By: Patience Sewurah | Voltaonlinegh.com |
Human Right is a right that everyone is entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political affiliation, nationality, social status among others.
The question is, does everyone or every citizen enjoy this fundamental human rights?
We live in a society, Ghana for example, where women and children are not allowed to do certain things based on some cultural and traditional norms that people still hold on to. Also, persons living with disabilities get discriminated for no fault of theirs but for their disability.
Despite all the human rights provisions in the 1992 that every Ghanaian citizen is entitled to vulnerable groups including women and children, persons with disabilities, lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersexual (LGBTIs) and albinos continue to have their rights abused in our various communities.
Although the Constitution guarantees rights to freedom of expression and of assembly to Ghanaian citizens, these fundamental rights of LGBTI people are actively denied them making them targets of physical and violent attacks.
There had been some media reports of such discriminatory acts such as kicking out young gay people from their homes among others.
Government of Ghana has a responsibility especially after it has committed itself at the international stage to promote the rights of every citizen (including LGBTIs) to strengthen institutions in charge of human rights issues such as Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Social welfare, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), etc to get to the defense of such vulnerable groups as well as carry out a thorough public education on the rights of every citizen in the society.
As a Journalist and a Human Rights Defender, I say let us all come together to protect the vulnerable and the less privileged in our society for a prosperous future.
NB: Writer is a Broadcast Journalist
Source: www.voltaonlinegh.com
