The German Ambassador (l) and others on the high table
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, has called on President Akufo-Addo to use Ghana’s nomination to the United Nations Security Council as a tool to mount pressure on Russia to stop the war in Ukraine, as well as the promotion of human rights.
He firmly believes that Ghana would make a lot of difference by stepping forward to speak against President Vladimir Putin and his army.
H.E. Krull made the appeal at the POS Foundation preparation for the review of Ghana’s human rights record under the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UN UPR) mechanism for 2023 in Accra last week.
The Ambassador argued that the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Mr. Putin undermined international law and pushing global economies into recession, and Ghana was not an exception, saying “the best programme for economic recovery for Ghana is to convince Mr. Putin to stop his terrible war and send Russian troops home. This will not only be a big push for Ghana, but for the global economy.”
He also advised the country to intensify the promotion of its internal rule of law and protection of human rights, as essential components of democracy. H.E. Krull said the promotion of the rule of law would attract international investors to the country to support its economic development.
In his estimation, human rights were fundamental, as “they must not be negotiable, not even in time of economic crisis. And I would like to stress this point, especially because I believe, maybe I’m coming too much from the business side, that you should not underestimate the importance of respect for human rights and rule of law for the business community and the capacity of the government to attract international investment for a long time.”
The Principal State Attorney, Nana Abena Breya Okyere, on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Attorney General (A-G), said Ghana had made some gains, particularly with the passage of the Right to Information Law, and Narcotic Control Act to address drug use, as a public health concern and not from the angle of criminality. In addition to this, she said work was ongoing to finalise the bill on Non-Custodial Sentencing.
On the UN UPR, she said the country had submitted its report to the UN Human Rights Council and was ready for a review in 2023.
In furtherance to the country’s obligation to the UN, Madam Abena Okyere said the Office of the Attorney General had a dedicated office for the management of the UPR and other UN reporting mechanisms in Ghana.
“The office was set up with the desired aim of enhancing continuous reporting, monitoring of recommendations, and progress made by the state with regard to the implementation of the said recommendation,” she stated.
Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director of POS Foundation, indicated that Ghana needed to do more to improve its human rights records, and by this it must move away from just being a signatory to international treaties to implementing the tenets of the agreements.
He said it was clear that Ghana’s performance on human rights had not been encouraging, as most of the recommendations it received in the UN UPR 2008 were repeated in 2012 and 2017.
“We are not progressing that much. Ghana is living on past glories of democracy and rule of law, but currently, the human rights records, if not retrogressing is becoming stagnant,” he added.
He further added that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) would keep the government on its toes from shelving recommendations it voluntarily accepted to implement.
The UN UPR
The UN UPR was introduced in 2006 by the UN General Assembly as part of reforms to promote human rights in the world following the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council. Under the UPR mechanisms, UN member-states are required to peer-reviewed and examine each other’s human rights records over a five year period.
Countries must respond not only to all recommendations made by their peers, but also to provide data on the implementation of recommendations it has previously accepted, including voluntary commitments.
The 2023 review, marks the fourth time Ghana had submitted a report for an assessment. The POS also submitted a cluster of various human rights-based organizations’ joint reports to the UN UPR, which is independent of the government’s submission.
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