Addressing Community Challenges: The Role of Stakeholders
Addressing Community Challenges: The Role of Stakeholders
MDGs and Rights Sensitization Workshop
9 March 2010, Tema Mantse Palace
Co-facilitated by CHRAJ and Abibimman Foundation
Summary & Observations
Attendance from community members was somewhat low, but CHRAJ gave a thorough presentation and participants asked many important and relevant questions. One participant mentioned the location seemed unusual, but Nii Adjei Kraku II seemed happy to host, and the hall in the palace was ideal for allowing a large number of people to speak and be heard.
The main representative sent by CHRAJ was Attoh Breboh, a public education officer who the director asked to take time off from his leave. He was joined by three other representatives, and he spoke about the origins of the legal framework for human rights after World War II, the universality of human rights for every person, and some specific human rights enshrined in Ghana's 1992 Constitution, such as the right to health, protection of personal liberties, and now the rights of disabled persons.
Due to some lack of preparation, Abibimman's presentation on the MDGs was very short. Participants seemed eager to hear about specific obligations of stakeholders like the TMA and TDC to ensure their rights to shelter and employment were being fulfilled, but CHRAJ's presentation did not focus on these areas very much. Of the expected 60-100 participants, only about 30 came, but almost all were engaged and eager to participate.
Minutes
CHRAJ Presentation
The morning is running late, and although participants are still arriving and Nii has another meeting to attend, Ken decides the meeting must finally start at 10 o'clock. He says a short prayer and introduces the program for the day and the CHRAJ representatives, and Chris introduces the themes of the diagnosis and sensitization project, and thanks everyone for coming.
Attoh asks what are some of the rights we are entitled to. 'To eat, isn't it? To sleep. What else do we need, that we can say are our basic needs? Water, but not contaminated, right?' He says that the idea of human rights contains some important basic concepts. They are based on respect and dignity. 'If I respect human beings, I will put everything in place for them not to suffer. If I let my bathwater flow through the community and mosquitoes breed in it, am I respecting the rights of others?'
He explains that human rights are inherent to everyone. There is a lot of discussion in Ga. He continues in English that they are a natural or permanent feature. 'Anyone who is thirsty is entitled to water. It cannot be taken away from us. That is why it is a crime when it is taken away. We can't say that people from this area are not entitled to shelter or work. They are human beings. They have to work. But because poverty has fallen on us, government and corporations have ignored some of their obligations to us. There is a lot of discussion in Ga.
Attoh talks about the origins of the UN Declaration on Human Rights after the indignities of the Second World War. Since then, he adds, a significant number of legal instruments have emerged around the world to ensure that they are fulfilled, like the 1992 Constitution. These include:
Right to life
Protection of personal liberties
Equality before the law
Right to education, health, work
Freedom of thought, religion, and belief
(He makes a comment about allowing 'positive religion' and also asks people what they think of same-sex marriage)
Rights of disabled persons
Property rights of spouses
Attoh discusses what political rights are, and what economic, social, cultural, environmental and developmental rights are. He defines development as improvement of the scale of well-being. He explains the human right to a safe and healthy environment. Health is social social, physical, and mental well-being of persons. It requires government and public authorities to put in place policy and action plans to make health care available to all citizens. This includes the right to security in case of unemployment, disability, or other factors beyond their control. Health is a fundamental right indisposable for the enjoyment of other rights. He talks about seeing bola and feces in Community 3 when CHRAJ and Abibimman visited last year, and the threat they pose to human health. It is the responsibility of the the state, he says, to ensure that all citizens have an equal chance to live a long and healthy life.
We have a right to food, he says. But if you have stomach ulcers, you can't enjoy that right. Health policies or programs can promote or impact on ill-health and vulnerability. There is a conversation in Ga about the right to good health without any discrimination, and bilharzia. This is connected, he adds, to the right access safe food, containing all the ingredients for a balanced diet.
Housing with good ventilation and other basic facilities like toilets is also a basic right, Attoh continues. He talks in Ga about ventilation and heat. If you go to Southern Ghana, if there is a fire, no one can access it because of overcrowded construction, he says. He talks about the impact of flying toilets on food and water, and about working in a safe and healthy environment. He discusses the right access to health education, especially reproductive education.
Fulfilling the right to health includes providing services to ensure that people enjoy the right to health in practice. 'Do we enjoy the right to health in practice?,' he asks. 'Abibimman's program will empower you to act to make sure it is met.' He tells some funny stories in Ga. One involves a briefcase, and it gets a lot of people laughing. Sometimes state policies interfere with health, he says, by creating conditions for bodily harm and mortality. He tells a story in Ga about a donkey, a moto, and a hospital.
One of the participants, an old woman, bows her head, tired.
He discusses common ways that the state violates the right to health – the lack of provision of facilities, shelter, clean water, and the exclusion of citizens from health-related decisions. Individuals can deprive others of this right too, he adds. Every citizen is entitled to quality, accessible, and affordable services. Offering these things doesn't mean a poor state has to bankrupt itself by providing expensive services, however.
He tells another story in Ga, and a few people begin to drift out of the room.
There is such a thing as a right to safe environment, he explains. Man is both creator and holder of the environment, he says. Natural and man-made aspects both contribute to human well-being. A poor environment to live in, with bola and mosquitoes everywhere, violates the right to live a health life with dignity. The fundamental right to life is endangered by soil degradation, hazardous waste, deforestation, and contaminated drinking water, he says. This is connected to the right to participation in policies affecting lives in our communities. Community decision-making prevents wasteful projects like markets that politicians think people need, but are really a low community priority.
Attoh mentions the right to share in benefits of scientific progress, and the right to information. He and Ken discuss the Freedom of Information Act, which has not yet been passed. Even without the act, he asks, shouldn't people be entitled to basic health information? They discuss the difference between civil servants giving out information and making reproductive health information available.
Rights-based approaches to environmental health issues include an emphasis on information, participation, access and justice, Attoh says. 'The legitimacy of decisions becomes less problematic when people participate,' he adds. 'International petition procedures help keep governments accountable for severe pollution that affects human health and well-being. Problems may be caused by corporations, but failures are often on the part of states lacking monitoring capacity and the will to act.
'It is time to recognize that those who pollute the environment are not just committing crimes against nature, they are violating some basic human rights,' says Attoh. 'Climate change is one of the most serious challenges to realization of human rights every found. Human rights must be integrated into policies and programs to address climate change. Climate change is already affecting livelihoods of communities around the globe. Action today is crucial to prevent runaway climate change and its destructive effects.'
'Article 11 of the Constitution sets out responsibilities we have as citizens to respect the rights of others,' he explains. (For example, not polluting a river to catch one fish for your own selfish needs). 'We have to evaluate our activities – are we cutting down trees for firewood and charcoal? If we don't stop our actions, we will face the consequences.'
The state needs to create the enabling environment for people to participate in the economy, he says. But if we pollute our environment so much that it needs to be cleaned out (like the Chemu Lagoon), we take resources away from important tasks like job creation. So we must act well, he says, and generate alternative sources of sustainable livelihoods. 'We need to create an enabling environment to pursue other jobs besides fishing.'
Open forum
Ken steps up to talk about the MDGs, and their origin, and the different definitions of poverty they describe (lack of education, for example). He adds that the government has pledged to meet the MDGs by 2015. He also discusses how they are affected by the death of the chicken, rice and tomato industries because of cheaper imports, the building of the girl child at school, and increasing reproductive health.
'Will we be able to achieve the MDGs?' Ken asks. 'We all have responsibilities.' He then invites people to ask questions in any language.
Someone here as a clan representative asks a question in Ga. Attoh answers, explaining something about CHRAJ's role, and how they decide which claims to pursue, because they have limited powers and resources. This leads to a discussion about their ability to bring complaints to the Environmental Protection Agency.
A young man asks how often the CHRAJ office is open to the public. Attoh answers they are open from 8.30 to 4.00, and are located by the SSNIT Clinic. Sending complaints to the EPA is sometimes a slow process, he says, because they involve heavy costs. The man still looks a little unclear.
Christian, a unit assemblyman from Newtown, asks something about toilet flow and pollution, and the TMA.
Antoinette Kansangbata, from Community 3, asks in Twi what the situation is with the structure in their community, and the car park. Jerry, another representative from CHRAJ, says there is a big difference between using an entertainment complex and living permanently in the area, and residents there need to think seriously about issues like quality of housing that will not be solved by allowing them to live on the land. The state has failed to fulfil its need to build housing for people, Attoh says. If it doesn't do this, it should make provision for people to build their homes. Jerry adds that affordable housing is rarely available to those who need it most. Attoh mentions that several housing-related human rights cases have been brought before the South African government, and perhaps it's time someone found a lawyer to start a case in Ghana.
Albert Kokoroko, from Newtown, asks about street children out of school. As human rights are concerned, what should be done about kids who just hang around with their girlfriends or boyfriends and so on, he asks. This is partly the result of the bad economy, and partly parental neglect, says Attoh. CHRAJ does sex education, but something bigger is needed.
A man asks about 'defilement': young girls walking around at night. It is disturbing the fishermen and the community, he says. They want an organized crew of community members and policemen to educate and maybe help address these challenges. Communities need strong laws in order to develop, Attoh responds. Maybe the traditional authorities can set up some good by-laws to deal with this.
Moses, from Newtown, says 'With regard to work. Ghana has discovered oil but most workers on the barges are Nigerian. What role is CHRAJ playing to stop this exodus?' The answer comes in Ga, something about needing to petition CHRAJ about passes.
Somebody asks a question in Ga, and gets applause.
Somebody asks a question about why CHRAJ can't prosecute.
There are closing remarks from Ken and Chris, including an invitation to be consulted during the diagnosis program, and Nii arrives to deliver a small speech. There is a closing prayer, and refreshments are served.