Young Peoples and Human Rights Ghana

The Management of Takoradi Polytechnic has faulted Daily Graphic's reportage on the dismissal of a Lecturer accused of forcing students into lesbianism. According to them, the Paper without any proof concluded that many students have been converted into lesbians. It also challenged the Paper’s claim that, female students were being denied deserving examination marks for disregarding the lesbian lecturer’s sexual advances. The school’s Management is therefore demanding a retraction of these statements and an apology from the Daily Graphic for harming the Polytechnic’s reputation. The following is the Polytechnic’s full statement: The attention of the Management of Takoradi Polytechnic has been drawn to newspaper publications and radio broadcasts concerning the dismissal of Miss. Sheba Quartey, Senior Instructor at the Department of Fashion Design and Technology of the Polytechnic and wishes to react as follows: -The Polytechnic took the decision to dispense with services of Miss. Qu

May 28, 2011 at 1:37pm A Mathematics teacher at Adissadel College (ADISCO) in Cape Coast has been dismissed by the school authorities for sodomising some of the students. The gay teacher, Richard Atta Panyin, was alleged to have abused six students of the school but only one of them was bold enough to reveal his ordeal to the authorities. The victim (name withheld) is said to have fallen sick, and when he was interrogated by doctors at the hospital where he had been sent, he unravelled the Maths teacher's unholy activities. According to an impeccable source at the school, Panyin, who had previously taught at St Augustine's College, had been sacked for a similar offence in his previous school and later relocated to ADISCO in late 2010. It said the activities of Panyin, who is married with three children, came to light when the sick student identified him to the doctor attending to him, who in turn reported the teacher to the ADISCO authorities. It indicated that Panyin appeared

May 30, 2011 at 8:26am 2000 homosexuals registered in Western Region The Western Regional HIV and AIDS Focal Person, Dr. Ronald Sowah, has announced that 2000 people have officially been registered as homosexuals in the region. He has, therefore, charged health workers in the region not to discriminate against them when they visit the various health facilities with health complications for treatment. “Dispense health services to them without prejudice to their work because it is their fundamental human right to be taken care of when they are sick, “he said. Dr Sowah was addressing over 200 health workers drawn from the 17 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Western region at a day’s workshop on “Focus Region Project” in Takoradi. The workshop, which was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was aimed at training health workers to be abreast with the basic facts about HIV and AIDS, as well as manage post exposure prophylaxis of blood

Evangelist Jailed 20yrs Posted on May 27, 2011 Evangelist Kwabena Adomako A 25-year-old evangelist in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in hard labour for forcibly having sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old girl in a school. Kwabena Adomako, a self-styled preacher of the gospel who preaches on repentance at open spaces in the business district of the city, defiled the minor (name withheld) in the public place at about 7:30 pm on May 10, 2011. A Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by D.P.W. Amedior jailed Adomako, a native of Apitiso, a community near Obuasi in the Ashanti region, after pleading guilty to a charge of defilement. The sentence, according to the court, was to serve as a deterrent to other men in society who thoughtlessly raped and defiled girls. Prosecuting, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Doris Amewu said the victim lived with her mother at Asafo in Kumasi whilst the convict lived at Amakom. Adomako is a member

Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Anna Bossman has resigned. She was said to have tendered in her resignation letter to the presidency yesterday. Ms. Bossman confirmed her retirement to the media and said her decision to quit CHRAJ was to enable her to pursue “other interests”. She said it was the “right time” for her to move on and the “right thing” to do. “I wanted to do other things…At a certain age you decide to move on…I will work at other places, do human rights work,” she told Citi Fm. Speculations are rife that Ms Bossman quit the commission because of her inability to secure confirmation as the substantive boss of CHRAJ after acting in that capacity for a couple of times. After Justice Emile Short’s resignation last year December, it was widely speculated that Ms. Bossman would take over as Commissioner of CHRAJ but sources say a High Court judge has been appointed as the new commissioner and that might have triggered Ms.

New Toolkit on HIV and Human Rights Advocacy for Men Who Have Sex with Men   Dear all,   The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) is pleased to announce the official launch of the new Speaking Out Advocacy Toolkit , a training-of-trainers designed to support grassroots activists in the development and implementation of rights-based advocacy projects.  Focusing specifically on men who have sex with men (MSM) and HIV, the toolkit addresses key issues for this population, including stigma and discrimination, service provision for MSM, fund raising for MSM projects, working in hostile environments, and United Nations Human Rights mechanisms.    First piloted with 23 activists from 14 different countries at the International AIDS Conference in July 2010, the toolkit emphasizes a participatory approach.  Aiming to foster engaged, dynamic discussions between trainers and participants, the toolkit includes a large number of exercises, enhanced by detailed activity descriptions and handouts.

Authorities at the Takoradi Polytechnic in the Western Region have dismissed a female lecturer who allegedly attempted to coerce some female students of the school into lesbianism. The beleaguered lecturer Sheeba Quartey is alleged to have threatened to fail the students in on-going examinations, if they refused to acquiesce to her lascivious demands. Joy News’ Western Regional correspondent Kweku Owusu Peprah said Madam Quartey has denied the allegation and has threatened to seek legal redress to overturn the dismissal. According to Owusu Peprah, one of the students who she (Quartey) has allegedly been making sexual advances at reported the issue to her parents living abroad. A plan was hatched, and a conversation in which the lecturer made to the lady was recorded and presented to the school authorities as evidence. The school’s disciplinary committee, convinced by the gathered evidence, decided to sack Sheeba Quartey on Tuesday. Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

TAC and partners tell SA government to provide leadership on HIV/AIDS ahead of crucial UN High Level meeting The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), World AIDS Campaign (WAC), the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), and SECTION27 last week issued a joint letter to the South African government, including President Jacob Zuma, calling on the country to provide critical leadership in ensuring increased access to HIV services ahead of a crucial United Nations High Level meeting on HIV/AIDS.   Next month's UN meeting in New York (June 8-10) will pave the way for the next decade of the international HIV/AIDS response. The meeting comes at a time when the world has seen both unprecedented scientific gains proving the benefits of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and mounting threats to HIV programmes through persistent funding cuts.   UN Member States are already shying away from committing to treatment targets des

The former head of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Dr. Justice Emile Short has warned that Ghanaians cannot be complacent with the prevailing peaceful political atmosphere as the country can be plunged into political turmoil if care is not taken. Dr. Emile Short who went on compulsory retirement in December last year said the lessons learnt whiles serving on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania on the Rwandan genocide proves that any country which fails to manage its political differences properly can easily face such political unrest - as witnessed by Rwanda - despite the level of tranquility in the country. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show with Bernard Nassara Saibu, Dr. Emile Short said “we cannot be complacent. Conflict can erupt without any notice whatsoever. These were people who were living side by side in peace – Hutus and Tutsi – and yet within a flash the genocide started and within a matter of three mon

Aundaray Guess Program Manager, Gay Men of African Descent   http://blogs.poz.com/aundarayguess/2011/05/the_cost_of_having_h.html   I recently had a conversation with a young man who was recently diagnosed as having HIV. For his privacy I'll call him John. He lived here in Brooklyn and was 22 years of age. Upon hearing him having the disease and being able to relate to him as I had it at a young age, my main concern was his state of being and how he was handling the news.   To my surprise he was nonchalant about it. In fact what he told me next shook me more than knowing he was infected. He told me that he didn't mind having the virus because just like his friends he could now get benefits from the city.   In his mind he saw having HIV as an advantage and a easy access to housing, medical care, transportation and other benefits that other agencies provide for those living with HIV. It was like he had hit the jackpot.   I had heard about this new trend but there ha

Inside: Funding for new children's environmental health equity project in Canada, a call to join our new research portal and more ... Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser . NEW PROJECT CEHE receives funding for knowledge translation in  children's environmental health equity We are very excited to announce our new project to address children's environmental health inequities in urban settings. Working with the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (CPCHE), and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), we will host a national training program to support collaborative research and action among research, policy, and community leaders.  Our goal is to support diverse knowledge exchange and the bridging of sectoral divides in order to better understand and respond to community needs to address children's environmental health inequities. This project is

Inside: Funding for new children's environmental health equity project in Canada, a call to join our new research portal and more ... Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser . NEW PROJECT CEHE receives funding for knowledge translation in  children's environmental health equity We are very excited to announce our new project to address children's environmental health inequities in urban settings. Working with the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and the Environment (CPCHE), and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), we will host a national training program to support collaborative research and action among research, policy, and community leaders.  Our goal is to support diverse knowledge exchange and the bridging of sectoral divides in order to better understand and respond to community needs to address children's environmental health inequities. This project is