Maiden conference of the Youth for Human Rights Africa launched

Youth for Human Rights Africa (YoHRA), a non-governmental human rights organisation, has launched its maiden annual conference in Accra to create awareness and empower the citizenry to demand their fundamental human rights.

The conference, which was on the theme: “Promoting fundamental human rights: A catalyst for accelerated socio-economic development in a free and just society,” was scheduled to take place on December 11 to coincide with the United Nation’s commemoration of the International Human Rights Day which falls on December 10 each year.
The Deputy Executive Secretary of YoHRA, Dr Angela Lamptey, launched the conference last Wednesday.

The President of YoHRA, Mr Francis-Xavier Sosu, said it was important that people knew their fundamental human rights so that they could demand them.He said although crucial for the holistic development of every individual, the rights of many people, particularly the vulnerable, continued to be violated, leaving them in distress and impoverishment due to the lack of awareness and knowledge of their fundamental human rights.

Human rights

Fundamental human rights are meant to be automatic for everybody and not a privilege to be owned by governments, religious or any human institution, therefore, the provision of quality education and health, among others, are expected to be mandatory provisions for national development.

Mr Sosu said the goal of YoHRA was to create awareness and promote the observance of fundamental human rights in Ghana and Africa by the use of national, regional,  African and the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Instruments, and empower the underprivileged in society through civic education, research, publication, as well as follow-up on reports on abuses across the continent.It also aimed at inspiring the youth to become advocates for tolerance and peace through education on the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.YoHRA’s focus, he said, was particularly on advocating against human rights abuses of women, children and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in society through strategic litigation and public interest action, and would work with international organisations and affiliates involved in human rights promotion and advocacy in carrying out trainings for promoters across Africa.

Collaboration

Mr Sosu called for stakeholder collaboration in advocacy and education against the numerous human rights abuses in society.

The Director in Charge of Human Rights at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Dr Isaac Annan, said it was important for the citizenry to be well exposed to the details of the African Charter and other international Instruments so that they could hold all state institutions rather than politicians accountable for any violations.He said Ghana had ratified all the major Human Rights Treaties without any reservations, yet the country faced numerous challenges in their implementation at the national level, and it would only take massive public education and sustained advocacy with the youth as leaders, to hold the right people accountable and push for the right things to be done. — GNA