Young Peoples and Human Rights Ghana

Debating Silence by Michelle Dobrovolny on August 4, 2010 · in IYIP Rights Media Internships,Malawi The posters created by local Malawians in a clandestine campaign for gay rights. The caller on the other end of the line would only dance around the issue, never daring to explicitly state his purpose: “Are you the Canadian reporter?” “Um, possibly. Who are you?” “You want to know something?” “That depends. Are you Mwanajuma’s* friend?” “Maybe. What is it you want to know?” It felt like I was arranging a drug deal. Actually, I was trying to find a gay Malawian who could speak, even anonymously, about his or her experiences in a country in which two gay men were recently sentenced – and subsequently released following international outcry – to 14 years of hard labour for their relationship. This cryptic phone call was about as far as I got. Homosexuality, treated in Malawi as a criminal matter, has been pushed into dark corners where people hardly dare to utter the word gay. There is no d...

Frederick Asiamah28 March 2011 Pressure is mounting on Ghana to introduce Biotech/GM [Genetically Modified] Crops into its agricultural framework and allow for the production of biotech foods on commercial scale. If Ghana accepts, then she will no longer grow crops like cotton, maize and cowpea or even banana using the traditional farming methods and waiting for the plant to mature through a natural cycle. Rather, through laboratory manipulations "improved varieties" of crops could be developed by shortening the maturity cycle of the plant, as well as, introduced certain "desired traits" such as drought and pest resistance into the plant. The latest call on Ghana to accept GM crops was made last week by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) at the launch of the "Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2010" report authored by Clive James, Founder and Chair of International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (I...

Posted on Wednesday 20 April 2011 - 11:00 Emmanuel Padi, AfricaNews reporter in Accra, Ghana The 2010 Report on Human Rights in Ghana by the U.S State Department has cited the Ghana Police Service for using brutal force on suspected criminals as well as prolonged detention of suspects. It also cited the service for corruption by setting up barriers to extort money from motorists. DSP Cephas Arthur, acting Public Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service has admitted that the Police administration is plagued with personnel who extort monies from the citizenry but insisted the situation could not be generalized to mean the entire administration is corrupt. DSP Arthur was reacting to the human rights abuses and corruption allegations on a private radio station in Accra and stated that the Police Service accepts some aspects of the report as the true reflection of what pertains in reality but equally rejected other aspects because those were not representative of the truth. He further...

Safety Tips How not to get beaten up and robbed Take great care when meeting people on line. Below are some of the things scammers have said to people when arranging to meet them: Bring your phone (because they want to steal it) Dress sexy / wear your good clothes, etc (because they will strip you naked and sell your clothes) Come alone (so that there is no one to help you) Come to Tema! Sometimes they might text you a sexy message and ask you to respond. If you text back something sexual they can use that as evidence against you with the police. Yahoo chats and your online photos can also be used as evidence. Also get suspicious if the person is in too much of a rush to meet you. Identity Theft If you do not take care people can use your pictures, ID or name in order to scam others. Never ask someone to contact you through a friend’s phone. There have been several reports of people being scammed by the person’s friend. You can be held responsible. If someone asks you to contact them t...

Written by Andrea Savarino Wednesday, 20 April 2011 10:40 Gold-based Drug May Pave the Way to a Cure for AIDS A new breakthrough in AIDS research is reported by an International group in the journal AIDS, the leading scientific publication in the field. Rome, April 20, 2011 - For Immediate Release- Using a compound containing gold and approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, researchers (from the Italian Institute of Health, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Florida, and Bioqual, Maryland) have been able to hit the hidden stock of HIV which cannot be targeted by current antiretroviral therapies. Similarly to the dark matter in a galaxy, in this stock the virus is of course physically present but in a form that can hardly be measured precisely and cannot be targeted by drugs or the immune system. The larger this “dark stock”, the more difficult it is for the immune system to keep the infection under control. In the new study, conduced in...

Pupil Teacher Nabbed for Attempted Robbery 20 April 2011 ____________________________________ A twenty-three- year old Pupil Teacher at the Heaven Gate Academy has been arrested by the Accra Regional Police for attempted robbery, and is currently in police custody. The suspect, Michael Gamali, a resident of Christian Village, a suburb of Accra, was arrested on Sunday April 17, 2011, at about 4:30pm, when he attempted to rob a foreigner in the company of two others, Alex and Anane. Briefing The Chronicle in Accra Yesterday, the Accra Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Emmanuel Frank Adufati said on April 16, 2011, the victim, a Philippine national, 26 year old Joselito Tingson, an Information Technologist at Edmark, who works in Togo, arrived in Ghana to visit one of the officials of the company. According to the Crime Officer, on arrival, the victim, who has been friends with Alex on the Internet via chatting, barely two months ago called to inform him about his visit to Accra. He ...

Executive Director of care givers and advocacy group - Ark Foundation, Angela Dwamena Aboagye is calling for special attention for the lady who was sexually molested by students of the University of Ghana on suspicion of being a criminal. The victim, Amina Haruna told Joy News that but for the intervention and care by her grandmother, she would have committed suicide. She feels rejected by society as her fiancé has also deserted her and revoked plans to marry her. She was sexually molested by some students of the Mensah Sarbah Hall annex B who accused her of theft. Angela Dwamena Aboagye told Joy News Amina needs professional help at this critical time in her life. She said the victim has shown clear signs of trauma and must be given help. Even though she is all for the investigation and subsequent prosecution of culprits involved, she noted that mental and psychological health of the victim must first be taken into consideration. Meanwhile university authorities have announced the sta...