system in the country as a whole. More stringent laws and greater enforcement of those laws could discourage pedophilia and become a deterrent to the crime.
However, legal experts argue that the issue is not about what to call the sexual deviancy; rather, the most important thing is that there is a law that prohibits pedophilia with a seven-year minimum penalty and 25-year maximum confinement.
With inadequate policy implementation in Ghana, the onus is on the media to help expose cases of child abuse. The welfare of children should be a core value of the media's operations.
An analysis, carried out by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), revealed that Public Agenda reported 24 out of the 60 cases studied, with the victims mostly between the age of 12 and 14 years.
Little wonder it won the first Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Human Rights Award for 2005 and 2008. CHRI revealed that in the Ghanaian society where children have been made to accept whatever elderly people tell them; these actions are more than enough to keep any child silent.
Of all the cases reported by the newspapers, the suspects had either been jailed, remanded or the cases were pending before the courts at the time the newspapers published the stories.
According to the CHRI, because defilement and rape are overwhelmingly perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim, including family members, it is imperative that measures are taken to teach children about sexual crimes so that they will be prepared to deal with them if they happen.
Strengthening the media
It must however be said that the media need more resources and capacity building to continue to play their watchdog role of protecting the rights of women and children. Available statistics show that over 90% of the victims of domestic violence are women and children.
Some religions, including some sects of Christianity appear to permit the right of punishment for wives.Since the church or religion is the core of the family, its contribution towards ensuring the rights of people cannot be overlooked.
Ghana has taken concrete measures to translate various conventions and treaties into implementation policies but inadequate financial resources to translate all its commitment into desired measurable results have been a major challenge.
Child rights activists have argued that any journalistic activity that touches on the lives and welfare of children should always be carried out with appreciation of the vulnerable situation of children.
As journalists, we must never put in jeopardy the safety and dignity of women and children. We are to regard the violation of the rights of children and issues related to their safety, privacy, education, health and social welfare, and all forms of exploitation as important questions for investigations and public debate.
It is about time journalists recognize themselves as partners in women and children rights advocacy and upholding the rights of women and children in Ghana.
Despite gains in some areas, gender inequality, including cultural values and norms, domestic violence and a general acceptance of the superiority of man continues to limit women's ability to participate in and contribute to the growth of the economy.
Even though Ghana is party to several international conventions which require her to uphold the right of women to housing, employment, education, political participation and health care among others, women are the ones who suffer most in deplorable living conditions in slum areas and are often excluded from the planning and implementation of water supply and sanitation programmes.
Ghanaian women have played and continue to play commendable roles in the development of the country from time immemorial.
But their efforts seem not to be recognized well enough in the country's decision-making and democratization process.
Gender based violence Promoting issues concerning women and children is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
Analysts say particular attention should be given to combating violence against women because it often prevents them from participating actively in the development process, as violence negatively affects women's bodies, mind and spirit.
"Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace," Former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, stated at a UN Global Videoconference in March in 1999 on 'A World Free of Violence against Women.
'Forms of gender-based violence in Ghana include, but are not limited to, domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment and female genital mutilation among others.
Some gender advocates have argued that since the success of any democratic process presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society, it is necessary that women are empowered to see themselves as equal partners in that endeavor.
Violence against women who are branded witches is reported from all regions but it is more visible in the northern parts of Ghana. In these parts, old women considered to be witches are often violently driven from their communities and homes and forced to take refuge in "witch camps".
They lose their inheritance and their livelihoods as a result and become destitute.Girls in Child LaborA World Bank paper on child labor in Ghana found that girls were more likely than boys to engage in harmful forms of labor.
Many rural families living in extreme poverty send their daughters to urban areas to live with more affluent families where they serve as domestic workers in exchange for shelter, food and sometimes a minimal income.
The report says the realization of commitments to gender equality made under the Constitution, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa remains a challenge to the Ghanaian Government and society at large.
High levels of poverty limit the government's ability to prioritize the allocation of adequate resources for universal basic education, gender parity in education and the economic and social development of marginalized regions and districts.
Political participation Various women right groups have expressed their concern about the abysmal performance of women in last year's parliamentary and presidential elections.
Indeed, the number of women who won their parliamentary seats declined by five to only twenty out of over 200 seats, a serious blow to the realization that women will play equal roles with men in decision-making.
To most women's rights advocates, what has happened is a wakeup call to all who are concerned about the progress of women in Ghana.
Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin, Convenor of the Network for Women's Rights, Ghana (NETRIGHT) has stressed the need for women to rethink the guiding principles on women's development.
This can be done, she said, by demanding that national policies conform to the human rights agenda, which of course include women's rights.
Women in the media
The 1992 Constitution of Ghana guarantees freedom of speech and expression, including the right to freedom of the press and other media, the right to information and the establishment of the independent National Media Commission (NMC).
Analysts believe however that quantity has not necessarily been matched with quality.Today women constitute 41 % of working journalists.
In spite of women's immense contribution to the development of democracy via the media, the media in Ghana continue to marginalize women's concerns and issues. There are numerous newspapers, with new ones emerging each passing day.
While most do political stories to sell, only few like the Public Agenda continue to stick to advocacy and social justice values - it look at the impact national policies make on the marginalized or the less privileged in society. Political stories dominate the content of the Ghanaian media.
Most practitioners hold the view that only political stories sell or make the headlines. Research shows that a liberalized media environment with its commercial pressures often produces news and programmes that do not empower women or promote gender equity.
Women are often portrayed in the media by their sexuality. Certain images in the media depict that female sexuality is related to exchanging sex for money. In advertising, women's bodies are used to sell products more often than men.
Women seen most often in the media are fashion models, singers and actresses. Females get the some space in the media when they fall victim to abuses such as rape, incest and assault.
The potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women.
The Women's Manifesto for Ghana
It is a political document that identifies key national issues of concern to women and calls on policy makers and relevant agencies to address them.
It relates the media's performance to the ways in which governments inform citizens to enable them participate in decision-making and how governments respond to issues of concern raised by and about the media.
It states that, "For democracy to function not only do women need adequate information to make choices at the ballot box but they also need to make decisions about their lives and to monitor and evaluate government policies and actions."
It stresses that government strengthens the institutions set up to regulate media content by providing adequate human and financial resources to enable them perform their functions in a manner which does not jeopardize press freedom, while promoting the goals of gender sensitivity and fairness.
Sexual Abuse
Defilement is defined as the act of having sexual intercourse with a child below the age of 18 or a minor, as stated in the children's Act of Ghana. The UN CRC adopted 20 years ago stresses that the dignity and rights of every child are to be respected in every circumstance.
Since then, it has served as a working tool for Ghana and has been translated into six major local languages, but there is still a long way to go. Many are the children who are defiled each day but do not have the courage to disclose their plight.
Majority of such victims are children who live in compound houses and newly created suburbs or vicinities, where only few people have put up buildings.Other groups of victims are children who seem to have no parental or guardian control.
A recent study on the menace found that about 90 percent of defilement cases were perpetrated by adults, mostly relatives in whose care the children were entrusted.
Most men who abuse these minors sexually have often been successful in deceiving their victims with threats of death, should they disclose to anybody.
Some culprits also give their victims confectionaries or meager sums to prevent them from disclosing their ordeal to anybody.
However, these culprits have often denied such charges at the initial stages only for them to admit later in court claiming it is the devil who lured them to commit such 'sins'.
There is the general perception that such acts by some men are for ritual purposes particularly for money. This is because in some of the cases, fathers were found to have defiled their own daughters as young as one year old. Could this be lack of self-control or simply satisfaction of their selfish pleasures?
Effects of sexual abuse
The trauma that defiled children go through is beyond comprehension and description, according to psychologists.
Sadly, the victims are not able to disclose their ordeal to anybody, not even their parents or their friends and turn to live with their traumatic situation for life.
Psychologists say this is a contributory factor to many unsuccessful marriages.In Ghana, culture plays a major role in our lives, such that even when such cases are disclosed there is often an attempt to settle it amicably between families and not in the law courts.
Until about a decade ago, it was uncalled for to send a neighbor or relative to court for defiling a minor. The number of defilement cases in Ghana appears to be increasing, with reported cases of forced sexual intercourse with a minor appearing almost daily in the media.
Experts say the rampant cases of defilement across the country could pass as pedophilia, which is being disguised as defilement.
In the first two months of this year, the Accra office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), of the Ghana Police Service reported 77 cases of defilement. Last year, there were 552 reported cases of defilement, up from the 449 reported in 2007.
In 2008, defilement cases ranked third among all crimes. The fact that some perpetrators of defilement are arrested several times for the crime has raised concerns as to whether the nation is really dealing with pedophiles and Ghana is refusing to name the criminals as such.
Pedophilia is defined as an obsession with children as sex objects. Overt acts, including taking sexually explicit photographs, molesting children, and exposing one's genitals to children are all crimes.
Pedophilia is also commonly treated as a mental illness, and the pedophile is often released only to repeat the crimes or escalate the activity to the level of murder.
In a 2005 United Nations survey of 2,011 women across Ghana, 6% of the women said they had been defiled before. Titled "Violence against Women: The Ghanaian Case," the survey found that 78% of the perpetrators, the women in the survey reported, were close relatives, acquaintances or family friends.In the same survey, of the 1,035 males who participated, 52% said men have sex with very young girls because of weak morals. 14% percent thought that men who do that are opportunists, 13 % said the men lack self respect and 8% thought that such men are not normal and may have psychological problems.
The Domestic Violence Unit
The creation of the unit has brought a new dimension to fighting defilement and child trafficking. People are now beginning to know their rights and therefore lodge complaints of defilement and other domestic violence cases to the unit.
It investigates such cases of defilement and sends them to the courts for prosecution. Human rights experts attribute the situation to the general breakdown in moral upbringing.
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei says that although pedophilia is against the law in Ghana, it is not treated as such; instead it is treated as defilement.
He argues that Ghana has overlooked this aspect of sex crimes for far too long and that it is important to take it into consideration now.He explains that since pedophilia is a subconscious personality development or a psychological makeup people form as they grow up, perpetrators of defilement need to be assessed to determine if they are really pedophiles.
He stressed the need for the revision of the law so that such people can be assessed.
"It is dangerous for Ghana to be putting a good number of people in prison as criminals, while ignoring psychiatric treatment, which is a disservice to the perpetrator and society at large."
Child rights activists have also cautioned that although the numbers of sexual assaults against children would appear to be on the rise, in reality it may just be that more people are reporting the crime because of increased education on the issue. Sadly, DOVVSU unit is unable to keep track of perpetrators of defilement after their conviction because there is no mechanism to do so.
Complicating the matter is the poor addressing system in the country as a whole. More stringent laws and greater enforcement of those laws could discourage pedophilia and become a deterrent to the crime.
However, legal experts argue that the issue is not about what to call the sexual deviancy; rather, the most important thing is that there is a law that prohibits pedophilia with a seven-year minimum penalty and 25-year maximum confinement.
With inadequate policy implementation in Ghana, the onus is on the media to help expose cases of child abuse. The welfare of children should be a core value of the media's operations.
An analysis, carried out by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), revealed that Public Agenda reported 24 out of the 60 cases studied, with the victims mostly between the age of 12 and 14 years.
Little wonder it won the first Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Human Rights Award for 2005 and 2008. CHRI revealed that in the Ghanaian society where children have been made to accept whatever elderly people tell them; these actions are more than enough to keep any child silent.
Of all the cases reported by the newspapers, the suspects had either been jailed, remanded or the cases were pending before the courts at the time the newspapers published the stories.
According to the CHRI, because defilement and rape are overwhelmingly perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim, including family members, it is imperative that measures are taken to teach children about sexual crimes so that they will be prepared to deal with them if they happen.
Strengthening the media
It must however be said that the media need more resources and capacity building to continue to play their watchdog role of protecting the rights of women and children. Available statistics show that over 90% of the victims of domestic violence are women and children.
Some religions, including some sects of Christianity appear to permit the right of punishment for wives.Since the church or religion is the core of the family, its contribution towards ensuring the rights of people cannot be overlooked.
Ghana has taken concrete measures to translate various conventions and treaties into implementation policies but inadequate financial resources to translate all its commitment into desired measurable results have been a major challenge.
Child rights activists have argued that any journalistic activity that touches on the lives and welfare of children should always be carried out with appreciation of the vulnerable situation of children.
As journalists, we must never put in jeopardy the safety and dignity of women and children. We are to regard the violation of the rights of children and issues related to their safety, privacy, education, health and social welfare, and all forms of exploitation as important questions for investigations and public debate.
It is about time journalists recognize themselves as partners in women and children rights advocacy and upholding the rights of women and children in Ghana.
The feminism misconception
Ghanaian renowned writer, Madam Ama Ata Aidoo, has said that most African women have refused to be identified as feminist due to the negative meaning given to the term.
She noted that some African women feel uncomfortable when referred to as feminist because people around would think they are lesbians. Speaking at a seminar to mark the Africa week at the Literature house in Oslo, she stressed that the word feminism is only a developmental ideology.
"Feminism has to do with decision and the impulse to wish for women all that a particular society has for development."
Speaking on the theme "Literature, Feminism and the African Woman Today," she deduced that there seems to be a misunderstanding between African women and those in the western world.
African women often regarded feminism as a stimulus to respond to western ideas of those who live in Europe. However, she said like everywhere, the African woman tries to be independent at all times.
Madam Aidoo said young people in the west from a young age are bombarded with images of Africa and about Africa that are defamatory.
"But don't blame them because if we had developed mentally oriented leadership, things will be different".
According to her, it is not only women who should be feminist but everyone because it is only a theoretical framing of wishing women well.
She mentioned that most of the men in African literature write with understanding to portray women as ordinary human beings that they are.
"It is not only women who are feminists but even men who can write for women to feel that they have been given their due."
Most of Madam Aidoo's writings and stories focus on urbanized women, female characters who are rarely affluent but are neither destitute.
Her female protagonists have often turned their attention instead toward a universal search, each for her own elusive soul and for a female identity that has been seized by an oppressive environment.
She portrays a class of women that is overburdened by the insensitivity of men but is accepting or at least cognizant of specific gender issues that create the cultural environment.
The Women's Manifesto for Ghana is the result of mobilization by some feminists. It is a political document that identifies key national issues of concern to women and calls on policy makers and relevant agencies to address them.
Dr. Dzodzi Tsikata, a women's rights advocate once said there seem to be a commonly observed anxiety over feminism - that it is seen as overtly, if not aggressively political.
She explained that in many countries in Africa, gender activists are accepted as long as they focus on programmes such as credit for women, income generation projects and girls' education, and couch their struggles in terms of welfare or national development.
"Once they broach questions of power relations or injustices, they are accused of being elitist and influenced by foreign ideas that are alien to their culture."
She noted that some African women feel uncomfortable when referred to as feminist because people around would think they are lesbians. Speaking at a seminar to mark the Africa week at the Literature house in Oslo, she stressed that the word feminism is only a developmental ideology.
"Feminism has to do with decision and the impulse to wish for women all that a particular society has for development."
Speaking on the theme "Literature, Feminism and the African Woman Today," she deduced that there seems to be a misunderstanding between African women and those in the western world.
African women often regarded feminism as a stimulus to respond to western ideas of those who live in Europe. However, she said like everywhere, the African woman tries to be independent at all times.
Madam Aidoo said young people in the west from a young age are bombarded with images of Africa and about Africa that are defamatory.
"But don't blame them because if we had developed mentally oriented leadership, things will be different".
According to her, it is not only women who should be feminist but everyone because it is only a theoretical framing of wishing women well.
She mentioned that most of the men in African literature write with understanding to portray women as ordinary human beings that they are.
"It is not only women who are feminists but even men who can write for women to feel that they have been given their due."
Most of Madam Aidoo's writings and stories focus on urbanized women, female characters who are rarely affluent but are neither destitute.
Her female protagonists have often turned their attention instead toward a universal search, each for her own elusive soul and for a female identity that has been seized by an oppressive environment.
She portrays a class of women that is overburdened by the insensitivity of men but is accepting or at least cognizant of specific gender issues that create the cultural environment.
The Women's Manifesto for Ghana is the result of mobilization by some feminists. It is a political document that identifies key national issues of concern to women and calls on policy makers and relevant agencies to address them.
Dr. Dzodzi Tsikata, a women's rights advocate once said there seem to be a commonly observed anxiety over feminism - that it is seen as overtly, if not aggressively political.
She explained that in many countries in Africa, gender activists are accepted as long as they focus on programmes such as credit for women, income generation projects and girls' education, and couch their struggles in terms of welfare or national development.
"Once they broach questions of power relations or injustices, they are accused of being elitist and influenced by foreign ideas that are alien to their culture."
Women Crisis Centre; a model shelter for battered women
Violence against women is pervasive throughout the world and approximately one in three of the world's women will experience violence at some point in their lives, with rates reaching 70 per cent in some countries.
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 20 percent of the world's women have been physically or sexually abused by a men. It is in view of this that Norway has constructed the only Women Crises Centre (WCC) in Oslo, Norway.
This is a regular place where battered women seek shelter and feel safe and secure. In an interview with its leader, Ms Inger-Lise W. Larsen, she explained that the centre was established 30 years ago and endeavors to create a safe place for its clients by providing confidential lodging facilities and a supportive living environment that allows for healing and recovery.
She recalled the idea for its set up flows from the fact that many of the women felt they needed something else than to go back home where they were experiencing the violence.
Ms Larsen stated that many of them had been living with violence and psychiatric problems since they were born and so they wanted to build something that could be a home for people for a longer period until they are able to find their feet.
According to her, the primary reason why women seek refuge at the WCC is to secure the safety of themselves and their children if any.
"Sometimes young children and teenage girls are also brought to the centre for safety. In many instances the threat of injury or death is so real that there is no other alternative but to seek refuge in the centre".
In all, the Center has 26 rooms for women and children. In 2007 it established a dormitory for girls suffering from unrelated violence.
She said majority of the girls are mostly victims from forced marriage or have the premonition that they will be forced to marry.
Girls can live at the centre for six to nine months and women live to two months and they can be on their own again. From 2008 to date, 319 women have lived at the centre and they brought 225 children, out of which 125 are under school age.
One out of five women who visit the WCC is sent there by the police while one out five also come by themselves.
"When they come here they are usually traumatized and confused so the first thing is to give them a room, talk to them and try to find out what they want and what they expect from the centre."
However, she said it's not enough for a woman to visit the centre to claim she has been battered; facts she presents need to be substantiated, sometimes by a medical report from the police.
The leader said there are about fifteen different ways of solving issues for these battered women. One of these is particularly how they can survive economically which takes quite some time because by then they are reorganizing and don't really know who they are.
The children are not left out. They are also taken through several processes in order to find out things from their perspectives.
"We do this because we know that many of them don't know where they are. Sometimes their mothers have to run in a hurry so they don't take the time to tell them where they are going. They equally experienced violence since they know when it happens, even when in another room they hear all. The children have good friendships here because they get the opportunity to talk about their experiences that have been a secret all these years, the leader explained.
Since one in four people living in Norway is of a different nationality, the WCC attends to all. In fact, 88% of people who lived at the centre in 2008 were not Norwegians.
From January this year until now about 850 women have used the centre's counseling service. Unfortunately, since some women go back to the same relationships for fear of being lonely or not being able to manage on their own, the Center makes the effort to make them economically viable.
Ms. Larsen said "We also endeavor to provide practical alternatives for life after the centre and follow up with clients who have left to ensure their continued safety and well being."
Since the law also gives some fathers the right to see their children they get into contact with some of the women. This can sometimes become an obstacle.
She stated, "The only obstacle is that some fathers still have the right to see the children. It is always the mother that has to move, men are always in there".
She refuted claims by some sects of religion that enforce wife battering and other forms of violence against women, stressing that religion is no excuse.
Some people hide behind the Quran and the Bible to perpetrate violence and to force people into marriage.
Nonetheless, she was hopeful the initiative by heads of various religious groups in Norway to launch a campaign on violence against women soon will greatly contribute to stop such violence. Also by January 2010, there will be a law to back the establishment of crises centers in all districts in Oslo.
To Ms Larsen, life is all about working to ensure the welfare of vulnerable women although it comes with risks of threat and stigmatization.
"It is unfortunate that sometimes people look upon us here as a group of whores and I the big Mama, but I have chosen to do what I am doing and I enjoy it."
Her observation is that it is more dangerous to be a woman and be battered than for a man. She said one of four women is threatened or battered by a man, while one out the ten is battered with weapons and banging of their heads with hard objects, against one of forty men who say he has been battered.
Not many men have been handled at the centre. She stated that wife battering and other harmful forms of violence against women are prevalent in all culture, religion, nationality and age.
"I think it's insecure men who do not know how to act who resort to wife battering."
She emphasized that wife battering is a cross gender issue and not only a women's issue but one
that requires that men also take a stand.
In comparison, more cases of abuse are reported each year to the DOVVSU, Ghana's only refuge for domestic crimes. DOVVSU however has offices in the ten regions of Ghana.
A quarterly report released by the Accra office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, (DOVVSU) showed for the first quarter of this year (January -March) a total of 1,332 cases were handled.
Compared to a total of 1,256 cases reported in 2008, the figure showed an increase of 76 cases.Women continue to dominate as victims of domestic violence, even though more men try to put bashfulness aside and report cases of their wives beating them.
Assault cases ranked high with a figure of 584 as at the end of March this year. It also ranked high in 2008 with 552.
Perhaps, the only replica of the WCC in Oslo in Ghana is the shelter run by The Ark Foundation, Ghana, an advocacy-based human rights organization. Women seek refuge there when battered and when referred from other agencies including DOVVSU, the Commission on Human Rights and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Ghana).
Beneficiaries of the shelter have included battered women, spousal abuse survivors, women fleeing from harmful traditional / religious practices such as early or forced marriage, survivors of sexual assault - rape, defilement and incest.
Through the help of NGOs such as the Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) the DOVVSU has twelve stations in all of Ghana. On the International Women's Day, March 8, 2009, The Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) called for greater accountability and political commitment from government and public institutions to prevent and punish all forms of violence against women in practice, and not just in words.
It stressed that violence against women and girls impairs the realization of their basic rights as human beings and as citizens of Ghana for whom rights are guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution to be inalienable and indivisible.
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 20 percent of the world's women have been physically or sexually abused by a men. It is in view of this that Norway has constructed the only Women Crises Centre (WCC) in Oslo, Norway.
This is a regular place where battered women seek shelter and feel safe and secure. In an interview with its leader, Ms Inger-Lise W. Larsen, she explained that the centre was established 30 years ago and endeavors to create a safe place for its clients by providing confidential lodging facilities and a supportive living environment that allows for healing and recovery.
She recalled the idea for its set up flows from the fact that many of the women felt they needed something else than to go back home where they were experiencing the violence.
Ms Larsen stated that many of them had been living with violence and psychiatric problems since they were born and so they wanted to build something that could be a home for people for a longer period until they are able to find their feet.
According to her, the primary reason why women seek refuge at the WCC is to secure the safety of themselves and their children if any.
"Sometimes young children and teenage girls are also brought to the centre for safety. In many instances the threat of injury or death is so real that there is no other alternative but to seek refuge in the centre".
In all, the Center has 26 rooms for women and children. In 2007 it established a dormitory for girls suffering from unrelated violence.
She said majority of the girls are mostly victims from forced marriage or have the premonition that they will be forced to marry.
Girls can live at the centre for six to nine months and women live to two months and they can be on their own again. From 2008 to date, 319 women have lived at the centre and they brought 225 children, out of which 125 are under school age.
One out of five women who visit the WCC is sent there by the police while one out five also come by themselves.
"When they come here they are usually traumatized and confused so the first thing is to give them a room, talk to them and try to find out what they want and what they expect from the centre."
However, she said it's not enough for a woman to visit the centre to claim she has been battered; facts she presents need to be substantiated, sometimes by a medical report from the police.
The leader said there are about fifteen different ways of solving issues for these battered women. One of these is particularly how they can survive economically which takes quite some time because by then they are reorganizing and don't really know who they are.
The children are not left out. They are also taken through several processes in order to find out things from their perspectives.
"We do this because we know that many of them don't know where they are. Sometimes their mothers have to run in a hurry so they don't take the time to tell them where they are going. They equally experienced violence since they know when it happens, even when in another room they hear all. The children have good friendships here because they get the opportunity to talk about their experiences that have been a secret all these years, the leader explained.
Since one in four people living in Norway is of a different nationality, the WCC attends to all. In fact, 88% of people who lived at the centre in 2008 were not Norwegians.
From January this year until now about 850 women have used the centre's counseling service. Unfortunately, since some women go back to the same relationships for fear of being lonely or not being able to manage on their own, the Center makes the effort to make them economically viable.
Ms. Larsen said "We also endeavor to provide practical alternatives for life after the centre and follow up with clients who have left to ensure their continued safety and well being."
Since the law also gives some fathers the right to see their children they get into contact with some of the women. This can sometimes become an obstacle.
She stated, "The only obstacle is that some fathers still have the right to see the children. It is always the mother that has to move, men are always in there".
She refuted claims by some sects of religion that enforce wife battering and other forms of violence against women, stressing that religion is no excuse.
Some people hide behind the Quran and the Bible to perpetrate violence and to force people into marriage.
Nonetheless, she was hopeful the initiative by heads of various religious groups in Norway to launch a campaign on violence against women soon will greatly contribute to stop such violence. Also by January 2010, there will be a law to back the establishment of crises centers in all districts in Oslo.
To Ms Larsen, life is all about working to ensure the welfare of vulnerable women although it comes with risks of threat and stigmatization.
"It is unfortunate that sometimes people look upon us here as a group of whores and I the big Mama, but I have chosen to do what I am doing and I enjoy it."
Her observation is that it is more dangerous to be a woman and be battered than for a man. She said one of four women is threatened or battered by a man, while one out the ten is battered with weapons and banging of their heads with hard objects, against one of forty men who say he has been battered.
Not many men have been handled at the centre. She stated that wife battering and other harmful forms of violence against women are prevalent in all culture, religion, nationality and age.
"I think it's insecure men who do not know how to act who resort to wife battering."
She emphasized that wife battering is a cross gender issue and not only a women's issue but one
that requires that men also take a stand.
In comparison, more cases of abuse are reported each year to the DOVVSU, Ghana's only refuge for domestic crimes. DOVVSU however has offices in the ten regions of Ghana.
A quarterly report released by the Accra office of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, (DOVVSU) showed for the first quarter of this year (January -March) a total of 1,332 cases were handled.
Compared to a total of 1,256 cases reported in 2008, the figure showed an increase of 76 cases.Women continue to dominate as victims of domestic violence, even though more men try to put bashfulness aside and report cases of their wives beating them.
Assault cases ranked high with a figure of 584 as at the end of March this year. It also ranked high in 2008 with 552.
Perhaps, the only replica of the WCC in Oslo in Ghana is the shelter run by The Ark Foundation, Ghana, an advocacy-based human rights organization. Women seek refuge there when battered and when referred from other agencies including DOVVSU, the Commission on Human Rights and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Ghana).
Beneficiaries of the shelter have included battered women, spousal abuse survivors, women fleeing from harmful traditional / religious practices such as early or forced marriage, survivors of sexual assault - rape, defilement and incest.
Through the help of NGOs such as the Women's Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) the DOVVSU has twelve stations in all of Ghana. On the International Women's Day, March 8, 2009, The Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) called for greater accountability and political commitment from government and public institutions to prevent and punish all forms of violence against women in practice, and not just in words.
It stressed that violence against women and girls impairs the realization of their basic rights as human beings and as citizens of Ghana for whom rights are guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution to be inalienable and indivisible.
Ghana standa to become a model in oil development
Ghana is said to be in a good position to become a model for oil development in Africa. With a better political climate and regulation framework coupled with an active press, the new sector in Ghana could develop into something big.
However, the country must be cautious in order not to neglect other sectors because they are equally important.
The Senior Advisor to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Energy Department, Oil for Development (OfD), Mr. Svein Heglund, who made the observation, also praised the country for taking the steps to enact the right legislation to govern the oil sector.
He said there was a marked difference in Ghana's approach as compared to the manner in which the mineral sector was tackled. He appreciated the challenges of that era saying that Ghana had little control over the minerals.
He believed that Ghana has a strong Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and that was necessary to ensure that existing funds go through the MOFEP and not any other institutions.
"Ghana has a national pride; the citizenry talks about the nation more than any State. It has a tradition and history of democratic institutions than many other nations in Africa.
Therefore, if there is any nation that is going to succeed, then it should be Ghana."
The Norwegian government's OfD initiative focuses on resource management, revenue management and environmental management. It mainly builds capacity within government institutions, because it believes that a competent public sector is crucial to ensure good governance of the petroleum sector.
However, it also supports civil society and media to be strong to be able to monitor their governments. Ghana is the latest addition to the list of countries (10) that have core cooperation for OfD. This cooperation between Norwegian government institutions and institutions in developing countries on petroleum governance is based on request from the developing countries.
Mr. Heglund said his organization was happy to work with a country like Ghana because it is a country starting on a high public-spirited note and is determined to pre-empt the so-called resource curse.
He noted that Ghana has its own model, with good and bad experiences in mining as well as lots of environment issues serving as a guide, but then developing such a huge model is new to the country.
According to him, there was lot of work to be done by many institutions and that Norway was assisting Ghana to develop its local content which would allow Ghanaian companies to participate in the oil industry.
"Even though we advise on government working in the area there is also the need for private participation. Our country has benefited from so many people working in the sector".
He recalled that Ghana discovered her main field, Jubilee Field two years ago with good possibilities of finding more fields around it and a lot of associated gas that could produce enough power, but then lacked the expertise to manage the sector.
He said the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) which over the years had been working downstream on petroleum distribution and supervised all licenses, was now upstream focusing on exploration.
Mr. Heglund disclosed that Norway's assistance to Ghana began two years ago with cooperating institutions namely, the Office of the President, Ministries of Environment and Energy and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
He announced that a five year MOU had been signed between Ghana's Ministry of Energy and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Project period is between March 2008 and March 2013 with a 2009 budgetary support of 14.5 million Norwegian Kroner (about 2,644,872.91US dollars).
Activities to be conducted include continuous review of the draft field development plan, workshops covering transfer of Norwegian experience, regulation development, auditing inspection, gas utilization and commercial issues among others.
He admits that Norway has tried different models of which some have worked while others have failed. He said because Norway is an industrialized country there are lots of advantages in the oil sector.
Ms Dagny Mjos, Adviser, Africa Section of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA), said that historically, Norway had helped Ghana through multilateral channels, and development cooperation had been well structured. She said this relationship had been extended to the oil sector following the discovery of Ghana's oil, a sector which Norway is supporting with six million Norwegian kroner (1,057,949.17 US dollars) in aid.
She shared the position of Mr. Heglund that since Ghana was at a starting point, she was in a good position to put up systems that would ensure that she avoided the resource curse. "It is a crucial moment for Ghana to work on these things to avoid the sad story about oil in some parts of the world," she stated.
Assistant Director General for Southern and West Africa Section at the NMFA, Ms Tove Stub, said although there had been long-term development cooperation between Norway and Eastern and Northern Africa, and South Africa after apartheid, West Africa had become now an important player on the international scene as oil producer and a subregion out of conflict.She said now her country's relationship with Africa was getting broader.
"Now Climate Change is on board and is also in our interest that Africa gets peaceful and better livelihoods. Norway has increased its development budget, social sectors, bilateral and multilateral initiatives."
She noted that although each country devised its own model there were good points the two countries could learn from each other. She added, the media and civil society had crucial roles, to monitor how the government was using the oil money.
Norway's oil industry did not develop in a vacuum in terms of its policy, administration or economy. It has a long tradition of dealing with foreign capital in relation to hydropower and developing effective political structures to support development.
Of course, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the discovery of oil in the North Sea, there were more foreign investments which have been very beneficial to the country, in terms of revenues and the creation of interesting new jobs in specialized fields.
At the same time, Norway is said to have been careful to guard against domination by the oil sector. Of course, the country knows that oil reserves will not last forever, and is developing other aspects of its economy for the future.
It has made considerable investments in infrastructure and education. As at January this year, Norway had 6.7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, making it the largest oil reserves in Western Europe, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.
Norway is the largest oil producer in Europe and produced 2.7 million barrels a day in 2008. It is believed that with the country's efficient management of its oil resources, Norway could be a good source of help for Ghana.
However, the country must be cautious in order not to neglect other sectors because they are equally important.
The Senior Advisor to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Energy Department, Oil for Development (OfD), Mr. Svein Heglund, who made the observation, also praised the country for taking the steps to enact the right legislation to govern the oil sector.
He said there was a marked difference in Ghana's approach as compared to the manner in which the mineral sector was tackled. He appreciated the challenges of that era saying that Ghana had little control over the minerals.
He believed that Ghana has a strong Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and that was necessary to ensure that existing funds go through the MOFEP and not any other institutions.
"Ghana has a national pride; the citizenry talks about the nation more than any State. It has a tradition and history of democratic institutions than many other nations in Africa.
Therefore, if there is any nation that is going to succeed, then it should be Ghana."
The Norwegian government's OfD initiative focuses on resource management, revenue management and environmental management. It mainly builds capacity within government institutions, because it believes that a competent public sector is crucial to ensure good governance of the petroleum sector.
However, it also supports civil society and media to be strong to be able to monitor their governments. Ghana is the latest addition to the list of countries (10) that have core cooperation for OfD. This cooperation between Norwegian government institutions and institutions in developing countries on petroleum governance is based on request from the developing countries.
Mr. Heglund said his organization was happy to work with a country like Ghana because it is a country starting on a high public-spirited note and is determined to pre-empt the so-called resource curse.
He noted that Ghana has its own model, with good and bad experiences in mining as well as lots of environment issues serving as a guide, but then developing such a huge model is new to the country.
According to him, there was lot of work to be done by many institutions and that Norway was assisting Ghana to develop its local content which would allow Ghanaian companies to participate in the oil industry.
"Even though we advise on government working in the area there is also the need for private participation. Our country has benefited from so many people working in the sector".
He recalled that Ghana discovered her main field, Jubilee Field two years ago with good possibilities of finding more fields around it and a lot of associated gas that could produce enough power, but then lacked the expertise to manage the sector.
He said the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) which over the years had been working downstream on petroleum distribution and supervised all licenses, was now upstream focusing on exploration.
Mr. Heglund disclosed that Norway's assistance to Ghana began two years ago with cooperating institutions namely, the Office of the President, Ministries of Environment and Energy and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
He announced that a five year MOU had been signed between Ghana's Ministry of Energy and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Project period is between March 2008 and March 2013 with a 2009 budgetary support of 14.5 million Norwegian Kroner (about 2,644,872.91US dollars).
Activities to be conducted include continuous review of the draft field development plan, workshops covering transfer of Norwegian experience, regulation development, auditing inspection, gas utilization and commercial issues among others.
He admits that Norway has tried different models of which some have worked while others have failed. He said because Norway is an industrialized country there are lots of advantages in the oil sector.
Ms Dagny Mjos, Adviser, Africa Section of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA), said that historically, Norway had helped Ghana through multilateral channels, and development cooperation had been well structured. She said this relationship had been extended to the oil sector following the discovery of Ghana's oil, a sector which Norway is supporting with six million Norwegian kroner (1,057,949.17 US dollars) in aid.
She shared the position of Mr. Heglund that since Ghana was at a starting point, she was in a good position to put up systems that would ensure that she avoided the resource curse. "It is a crucial moment for Ghana to work on these things to avoid the sad story about oil in some parts of the world," she stated.
Assistant Director General for Southern and West Africa Section at the NMFA, Ms Tove Stub, said although there had been long-term development cooperation between Norway and Eastern and Northern Africa, and South Africa after apartheid, West Africa had become now an important player on the international scene as oil producer and a subregion out of conflict.She said now her country's relationship with Africa was getting broader.
"Now Climate Change is on board and is also in our interest that Africa gets peaceful and better livelihoods. Norway has increased its development budget, social sectors, bilateral and multilateral initiatives."
She noted that although each country devised its own model there were good points the two countries could learn from each other. She added, the media and civil society had crucial roles, to monitor how the government was using the oil money.
Norway's oil industry did not develop in a vacuum in terms of its policy, administration or economy. It has a long tradition of dealing with foreign capital in relation to hydropower and developing effective political structures to support development.
Of course, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the discovery of oil in the North Sea, there were more foreign investments which have been very beneficial to the country, in terms of revenues and the creation of interesting new jobs in specialized fields.
At the same time, Norway is said to have been careful to guard against domination by the oil sector. Of course, the country knows that oil reserves will not last forever, and is developing other aspects of its economy for the future.
It has made considerable investments in infrastructure and education. As at January this year, Norway had 6.7 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, making it the largest oil reserves in Western Europe, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.
Norway is the largest oil producer in Europe and produced 2.7 million barrels a day in 2008. It is believed that with the country's efficient management of its oil resources, Norway could be a good source of help for Ghana.
Africa needs to depart from failed economic policies......says new think tank "Institute DRIVE"
Talks are underway to launch a major debate on refocusing of Africa's development. Proponents argue that the theory that everything gets right when the market is right (market driven economy) has never worked and can never work for Africa.
They say the theory has rather left the continent with no productive capacity and subsequently dependent on extractives to the neglect of sectors such as agriculture which often leads to famine.
Hence, to be able to make a truly productive agenda work for Africa requires people to agree around an era of industrial force. A 'think-do tank' promoting productivity and innovation in Africa, "Institute DRIVE", is a new alternative African institution that will act as a focal point for non-mainstreaming analysts and solutions to Africa's development problems.
It brings together African and non-African people, partners, collaborators and institutions North and South, forming an alternative to existing African think-tanks in the many ways.
For example, it calls for a refocus on production, productivity and innovation realizing that under-development is the result of a crisis of the three.
DRIVE will depart from dominant market driven mono-economics and draw on traditions that focus on promoting innovation and productivity.
Analysts say the need for such an institution is even more compelling at a time when mainstream economics has failed - as recently demonstrated by the collapse of the liberalized finance.
Ghanaian Development Economist, Mr. Charles Abugre, said DRIVE could pass for an industrial revolution and that Africa must come back to fundamentals of the ability to create wealth that is remunerative.
"Everybody talks micro but never about Africa that it can industrialize, a mindset that has to change. The problem of trade policy is not market access for Africa but industrial policy that requires that countries are reluctant to open up their markets."
Speaking to Public Agenda at the Voksenaasen in Oslo Norway, Mr. Abugre noted that the post structural adjustment generation in Africa had been exposed only to a narrative of "markets good, governments bad"; an understanding of Africa's progress that fails to appreciate huge strides made by post-independent nationalist leaders and to a consistently negative image about Africans.
According to him, self-belief is central to the ability of Africans to drive their own development and that the essential issue to address in Africa development is the continent's ability to industrialize.He argued that the debate about aid and aid effectiveness did nothing to the development of Africa.
He said over the last years, aid has continued to pour into the Horn of Africa, which is crunching under conflict but then it is not possible to maintain long term peace in a situation where poverty is created.
Therefore, conflict and peace issues should be part of the development content.He said Africa must not get diverted into other causes such as good governance but must focus on transforming production, adding that growth that generates employment and solves poverty is consciously managed to add value to production.
"Growth is an accumulation. We need to go beyond that. All are natural resource intensive and without value addition you can't create jobs and there will be no basis for taxation which government needs for development."
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund at the end of the 1990s announced a shift in the focus of their lending policies in Africa towards poverty reduction.
Critics say close examination of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) shows that the new approach has not changed substantially from the structural adjustment policies promoted in Africa by the Bank and the Fund since the 1980s.United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD's) study of African PRSPs, entitled From Adjustment to Poverty Reduction: What Is New?, reckons that not much has changed under the new approach.
The two institutions have mainly built on conventional structural adjustment polices by adding two new elements:. Paying more attention to the need for public spending on education and health, reversing the tendency of early adjustment policies to reduce such spending. . Introducing "safety nets" and targeted spending programmes to mitigate the adverse impact of adjustment policies on the poor in education, health and rural infrastructure.
The group argues that since the majority of Africa's poor live in rural areas; efforts to improve their conditions should emphasize rural development, enhanced agricultural productivity and job creation.
Mr. Charles Abugre blamed in many cases the limited active participation of civil society in economic policy-making which at times is used as an endorsement of the Bank and Fund's policies creating an impression that they have the support of NGOs.
"Sometimes the IMF and World Bank make all the important lending decisions for a government before a PRSP is finalized," observes Mr. Abugre.
The recent financial crisis and global food price hikes have exposed the extreme vulnerability of a continent dependent on external market for virtually everything. DRIVE aims to refocus the development policy debate to productivity enhancement, promote a review of the early days industrialization and production support policies in Africa in the light of 30 years of mainstream reforms and convene an agenda-setting, high level event to put forward a bold alternative African agenda and a framework focused on a bold production framework.
It will also seek to follow-up activities to ensure the integration of this agenda with related regional initiatives, use internet, popular media and mobile technology to sustain the debate and campaign for policy change, as well as organize lectures and speaker events in important centres and countries across the continent, targeting the policy making technocrat and academic communities and the media and involving heterodox (political) economists around the world.
They say the theory has rather left the continent with no productive capacity and subsequently dependent on extractives to the neglect of sectors such as agriculture which often leads to famine.
Hence, to be able to make a truly productive agenda work for Africa requires people to agree around an era of industrial force. A 'think-do tank' promoting productivity and innovation in Africa, "Institute DRIVE", is a new alternative African institution that will act as a focal point for non-mainstreaming analysts and solutions to Africa's development problems.
It brings together African and non-African people, partners, collaborators and institutions North and South, forming an alternative to existing African think-tanks in the many ways.
For example, it calls for a refocus on production, productivity and innovation realizing that under-development is the result of a crisis of the three.
DRIVE will depart from dominant market driven mono-economics and draw on traditions that focus on promoting innovation and productivity.
Analysts say the need for such an institution is even more compelling at a time when mainstream economics has failed - as recently demonstrated by the collapse of the liberalized finance.
Ghanaian Development Economist, Mr. Charles Abugre, said DRIVE could pass for an industrial revolution and that Africa must come back to fundamentals of the ability to create wealth that is remunerative.
"Everybody talks micro but never about Africa that it can industrialize, a mindset that has to change. The problem of trade policy is not market access for Africa but industrial policy that requires that countries are reluctant to open up their markets."
Speaking to Public Agenda at the Voksenaasen in Oslo Norway, Mr. Abugre noted that the post structural adjustment generation in Africa had been exposed only to a narrative of "markets good, governments bad"; an understanding of Africa's progress that fails to appreciate huge strides made by post-independent nationalist leaders and to a consistently negative image about Africans.
According to him, self-belief is central to the ability of Africans to drive their own development and that the essential issue to address in Africa development is the continent's ability to industrialize.He argued that the debate about aid and aid effectiveness did nothing to the development of Africa.
He said over the last years, aid has continued to pour into the Horn of Africa, which is crunching under conflict but then it is not possible to maintain long term peace in a situation where poverty is created.
Therefore, conflict and peace issues should be part of the development content.He said Africa must not get diverted into other causes such as good governance but must focus on transforming production, adding that growth that generates employment and solves poverty is consciously managed to add value to production.
"Growth is an accumulation. We need to go beyond that. All are natural resource intensive and without value addition you can't create jobs and there will be no basis for taxation which government needs for development."
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund at the end of the 1990s announced a shift in the focus of their lending policies in Africa towards poverty reduction.
Critics say close examination of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) shows that the new approach has not changed substantially from the structural adjustment policies promoted in Africa by the Bank and the Fund since the 1980s.United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD's) study of African PRSPs, entitled From Adjustment to Poverty Reduction: What Is New?, reckons that not much has changed under the new approach.
The two institutions have mainly built on conventional structural adjustment polices by adding two new elements:. Paying more attention to the need for public spending on education and health, reversing the tendency of early adjustment policies to reduce such spending. . Introducing "safety nets" and targeted spending programmes to mitigate the adverse impact of adjustment policies on the poor in education, health and rural infrastructure.
The group argues that since the majority of Africa's poor live in rural areas; efforts to improve their conditions should emphasize rural development, enhanced agricultural productivity and job creation.
Mr. Charles Abugre blamed in many cases the limited active participation of civil society in economic policy-making which at times is used as an endorsement of the Bank and Fund's policies creating an impression that they have the support of NGOs.
"Sometimes the IMF and World Bank make all the important lending decisions for a government before a PRSP is finalized," observes Mr. Abugre.
The recent financial crisis and global food price hikes have exposed the extreme vulnerability of a continent dependent on external market for virtually everything. DRIVE aims to refocus the development policy debate to productivity enhancement, promote a review of the early days industrialization and production support policies in Africa in the light of 30 years of mainstream reforms and convene an agenda-setting, high level event to put forward a bold alternative African agenda and a framework focused on a bold production framework.
It will also seek to follow-up activities to ensure the integration of this agenda with related regional initiatives, use internet, popular media and mobile technology to sustain the debate and campaign for policy change, as well as organize lectures and speaker events in important centres and countries across the continent, targeting the policy making technocrat and academic communities and the media and involving heterodox (political) economists around the world.
Child rights advocates call for increased efforts to eliminate child soldiers
Child rights advocates have said there is still room for expansion of the definition of 'children involved in armed conflict' and formalizing both preventive and protective measures to address the issue, twenty years following the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 11 years following the Optional Protocol (OP) and two years consequent to the Paris Principles (PP).
Now, there are rapid changes in the nature of conflicts such that powerful state armies struggle with the harsh reality of engaging children on the battlefield.
A Human Rights Lawyer, Ms Priyadharshini Dias noted the unlawful recruitment of children and exposing them and / or involving them in warfare amounts to a denial of majority of the rights spelt out in the CRC and other international human rights instruments.
"It is an express loss of the all important childhood, family life, education and the inherent right to dignity and self-respect", she said. Ms. Dias stated this when she presented a paper, "Framework for Addressing the Issue of Children in Armed Conflicts and Suggestive Preventive Measures", at an international child soldier conference in Oslo, Norway, to mark the 20th anniversary since the adoption of the CRC.
Networkers SouthNorth and the Dag Hammarskjold Programme, Voksenaasen, organized the conference to evaluate the UN CRC and other UN instruments, particularly children involved in armed conflict.
The CRC is an international treaty that recognizes the human rights of children, defined as persons up to the age of 18 years.
In 41 substantive articles, it establishes in international law that States Parties must ensure that all children - without discrimination in any form - benefit from special protection measures and assistance; have access to services such as education and health care; can develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential; grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding; and are informed about and participate in, achieving their rights in an accessible and active manner.
A significant political-level initiative is the strong commitment expressed by 76 Member States, including a number of conflict-affected countries, to the Paris Commitments and the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated With Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which provide guidelines on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all categories of children associated with armed groups.
Child recruitment has been defined as - 'compulsory, forced and voluntary conscription or enlistment of children into any kind of armed force or armed group.
'In spite of the universal condemnation and prohibition on the use of children as soldiers, in too many contexts, children as young as eight years continue to be enrolled into armed forces, armed groups, paramilitaries and other militant groups.
These children are separated from their families, killed or maimed, abused sexually or otherwise exploited, causing a devastating impact on the physical and mental well being for their entire lifetime.
Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict estimates over two million children have been killed in situations of armed conflict, six million have been permanently disabled and more than a quarter of a million children continue to be exploited as child soldiers.
The growing involvement of non-state actors / rebel groups and the use of non-traditional forms of warfare add to the difficulty of quantifying the impact of war on children. According to Graca Machel's strategy review, the number of conflicts in 2005 ranged from 17 to 56 worldwide.
Ms Machel was the head of the organization that produced the UN Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. Ms Dias deduced children are recruited for warfare because they are easier to abduct, subjugate and manipulate than adults.
She said they are more vulnerable to indoctrination; they learn skills quickly, are fast and agile on a battlefield, more willing than adults to take risks and are seen as more loyal and less threatening to adult leadership.
She bemoaned that war violates every right of the child.
"Their direct involvement in hostilities results in enormous emotional, physical, developmental, social and spiritual harm. The tragic cost of children's involvement in armed conflict exposes them to be frequently killed or injured during front line combat operations or while carrying out other tasks."
She added that child soldiers are usually forced to live under harsh conditions with insufficient food and little or no access to healthcare. Twenty years ago, the CRC recognized the obligation of the states to ensure that children under the age of 15 years do not directly participate in hostilities.
It also required states from recruiting any person who is under age 15 into their armed forces. Eleven years after, the OP to the CRC required states parties to take all feasible measures to ensure that members of the armed forces who have not attained the age of 15 years do not participate directly in hostilities.
However, careful perusal of the OP reveals that it does not make 18 the uniform minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities. For e.g., 15 year olds may still join government armed forces voluntarily.
As opposed to state parties, the OP sets a different standard for non-state armed groups by imposing outright prohibition from recruiting children less than 18 years of age either forcibly or voluntarily from using them in hostilities.
Ms Dias argued that in a context of non-international armed conflict where the armed group and / or warring factions have total control over certain geographical territories, it is a near impossibility for states to take criminal action against perpetrators and / or preventive measures to monitor the recruitment of children.
Thereby, she said the OP leaves the burden on the state parties and does not in any way address the heinous crime committed on a daily basis in the most brutal fashion in many parts of the world today.
"Categories of participation is yet to be included in the definition; recent times have demonstrated the involvement of children with violence, arms and crimes not typically falling within the Geneva Convention definitions of an international or non-international armed conflict, but perhaps closely related to a certain aspect of an ongoing conflict.
Piracy (a war like act committed by private parties that engaged in acts of robbery and / or violence at sea.), organized crime and private military groups, child fighters as drug carriers and human shields, suicide attacks among others are yet to be considered by the international community within the context of improving the safeguards provided in the CRC and / or its OP or the Rome Statute", she elaborated.
Ms Dias recommends a child soldier programming should comprise of three components; prevention of recruitment, demobilization, release and reintegration focusing both before, during and after warfare / conflict.
According to her, the OP does not detail standards in relation to preventive measures, although it requires the state parties to cooperate in the implementation of the present protocol, including the prevention of any activity contrary to the protocol.
She stated that as a preventive measure, states are obliged to ratify international human rights and humanitarian law instruments, protecting children in armed conflict and incorporate the provisions into domestic legal systems.
She indicated other preventives measures would be to address the likely risks associated with recruitment from all angles, such as keeping schools open as long as possible, taking immediate action to provide relief to prevent hunger, assisting in the safe movement of populations and ensuring that internally displaced camps provide safe havens for children and their families who are fleeing to avoid the fighting forces.
"The all important task is to make every effort to end conflict as soon as possible, and together with the international community to negotiate with armed groups and forces to stop them from recruiting children", she emphasized.
During times of armed conflict civil society and non-government organizations have a role to play as neutral humanitarian actor present on the ground. Ms Dias said they could expand opportunities for alternatives to prevent children from recruitment and reintegration of former child soldiers.
"Alternatives could include micro-lending and vocational skills and form a positive self-identity, and make positive choices about their future without turning to armed groups for survival. CS could further organize life-skill and psycho-social programmes where children can be encouraged to participate via children?s clubs, child friendly spaces in competitions, performances, guided discussions and educational activities".
In the words of Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, "Children are innocent and especially vulnerable. Children are less equipped to adapt or respond to conflict. They are least responsible for conflict, yet suffer disproportionately from its excesses. Children represent the hope and future of every society; destroy them and you have destroyed a society."
Now, there are rapid changes in the nature of conflicts such that powerful state armies struggle with the harsh reality of engaging children on the battlefield.
A Human Rights Lawyer, Ms Priyadharshini Dias noted the unlawful recruitment of children and exposing them and / or involving them in warfare amounts to a denial of majority of the rights spelt out in the CRC and other international human rights instruments.
"It is an express loss of the all important childhood, family life, education and the inherent right to dignity and self-respect", she said. Ms. Dias stated this when she presented a paper, "Framework for Addressing the Issue of Children in Armed Conflicts and Suggestive Preventive Measures", at an international child soldier conference in Oslo, Norway, to mark the 20th anniversary since the adoption of the CRC.
Networkers SouthNorth and the Dag Hammarskjold Programme, Voksenaasen, organized the conference to evaluate the UN CRC and other UN instruments, particularly children involved in armed conflict.
The CRC is an international treaty that recognizes the human rights of children, defined as persons up to the age of 18 years.
In 41 substantive articles, it establishes in international law that States Parties must ensure that all children - without discrimination in any form - benefit from special protection measures and assistance; have access to services such as education and health care; can develop their personalities, abilities and talents to the fullest potential; grow up in an environment of happiness, love and understanding; and are informed about and participate in, achieving their rights in an accessible and active manner.
A significant political-level initiative is the strong commitment expressed by 76 Member States, including a number of conflict-affected countries, to the Paris Commitments and the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated With Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which provide guidelines on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all categories of children associated with armed groups.
Child recruitment has been defined as - 'compulsory, forced and voluntary conscription or enlistment of children into any kind of armed force or armed group.
'In spite of the universal condemnation and prohibition on the use of children as soldiers, in too many contexts, children as young as eight years continue to be enrolled into armed forces, armed groups, paramilitaries and other militant groups.
These children are separated from their families, killed or maimed, abused sexually or otherwise exploited, causing a devastating impact on the physical and mental well being for their entire lifetime.
Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict estimates over two million children have been killed in situations of armed conflict, six million have been permanently disabled and more than a quarter of a million children continue to be exploited as child soldiers.
The growing involvement of non-state actors / rebel groups and the use of non-traditional forms of warfare add to the difficulty of quantifying the impact of war on children. According to Graca Machel's strategy review, the number of conflicts in 2005 ranged from 17 to 56 worldwide.
Ms Machel was the head of the organization that produced the UN Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. Ms Dias deduced children are recruited for warfare because they are easier to abduct, subjugate and manipulate than adults.
She said they are more vulnerable to indoctrination; they learn skills quickly, are fast and agile on a battlefield, more willing than adults to take risks and are seen as more loyal and less threatening to adult leadership.
She bemoaned that war violates every right of the child.
"Their direct involvement in hostilities results in enormous emotional, physical, developmental, social and spiritual harm. The tragic cost of children's involvement in armed conflict exposes them to be frequently killed or injured during front line combat operations or while carrying out other tasks."
She added that child soldiers are usually forced to live under harsh conditions with insufficient food and little or no access to healthcare. Twenty years ago, the CRC recognized the obligation of the states to ensure that children under the age of 15 years do not directly participate in hostilities.
It also required states from recruiting any person who is under age 15 into their armed forces. Eleven years after, the OP to the CRC required states parties to take all feasible measures to ensure that members of the armed forces who have not attained the age of 15 years do not participate directly in hostilities.
However, careful perusal of the OP reveals that it does not make 18 the uniform minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities. For e.g., 15 year olds may still join government armed forces voluntarily.
As opposed to state parties, the OP sets a different standard for non-state armed groups by imposing outright prohibition from recruiting children less than 18 years of age either forcibly or voluntarily from using them in hostilities.
Ms Dias argued that in a context of non-international armed conflict where the armed group and / or warring factions have total control over certain geographical territories, it is a near impossibility for states to take criminal action against perpetrators and / or preventive measures to monitor the recruitment of children.
Thereby, she said the OP leaves the burden on the state parties and does not in any way address the heinous crime committed on a daily basis in the most brutal fashion in many parts of the world today.
"Categories of participation is yet to be included in the definition; recent times have demonstrated the involvement of children with violence, arms and crimes not typically falling within the Geneva Convention definitions of an international or non-international armed conflict, but perhaps closely related to a certain aspect of an ongoing conflict.
Piracy (a war like act committed by private parties that engaged in acts of robbery and / or violence at sea.), organized crime and private military groups, child fighters as drug carriers and human shields, suicide attacks among others are yet to be considered by the international community within the context of improving the safeguards provided in the CRC and / or its OP or the Rome Statute", she elaborated.
Ms Dias recommends a child soldier programming should comprise of three components; prevention of recruitment, demobilization, release and reintegration focusing both before, during and after warfare / conflict.
According to her, the OP does not detail standards in relation to preventive measures, although it requires the state parties to cooperate in the implementation of the present protocol, including the prevention of any activity contrary to the protocol.
She stated that as a preventive measure, states are obliged to ratify international human rights and humanitarian law instruments, protecting children in armed conflict and incorporate the provisions into domestic legal systems.
She indicated other preventives measures would be to address the likely risks associated with recruitment from all angles, such as keeping schools open as long as possible, taking immediate action to provide relief to prevent hunger, assisting in the safe movement of populations and ensuring that internally displaced camps provide safe havens for children and their families who are fleeing to avoid the fighting forces.
"The all important task is to make every effort to end conflict as soon as possible, and together with the international community to negotiate with armed groups and forces to stop them from recruiting children", she emphasized.
During times of armed conflict civil society and non-government organizations have a role to play as neutral humanitarian actor present on the ground. Ms Dias said they could expand opportunities for alternatives to prevent children from recruitment and reintegration of former child soldiers.
"Alternatives could include micro-lending and vocational skills and form a positive self-identity, and make positive choices about their future without turning to armed groups for survival. CS could further organize life-skill and psycho-social programmes where children can be encouraged to participate via children?s clubs, child friendly spaces in competitions, performances, guided discussions and educational activities".
In the words of Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, "Children are innocent and especially vulnerable. Children are less equipped to adapt or respond to conflict. They are least responsible for conflict, yet suffer disproportionately from its excesses. Children represent the hope and future of every society; destroy them and you have destroyed a society."
Ghana needs vision to turn resources into blessing
The Executive Director of ISODEC, Bishop Akologo, has said that Ghana can make a difference in Africa by turning her natural resource endowments into lasting benefits, if she has a vision for the extractive sector.
He said Ghana needs a strategy that defines, articulates and enforces defensive and offensive positions on how to interface natural resources with the entire economy. This may result in an open, price neutral but key role for the State and in the process be tough on corruption and rent-seeking.
For this to succeed, he called for the empowerment of civil society organisations, the media and the legislature to have oversight responsibilities in the extractive sector. He said this when he made a presentation on "The New Petro-Country Ghana-A New Model for West Africa?" at an oil conference in Oslo, Norway.
Under the theme, "Oil for what Purpose and for whom?" the conference was organised by Populus and three other member organizations that are involved in an information project that examines the possibility of a break with what they may call "the fossil fuel economy".
The project is on a model society and economy based on sustained growth in consumption of goods and services produced by polluting energy sources like oil and gas.
The group believes that while the North, primarily served on and powered up the system, it is the South that bears the heaviest burdens and likely would have to take the lead for change.
Bishop Akolgo noted that even before the triple crisis; food, fuel and finance, poor countries faced structural rigidities and could not build their national economies which were responsive to shocks and trend changes.
Therefore, a new type of economic adjustment to re-examine relationship between structural adaptation and long-term economic development was needed to build economies to respond better to shocks and trend changes in the environment and take advantage of opportunities.
"Natural resource endowments are the potential catalyst for structural change ambition, but currently they are not. Transparency, accountability and participation in the management of natural resources is necessary," he said.
He recalled that hydrocarbon exploration in Ghana started in the late 19th Century in the Western Region of Ghana in the onshore Tano basin (in 1896); Saltpond offshore production begun with 4,800 b/d in 1976 down to 480b/d in 1985.
The Saltpond Field was redeveloped in 2002 and is now producing 500 b/d. He disclosed that at present, Ghana adopts the open door policy of concessioning. As a result of this, with the two major discoveries in 2007 by Kosmos Energy Ghana HC (Kosmos) and Tullow Ghana Limited (Tullow), Ghana stands the chance of being the next oil industry hub in West Africa, with production expected in 2010 starting with 120,000 barrels/day and building up to 250,000 per/day by 2015. Current exploration activities include Vanco Energy at the Cape Three Points Deepwater; Kosmos Energy at the West Cape Three Points; Tullow Energy at the Deepwater Tano; Amerada Hess at the Cape Three Points, among other companies in data review/ negotiations.
According to Bishop, ISODEC?s key policy and advocacy goal is to "secure policy space for citizens to engage their governments to construct autonomous development of their countries. This includes securing their resource base and cherished values" in the sub-region.
ISODEC's vision, he revealed, is for Ghana to be an integrated and fully developed energy country, and a key driver of a sustainable and flourishing local and regional economy, while attaining global competitiveness in all of its sub-sectors by 2020 in the Gulf of Guinea.
In view of this, he hoped the extractive sector would operate transparently with the full support of the government.
In addition, he said Ghana needs to transform structurally and diversify its economy using natural resources as catalyst.
"Given the strategic importance, potential and scope, the energy sector will be a major driver for economic development, while providing a platform for significant development of people, enterprises, the capital market and innovation and technology," he stressed.
This, he said, will allow Ghana an opportunity to use the energy sector as a catalyst / agent for sustainable development and diversification of the national economy.
Mr. Akolgo also said although host countries own the petroleum resources, they need international oil companies to provide efficiency, particularly in the area of state of art technology, modern field practices, risk capital, efficient operational management and cost efficiency through competitive benchmarking.
Since the oil was for a nation, he said oil companies must be able to cooperate with government authorities and must have reasonable expectation or rewards. Bishop cited Norway and Trinidad and Tobago as models to learn from, as well as Nigeria (how not to do it and some ideas on reservoir management).
He said Ghana needs a strategy that defines, articulates and enforces defensive and offensive positions on how to interface natural resources with the entire economy. This may result in an open, price neutral but key role for the State and in the process be tough on corruption and rent-seeking.
For this to succeed, he called for the empowerment of civil society organisations, the media and the legislature to have oversight responsibilities in the extractive sector. He said this when he made a presentation on "The New Petro-Country Ghana-A New Model for West Africa?" at an oil conference in Oslo, Norway.
Under the theme, "Oil for what Purpose and for whom?" the conference was organised by Populus and three other member organizations that are involved in an information project that examines the possibility of a break with what they may call "the fossil fuel economy".
The project is on a model society and economy based on sustained growth in consumption of goods and services produced by polluting energy sources like oil and gas.
The group believes that while the North, primarily served on and powered up the system, it is the South that bears the heaviest burdens and likely would have to take the lead for change.
Bishop Akolgo noted that even before the triple crisis; food, fuel and finance, poor countries faced structural rigidities and could not build their national economies which were responsive to shocks and trend changes.
Therefore, a new type of economic adjustment to re-examine relationship between structural adaptation and long-term economic development was needed to build economies to respond better to shocks and trend changes in the environment and take advantage of opportunities.
"Natural resource endowments are the potential catalyst for structural change ambition, but currently they are not. Transparency, accountability and participation in the management of natural resources is necessary," he said.
He recalled that hydrocarbon exploration in Ghana started in the late 19th Century in the Western Region of Ghana in the onshore Tano basin (in 1896); Saltpond offshore production begun with 4,800 b/d in 1976 down to 480b/d in 1985.
The Saltpond Field was redeveloped in 2002 and is now producing 500 b/d. He disclosed that at present, Ghana adopts the open door policy of concessioning. As a result of this, with the two major discoveries in 2007 by Kosmos Energy Ghana HC (Kosmos) and Tullow Ghana Limited (Tullow), Ghana stands the chance of being the next oil industry hub in West Africa, with production expected in 2010 starting with 120,000 barrels/day and building up to 250,000 per/day by 2015. Current exploration activities include Vanco Energy at the Cape Three Points Deepwater; Kosmos Energy at the West Cape Three Points; Tullow Energy at the Deepwater Tano; Amerada Hess at the Cape Three Points, among other companies in data review/ negotiations.
According to Bishop, ISODEC?s key policy and advocacy goal is to "secure policy space for citizens to engage their governments to construct autonomous development of their countries. This includes securing their resource base and cherished values" in the sub-region.
ISODEC's vision, he revealed, is for Ghana to be an integrated and fully developed energy country, and a key driver of a sustainable and flourishing local and regional economy, while attaining global competitiveness in all of its sub-sectors by 2020 in the Gulf of Guinea.
In view of this, he hoped the extractive sector would operate transparently with the full support of the government.
In addition, he said Ghana needs to transform structurally and diversify its economy using natural resources as catalyst.
"Given the strategic importance, potential and scope, the energy sector will be a major driver for economic development, while providing a platform for significant development of people, enterprises, the capital market and innovation and technology," he stressed.
This, he said, will allow Ghana an opportunity to use the energy sector as a catalyst / agent for sustainable development and diversification of the national economy.
Mr. Akolgo also said although host countries own the petroleum resources, they need international oil companies to provide efficiency, particularly in the area of state of art technology, modern field practices, risk capital, efficient operational management and cost efficiency through competitive benchmarking.
Since the oil was for a nation, he said oil companies must be able to cooperate with government authorities and must have reasonable expectation or rewards. Bishop cited Norway and Trinidad and Tobago as models to learn from, as well as Nigeria (how not to do it and some ideas on reservoir management).
'Gender budgeting, a tool for poverty alleviation' book launched
Dr. Rose Kutin, Convener, Network for Women's Rights in Ghana, (NETRIGHT), has called on government to institutionalize gender budgeting in the budget process.
The best impact of gender budgeting, she admitted, will be attained if it is led by government and driven by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Speaking at the launch of a research book on gender budgeting, "Gender Budgeting As A Tool For Poverty Reduction"- Concepts, Practices & Capacity Implications by the African Women's Development Fund, (AWDF) in collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin said the book, serves as an important tool for determining the situational analysis of women in the countries under study; South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda.
The research was very important, she explained, because without an understanding of whether the position of women has been correctly identified, it is not possible to determine if the policies and programs adequately address the situation of the different kinds of women, men, girls and boys.
Aside this, she added, the book also underscores the very important role women continuously play in gender balancing, provides information on institutions that have mechanisms to address gender budgeting, highlights the commitment various governments have made in gender budgeting, the demonstration of gender budgeting in other countries and the role of women leadership venturing into the field of Economics.
Dr. Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary, (ACBF), stressed on the fact that the publication marks an important chapter in the ACBF contribution to the discourse and funding initiatives on gender budgeting.
She made it known that the book not only identifies areas of possible capacity development in support of the development processes on the Continent, but also highlights capacity weaknesses in gender budgeting that need to be addressed by different stakeholders in order to raise the standard of accountability and transparency in budgetary processes.
Drawing on the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) framework, she said the publication further highlights national and sectoral gender budgeting experiences in three African Countries-South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda, to showcase best practice models for African countries.
Dr. Leautier further stressed that gender budgeting represents a special type of policy-making; this is where budgets become effective tools for advancing gender issues.
"The budget, then, is a benchmark against which government is held accountable for its performance in achieving gender equality to ensure that women participate fully and as equals in all sectors of society" she ended.
The contents of the colourful 187-page book are to provide documentation that will increase knowledge and understanding at the governmental and non-governmental levels to allow more deliberate decision-making about the gender-budgeting processes.
The research provides additional information that will substantiate gender-budgeting as an effective mechanism for poverty reduction that could have an impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
The research report, which comprises six sections with the overview on gender-budgeting and its international instruments, also documents applications of gender budgeting by governments and civil societies in South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda.
The best impact of gender budgeting, she admitted, will be attained if it is led by government and driven by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Speaking at the launch of a research book on gender budgeting, "Gender Budgeting As A Tool For Poverty Reduction"- Concepts, Practices & Capacity Implications by the African Women's Development Fund, (AWDF) in collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin said the book, serves as an important tool for determining the situational analysis of women in the countries under study; South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda.
The research was very important, she explained, because without an understanding of whether the position of women has been correctly identified, it is not possible to determine if the policies and programs adequately address the situation of the different kinds of women, men, girls and boys.
Aside this, she added, the book also underscores the very important role women continuously play in gender balancing, provides information on institutions that have mechanisms to address gender budgeting, highlights the commitment various governments have made in gender budgeting, the demonstration of gender budgeting in other countries and the role of women leadership venturing into the field of Economics.
Dr. Frannie Leautier, Executive Secretary, (ACBF), stressed on the fact that the publication marks an important chapter in the ACBF contribution to the discourse and funding initiatives on gender budgeting.
She made it known that the book not only identifies areas of possible capacity development in support of the development processes on the Continent, but also highlights capacity weaknesses in gender budgeting that need to be addressed by different stakeholders in order to raise the standard of accountability and transparency in budgetary processes.
Drawing on the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) framework, she said the publication further highlights national and sectoral gender budgeting experiences in three African Countries-South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda, to showcase best practice models for African countries.
Dr. Leautier further stressed that gender budgeting represents a special type of policy-making; this is where budgets become effective tools for advancing gender issues.
"The budget, then, is a benchmark against which government is held accountable for its performance in achieving gender equality to ensure that women participate fully and as equals in all sectors of society" she ended.
The contents of the colourful 187-page book are to provide documentation that will increase knowledge and understanding at the governmental and non-governmental levels to allow more deliberate decision-making about the gender-budgeting processes.
The research provides additional information that will substantiate gender-budgeting as an effective mechanism for poverty reduction that could have an impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
The research report, which comprises six sections with the overview on gender-budgeting and its international instruments, also documents applications of gender budgeting by governments and civil societies in South Africa, Rwanda and Uganda.
Media Collaboration critical in the achievement of Affirmative Action Policy
The Media has been asked to make discussions on Affirmative Action on Women's participation in political decision-making part of the country's development discourse and not a political issue.
Affirmative action is a policy deliberately designed to create equal opportunity for groups who have been affected negatively from existing institutional and traditional processes and structures.
Speaking at a media sensitisation seminar on Affirmative Action Policy by WiLDAF in Accra, the Executive Director of WiLDAF Ghana, Ms Bernice Sam, decried that since Ghana had not put in place adequate structures to increase women's access to political decision making, the Affirmative Action Policy (AAP) was the temporary measure to address the inequality.
According to her, in spite of the several UN Charters and Conventions signed and ratified by Ghana that calls for between 30 and 40 % female representation at all levels of power and governance it has not happened.
Regardless of this, there were some achievements through the strong mobilization and advocacy role by women or gender-based civil society organizations between 1993 and 2008. She explained that 2009 had not seen much female representation in the political sphere.
"Now there are only 19 women MPs since one passed away' she said. 'It is a sad event in our history because it seems we are not matching our words with action.'
In a related development, the Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, Mrs. Adwoa Kwarteng-Kluvitse has stressed that all forms of affirmative action including quotas must be supported in Ghana.
According to her, quotas are not discriminatory, they rather compensate for the historical exclusion of women from politics while work to change societal attitudes and behaviour is ongoing.
"Worldwide, she noted, quotas are said to have significantly increased women's participation and representation in both elective and appointive political decision-making positions. It can therefore be established in a country's constitution or its electoral law or can be voluntary on the part of political parties or governments."
So far in Ghana, the total number of ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments in 2009 is 75. Out of this 60 are men (80%) and 15 are women (20%).
Eleven women out of 166 were appointed as metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. Out of 25 membership of the Council of State 3 (12%) are women and 22 men (88%).
There is one woman regional minister against 9 men and none on the Government Economic Advisory Council with total membership of 10.
Mr. Frank Bodza of WiLDAF mentioned South Africa, Rwanda, Sweden and The Netherlands as countries that have successfully implemented affirmative action through the quota system and hoped Ghana would do same.
Under its governance programme, he explained WiLDAF Ghana would continue the advocacy to get government's attention to come out with a concrete affirmative action policy for women's participation in politics and governance.
WiLDAF began its campaign on AAP in 2008 and has identified several key stakeholders to engage with, including the media. So far, WiLDAF has developed a model on AAP which will be submitted to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) and the Attorney General's Office as their contribution towards AAP, while hoping that eventually parliament will make it law.
Affirmative action is a policy deliberately designed to create equal opportunity for groups who have been affected negatively from existing institutional and traditional processes and structures.
Speaking at a media sensitisation seminar on Affirmative Action Policy by WiLDAF in Accra, the Executive Director of WiLDAF Ghana, Ms Bernice Sam, decried that since Ghana had not put in place adequate structures to increase women's access to political decision making, the Affirmative Action Policy (AAP) was the temporary measure to address the inequality.
According to her, in spite of the several UN Charters and Conventions signed and ratified by Ghana that calls for between 30 and 40 % female representation at all levels of power and governance it has not happened.
Regardless of this, there were some achievements through the strong mobilization and advocacy role by women or gender-based civil society organizations between 1993 and 2008. She explained that 2009 had not seen much female representation in the political sphere.
"Now there are only 19 women MPs since one passed away' she said. 'It is a sad event in our history because it seems we are not matching our words with action.'
In a related development, the Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, Mrs. Adwoa Kwarteng-Kluvitse has stressed that all forms of affirmative action including quotas must be supported in Ghana.
According to her, quotas are not discriminatory, they rather compensate for the historical exclusion of women from politics while work to change societal attitudes and behaviour is ongoing.
"Worldwide, she noted, quotas are said to have significantly increased women's participation and representation in both elective and appointive political decision-making positions. It can therefore be established in a country's constitution or its electoral law or can be voluntary on the part of political parties or governments."
So far in Ghana, the total number of ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments in 2009 is 75. Out of this 60 are men (80%) and 15 are women (20%).
Eleven women out of 166 were appointed as metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. Out of 25 membership of the Council of State 3 (12%) are women and 22 men (88%).
There is one woman regional minister against 9 men and none on the Government Economic Advisory Council with total membership of 10.
Mr. Frank Bodza of WiLDAF mentioned South Africa, Rwanda, Sweden and The Netherlands as countries that have successfully implemented affirmative action through the quota system and hoped Ghana would do same.
Under its governance programme, he explained WiLDAF Ghana would continue the advocacy to get government's attention to come out with a concrete affirmative action policy for women's participation in politics and governance.
WiLDAF began its campaign on AAP in 2008 and has identified several key stakeholders to engage with, including the media. So far, WiLDAF has developed a model on AAP which will be submitted to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) and the Attorney General's Office as their contribution towards AAP, while hoping that eventually parliament will make it law.
Smuggled textiles still killing industry
Members of the Local Textile Printers Association (LTPA) Association (LTPA) have expressed grave concern about the alarming escalation of illicit trading activities of some Ghanaians and their foreign collaborators in textile prints, which have resulted in an unprecedented low patronage of locally produced fabrics.
These unscrupulous local and foreign traders, according to the LTPA, engage in: smuggling and hence evade duties on their imported products, under invoicing (declaration of lower values of imported goods) and through dumping (disposal of cheap, substandard or inferior products) unto the Ghanaian market.
They also pirate the designs of local printers which are then smuggled through Togo for sale in Ghana. The situation has brought the local textile manufacturing industry to its knees, and unless drastic and far reaching measures are adopted Ghana's local textile manufacturing industry will be lost to history, and with it, its role in employment creation, revenue generation, and a tradition respected across the entire African continent.
The Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) in 2002 estimated that about ?300 billion (old cedis) in potential revenue is lost to the state through textile smuggling.
Currently, with the exception of Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), household names such as Ghana Textiles Printing (GTP), Ghana Textiles Manufacturing Company (GTMC), and Printex have all shut down their spinning and weaving departments due to cheap imports from abroad, especially China.
These defunct sections were said to be employing a chunk of the labour force in the industry. Total local production of textiles which peaked at 130 million metres per annum in the 1970's has dropped to below 39 million metres per annum currently and the labour force in the industry has consequently reduced from 25,000 in the 1970's to less than 3000 as of now.
Spokespersons for LTPA told Public Agenda in Accra about the challenges they go through to get a particular textile design printed.
They revealed that, first a design is produced on paper; it then goes to the Registrar General and paid for, if approved.
It is then taken to the factory where screening and payment is made before printing, with the label of the manufacturer and the initials of the designer boldly imprinted.
"The minimum quantity produced for each print is 250 pieces. You cannot recover your cost with only one print cycle. One will have to repeat the cycle in order to recoup his or her investment. You can do several designs and only one will hit," bemoaned Ms Irene Adevora, a spokeswoman.
She disclosed that the smugglers are very smart in that when a new textile design comes out, in less than a week, they are able to buy a sample, send it to China for reproduction and then smuggle it back to Ghana through Togo.
"We are aware smuggling has existed since time immemorial but we are asking government to protect local industry, or else we will be helping to create jobs for other countries to the detriment of our people. Smugglers do not pay any tax and that if government has any interest to protect jobs, then it should take action".
The Secretary of the LTPA, Ms Lydia Baah, emphasized that Ghana has a heritage and this must be protected.
A joint statement by the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees' Union (TEGLEU) and LTPA on the perennial problem facing the textile industry, appealed to the government to establish a permanent task force comprising representatives of stakeholders namely, government, manufacturers, traders and the trade unions to carry out periodic checks at the sales points of the contraband goods and effect arrest and prosecute culprits as recommended in the Revenue Agencies Governing Board Report adopted in 2003.
They commended government for the swift manner it dealt with the issue of the imported Chinese school uniforms and asked it to do same to the smuggled textile issue, since it would go a long way to revive the local industry and improve the contribution of the sector to the growth of the national economy.
Despite strenuous efforts to hold its own, Ghana's textile industry continues to face serious problems with the situation worsening by the day. "Where lies the fate of tertiary graduates who pursue Industrial Art course with textiles as their option on the labour market as the sector faces total collapse?" asked one trader.
Industry watchers have time and again expressed concern about the collapse of the industry and are now calling for drastic solutions.
Mr. Abraham Koomson of TEGLEU complained that although they have been fighting the issue of smuggled textiles for a long time, the problem still persists and is getting worse each day. Globally, there has been a decline in the performance of the textile sector.
At a meeting last year in Durban, South Africa of union representatives of clothing, textile, footwear and leather workers from ten African countries, including Ghana, it came to light that Africa has lost over 250,000 clothing workers over the past few years.Countries worse affected are Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Swaziland.
The rest include Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Namibia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. The meeting noted that African governments do not have a common approach to issues of trade and investment in textiles and clothing. Trade unionists have proposed a summit in Africa on the future of the textile, clothing and footwear industries with greater participation by trade unions, investors and governments, in order to develop commitments for a common action plan towards the growth of the industry.
These unscrupulous local and foreign traders, according to the LTPA, engage in: smuggling and hence evade duties on their imported products, under invoicing (declaration of lower values of imported goods) and through dumping (disposal of cheap, substandard or inferior products) unto the Ghanaian market.
They also pirate the designs of local printers which are then smuggled through Togo for sale in Ghana. The situation has brought the local textile manufacturing industry to its knees, and unless drastic and far reaching measures are adopted Ghana's local textile manufacturing industry will be lost to history, and with it, its role in employment creation, revenue generation, and a tradition respected across the entire African continent.
The Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) in 2002 estimated that about ?300 billion (old cedis) in potential revenue is lost to the state through textile smuggling.
Currently, with the exception of Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), household names such as Ghana Textiles Printing (GTP), Ghana Textiles Manufacturing Company (GTMC), and Printex have all shut down their spinning and weaving departments due to cheap imports from abroad, especially China.
These defunct sections were said to be employing a chunk of the labour force in the industry. Total local production of textiles which peaked at 130 million metres per annum in the 1970's has dropped to below 39 million metres per annum currently and the labour force in the industry has consequently reduced from 25,000 in the 1970's to less than 3000 as of now.
Spokespersons for LTPA told Public Agenda in Accra about the challenges they go through to get a particular textile design printed.
They revealed that, first a design is produced on paper; it then goes to the Registrar General and paid for, if approved.
It is then taken to the factory where screening and payment is made before printing, with the label of the manufacturer and the initials of the designer boldly imprinted.
"The minimum quantity produced for each print is 250 pieces. You cannot recover your cost with only one print cycle. One will have to repeat the cycle in order to recoup his or her investment. You can do several designs and only one will hit," bemoaned Ms Irene Adevora, a spokeswoman.
She disclosed that the smugglers are very smart in that when a new textile design comes out, in less than a week, they are able to buy a sample, send it to China for reproduction and then smuggle it back to Ghana through Togo.
"We are aware smuggling has existed since time immemorial but we are asking government to protect local industry, or else we will be helping to create jobs for other countries to the detriment of our people. Smugglers do not pay any tax and that if government has any interest to protect jobs, then it should take action".
The Secretary of the LTPA, Ms Lydia Baah, emphasized that Ghana has a heritage and this must be protected.
A joint statement by the Textile, Garment and Leather Employees' Union (TEGLEU) and LTPA on the perennial problem facing the textile industry, appealed to the government to establish a permanent task force comprising representatives of stakeholders namely, government, manufacturers, traders and the trade unions to carry out periodic checks at the sales points of the contraband goods and effect arrest and prosecute culprits as recommended in the Revenue Agencies Governing Board Report adopted in 2003.
They commended government for the swift manner it dealt with the issue of the imported Chinese school uniforms and asked it to do same to the smuggled textile issue, since it would go a long way to revive the local industry and improve the contribution of the sector to the growth of the national economy.
Despite strenuous efforts to hold its own, Ghana's textile industry continues to face serious problems with the situation worsening by the day. "Where lies the fate of tertiary graduates who pursue Industrial Art course with textiles as their option on the labour market as the sector faces total collapse?" asked one trader.
Industry watchers have time and again expressed concern about the collapse of the industry and are now calling for drastic solutions.
Mr. Abraham Koomson of TEGLEU complained that although they have been fighting the issue of smuggled textiles for a long time, the problem still persists and is getting worse each day. Globally, there has been a decline in the performance of the textile sector.
At a meeting last year in Durban, South Africa of union representatives of clothing, textile, footwear and leather workers from ten African countries, including Ghana, it came to light that Africa has lost over 250,000 clothing workers over the past few years.Countries worse affected are Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Swaziland.
The rest include Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Namibia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. The meeting noted that African governments do not have a common approach to issues of trade and investment in textiles and clothing. Trade unionists have proposed a summit in Africa on the future of the textile, clothing and footwear industries with greater participation by trade unions, investors and governments, in order to develop commitments for a common action plan towards the growth of the industry.
Gov't urged to execute Affirmative Action policy on women
A call has gone to the government to review and implement existing affirmative action measures for women.
Gender advocates have asked that government and its agencies, political parties and relevant public and private institutions should take actions that ensure and assure their active commitment to improving the current situation of women's low representation in politics and public appointive positions at all levels.
These, they argue, should be backed by resource provision, institutional support, capacity building and implementation of actions considered critical to achieving the goal of achieving gender equality.
Affirmative action is a policy deliberately designed to create equal opportunity to groups who have not only benefited from existing processes and structures but are affected negatively because of the situation.
Its objective is to provide a means to address a problem which has been consistent over a long period of time such as the low representation of women in politics and public positions.
In spite of the several UN Charters, Convention signed and ratified by Ghana that calls for 30 to 40 % female representation at all levels of power and governance it has not happened.From 1993 until 2008, there have been some achievements through the strong mobilization and advocacy role by women or gender-based civil society organizations.
However, the outcome of the 2008 general elections regarding women's representation sent a strong signal that more work with a different strategy is needed.
According Dr. Beatrix Allah- Mensah of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, it also implied revising the strategy of engagement with the key players including government, political parties and the women, among others.Speaking at a forum by WiLDAF Ghana in collaboration with Women's Manifesto Coalition in Accra on "Model Affirmative Action Policy", Dr. Allah-Mensah stressed that Affirmative Action Policy (AAP) is not synonymous with women advocacy but could be applied to wide range of issues and be targeted at different groups of people including the disabled, ethnic groups, geographical location and identified vulnerable groups.
She noted that in spite of arguments by opponents of AAP that it could be discriminatory and undermines women efforts to demonstrate their competencies, there are even stronger ones in its favour.
"It promotes the training, funding and selection of women candidates, helps increase women's representation and creates a platform for women to concentrate on substantive political issues rather than spending so much time ensuring they get into public and political positions".
Dr. Allah-Mensah added that it helps bring out the competencies and abilities of women and creates a platform for addressing problems regarding unfairness and unequal opportunities. Ghana has signed a number of global conventions and frameworks on gender and women issues.
The slow pace of success and recent political and public events necessitated the drafting of a policy with recommended proposals for discussion by different groups prior to its presentation to government and relevant bodies.
In the short-medium term, she stated that government must among other things strengthen MOWAC and its agencies with technical, financial and logistical support and adopt and implement gender budgeting, designate special fund from public or state funds to support programs to increase women's representation.
"Political parties must re-organize women's wing to be more integrated into the party structure, commit to selecting women to contest a selected number of their safe seats and support to the development of training manual for women leadership".
Dr. Allah-Mensah emphasized that as a long-term strategy there could be consideration for electoral reforms and constitutional amendments, establishment of a Women's Leadership Academy-identify young, promising and interested women for training to serve as a resource pool for future political and public position appointment or election.
According to her, the approach will be incremental and that the proposed affirmative action is not mutually exclusive-they build on each other and will be coordinated with similar actions with the contribution of all stakeholders.
Mr. Frank Bodza of WiLDAF gave a chronology of AAP campaign Activities; 1975: First Women Conference in Mexico to remind the world that discrimination against women continued to be a persistent problem, Ghana in 1975 establish the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), 1985 Nairobi, Kenya World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women and 1995, Beijing Conference, China, which calls on governments to meet a 30% representation of women in political positions He said that since the establishment of Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs in 2002 government appointees in District Assemblies in 2007 was 1956, 1401 men and 555 women, indicating 28%.
"Total number of ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments in 2009 is 75; 60 men (80%) and 15 women (20%), where is the 40%? Only 11 women out of 166 were appointed as metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. Out of 25 membership of the Council of State only 3 (12%) are women and 22 men (88%)."
He added there is only one woman regional minister against 9 men out of 10 and none on the Government Economic Advisory Council with total membership of 10, wondering if there is no women economist in Ghana.
He said the forum was one of the many advocacy activities under WiLDAF Ghana's governance programme, which aims at getting government attention to come out with a concrete affirmative action policy for women's participation in politics and governance.
Gender advocates have asked that government and its agencies, political parties and relevant public and private institutions should take actions that ensure and assure their active commitment to improving the current situation of women's low representation in politics and public appointive positions at all levels.
These, they argue, should be backed by resource provision, institutional support, capacity building and implementation of actions considered critical to achieving the goal of achieving gender equality.
Affirmative action is a policy deliberately designed to create equal opportunity to groups who have not only benefited from existing processes and structures but are affected negatively because of the situation.
Its objective is to provide a means to address a problem which has been consistent over a long period of time such as the low representation of women in politics and public positions.
In spite of the several UN Charters, Convention signed and ratified by Ghana that calls for 30 to 40 % female representation at all levels of power and governance it has not happened.From 1993 until 2008, there have been some achievements through the strong mobilization and advocacy role by women or gender-based civil society organizations.
However, the outcome of the 2008 general elections regarding women's representation sent a strong signal that more work with a different strategy is needed.
According Dr. Beatrix Allah- Mensah of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, it also implied revising the strategy of engagement with the key players including government, political parties and the women, among others.Speaking at a forum by WiLDAF Ghana in collaboration with Women's Manifesto Coalition in Accra on "Model Affirmative Action Policy", Dr. Allah-Mensah stressed that Affirmative Action Policy (AAP) is not synonymous with women advocacy but could be applied to wide range of issues and be targeted at different groups of people including the disabled, ethnic groups, geographical location and identified vulnerable groups.
She noted that in spite of arguments by opponents of AAP that it could be discriminatory and undermines women efforts to demonstrate their competencies, there are even stronger ones in its favour.
"It promotes the training, funding and selection of women candidates, helps increase women's representation and creates a platform for women to concentrate on substantive political issues rather than spending so much time ensuring they get into public and political positions".
Dr. Allah-Mensah added that it helps bring out the competencies and abilities of women and creates a platform for addressing problems regarding unfairness and unequal opportunities. Ghana has signed a number of global conventions and frameworks on gender and women issues.
The slow pace of success and recent political and public events necessitated the drafting of a policy with recommended proposals for discussion by different groups prior to its presentation to government and relevant bodies.
In the short-medium term, she stated that government must among other things strengthen MOWAC and its agencies with technical, financial and logistical support and adopt and implement gender budgeting, designate special fund from public or state funds to support programs to increase women's representation.
"Political parties must re-organize women's wing to be more integrated into the party structure, commit to selecting women to contest a selected number of their safe seats and support to the development of training manual for women leadership".
Dr. Allah-Mensah emphasized that as a long-term strategy there could be consideration for electoral reforms and constitutional amendments, establishment of a Women's Leadership Academy-identify young, promising and interested women for training to serve as a resource pool for future political and public position appointment or election.
According to her, the approach will be incremental and that the proposed affirmative action is not mutually exclusive-they build on each other and will be coordinated with similar actions with the contribution of all stakeholders.
Mr. Frank Bodza of WiLDAF gave a chronology of AAP campaign Activities; 1975: First Women Conference in Mexico to remind the world that discrimination against women continued to be a persistent problem, Ghana in 1975 establish the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), 1985 Nairobi, Kenya World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women and 1995, Beijing Conference, China, which calls on governments to meet a 30% representation of women in political positions He said that since the establishment of Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs in 2002 government appointees in District Assemblies in 2007 was 1956, 1401 men and 555 women, indicating 28%.
"Total number of ministerial and deputy ministerial appointments in 2009 is 75; 60 men (80%) and 15 women (20%), where is the 40%? Only 11 women out of 166 were appointed as metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives. Out of 25 membership of the Council of State only 3 (12%) are women and 22 men (88%)."
He added there is only one woman regional minister against 9 men out of 10 and none on the Government Economic Advisory Council with total membership of 10, wondering if there is no women economist in Ghana.
He said the forum was one of the many advocacy activities under WiLDAF Ghana's governance programme, which aims at getting government attention to come out with a concrete affirmative action policy for women's participation in politics and governance.
Passage of mental health bill crucial to overhaul mental health care
Accra Psychiatric Hospital (APH) is indebted to the tune of GHc3 million. The amount was accumulated over a period of four years on food and other supplies.
As at now, each of the 1,200 patients at the hospital is entitled to 60 pesewas a day.
According to Dr. Akwasi Osei, Acting Chief Psychiatrist of the hospital, the only solution to uplift mental health care in Ghana is the passage of the new bill.
"Currently we are operating with an outmoded law-NRCD 30 of 1972 and that is a major challenge. Consequently there is stigmatization and inadequate human resource. Mental health care is only institution based instead of community based," he lamented.
He added that human rights issues have not been provided for in NRCD 30 of 1972 which has given prayer camp owners a field day to treat supposed mental health patients inhumanely.
He said the new law seeks to overhaul mental health care in Ghana. Under the new law, he said there will be specific provisions for women and children as vulnerable groups.
Speaking at a forum in Accra organised by Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), on Women's Rights and Mental Health, Dr. Osei outlined that the law will decriminalise suicide, ensure that mentally ill can maintain their marriage and mentally ill can exercise their franchise to vote if so determined by their attending psychiatrists.
He challenged mental health advocates in particular to advocate for the creation of complete mental departments and not desks within the Ministry of Health and other institutions. "Make it a top priority agenda.
MOH has focal person on gender and health: that is not enough - we need a deputy minister for women's health," he added.
He explained that there are few psychiatric nurses and doctors, and other mental health workers because mental care is seen as unattractive. "Our psychiatric hospitals are not baby-friendly. A nursing mother will have the baby separated because there is no facility to keep babies. While APH has a VIP ward for men, it has no such ward for women. The insanitary conditions are normally not good for the fragile women."
He said others also see it to be dangerous as some patients sometimes go wild and harm care givers and added that even when this happens compensation and incentives are not forthcoming.
He announced plans to form a coalition to advocate for the passage of the bill.Mental health care in Ghana is concentrated in the south with psychiatric service non-existent in the North. Any serious case has to be sent to the hospital in Accra.
Basic Needs is one of the few NGO working to bring about a lasting change in the lives of mentally ill people around the world. They operate mainly in the Tamale, Upper East, Upper West and Accra.
It's Policy Research Officer, Ms Truelove Antwi Bekoe said her organization has built an innovative approach to the problem that tackles mentally ill people's poverty as well as their illness.
Dubbed, "Model for Mental Health and Development", she said they assist mentally ill people to earn a living after they have been given access to regular community-based treatment. "We also work with communities to overcome stigma and abuse. At the heart of our work is consultation with mentally ill people and the drive to work with them to help them solve their problems."
She added that so far her organization has helped transform the lives of tens of thousands of mentally ill people.
As at now, each of the 1,200 patients at the hospital is entitled to 60 pesewas a day.
According to Dr. Akwasi Osei, Acting Chief Psychiatrist of the hospital, the only solution to uplift mental health care in Ghana is the passage of the new bill.
"Currently we are operating with an outmoded law-NRCD 30 of 1972 and that is a major challenge. Consequently there is stigmatization and inadequate human resource. Mental health care is only institution based instead of community based," he lamented.
He added that human rights issues have not been provided for in NRCD 30 of 1972 which has given prayer camp owners a field day to treat supposed mental health patients inhumanely.
He said the new law seeks to overhaul mental health care in Ghana. Under the new law, he said there will be specific provisions for women and children as vulnerable groups.
Speaking at a forum in Accra organised by Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), on Women's Rights and Mental Health, Dr. Osei outlined that the law will decriminalise suicide, ensure that mentally ill can maintain their marriage and mentally ill can exercise their franchise to vote if so determined by their attending psychiatrists.
He challenged mental health advocates in particular to advocate for the creation of complete mental departments and not desks within the Ministry of Health and other institutions. "Make it a top priority agenda.
MOH has focal person on gender and health: that is not enough - we need a deputy minister for women's health," he added.
He explained that there are few psychiatric nurses and doctors, and other mental health workers because mental care is seen as unattractive. "Our psychiatric hospitals are not baby-friendly. A nursing mother will have the baby separated because there is no facility to keep babies. While APH has a VIP ward for men, it has no such ward for women. The insanitary conditions are normally not good for the fragile women."
He said others also see it to be dangerous as some patients sometimes go wild and harm care givers and added that even when this happens compensation and incentives are not forthcoming.
He announced plans to form a coalition to advocate for the passage of the bill.Mental health care in Ghana is concentrated in the south with psychiatric service non-existent in the North. Any serious case has to be sent to the hospital in Accra.
Basic Needs is one of the few NGO working to bring about a lasting change in the lives of mentally ill people around the world. They operate mainly in the Tamale, Upper East, Upper West and Accra.
It's Policy Research Officer, Ms Truelove Antwi Bekoe said her organization has built an innovative approach to the problem that tackles mentally ill people's poverty as well as their illness.
Dubbed, "Model for Mental Health and Development", she said they assist mentally ill people to earn a living after they have been given access to regular community-based treatment. "We also work with communities to overcome stigma and abuse. At the heart of our work is consultation with mentally ill people and the drive to work with them to help them solve their problems."
She added that so far her organization has helped transform the lives of tens of thousands of mentally ill people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)