Young Peoples and Human Rights Ghana

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