Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, the Deputy Attorney General, has asked traditional leaders to make queen mothers a part of all decision-making processes.
He said Article 277 of the 1992 Constitution defined a Chief with the mention of a Queen mother, hence, restricting their participation in decision-making processes was a violation of their rights.
Article 277 states: “Chief means a person, who, hailing from the appropriate family and lineage, has been validly nominated, elected or selected and enstooled, enskinned or installed as a chief or queen mother in accordance with the relevant customary law and usage.”
Mr Yeboah made the call at the commemoration of the 2023 Universal Human Rights Day organised by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Accra on Monday.
The commemoration is on the theme: “The 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Implications for Human Rights Protection in Ghana”.
The Deputy Attorney General said fundamental human rights meant press freedom, respect for human dignity and freedom of expression for all.
Quoting late President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, he said: “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”
It was, therefore, essential to inculcate the essence of upholding human rights and empathy of individuals regardless of race, origin, political opinion, colour, creed, gender or any other status in all humans, he said.
Speaking on corporate responsibility in respecting human rights, Mr Yeboah asked corporate entities to adopt effective and efficient remedies like apologies, restitutions and compensations for those they denied access to enjoy their rights by their operations.
Dr Ken Ashigbey, the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, emphasised the rising issues of disregarding press freedom.
“When you have a case in which my colleague from multimedia has been broken by the police themselves and nothing happens to them, then we should be worried. The culture of silence is very dangerous.”
He said it was the media that was charged by the Constitution to uphold the accountability and responsibility of the state and must be respected in their operations.
Dr Ashigbey also underscored the need to protect vulnerable and marginalised groups like Persons with Disability, Persons living with HIV and Tuberculosis and the aged.
He called on Parliament to, as a matter of urgency pass acts that forbade illegal mining and others that harmed biodiversity and forest reserves.
“This will mean revoking the environmental protection Li 2462 that empowers the President to give an approval to a mining company to undertake a mining activity in a globally significant biodiversity in the national interest.
“We should not put the power that protects the biodiversity of the state in the hands of one person,” he added.
Mr Joseph Whittal, Commissioner, CHRAJ, said Ghana had to do more to improve her rankings on the Press Freedom Index.
“Indeed, Journalists in Ghana must feel free to do their work without fear of being attacked or harmed,” he said.
The wanton destruction of the environment and the pollution of water bodies due to ‘galamsey’ activities, he said, must also be fought head-on with more urgency irrespective of who was involved.
Mr Whittal admonished business owners, both public and private, to operate legally while respecting the rights of all persons who would be affected by their operations.
“Human rights due diligence must be a pre-requisite for the establishment of businesses. It is my hope that when the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights is adopted next year, it will provide more impetus for the regulation of activities of businesses in line with human rights principles,” he said.
GNA
