Ghana must help end Russia-Ukraine war — German Ambassador
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, has urged Ghana to use its Presidency of the United Nations Security Council to promote human rights and also help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
An end to the war in Ukraine, he said, would be a big push for the global economic recovery efforts and also help Ghana to resolve its current economic challenges.
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He said the war in Ukraine was having a negative impact on all countries, a situation which had ravaged economies and continue to reduce economic gains after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The best programme for economic recovery for Ghana is to convince Mr Putin to stop his terrible war and send Russian troops home. This will not only be a big push for Ghana’s economy, but for the global economy,” he said.
He lauded Ghana for taking a clear stance to voice out against the war in Ukraine and also standing up for human rights as part of its membership of the UN Security Council.
Event
Mr Krull was speaking at an event in Accra today to assess Ghana’s human rights record in preparation for the review of the country’s human rights under the UN Universal Periodic Review (UN UPR) mechanism in 2023.
It was organised by the POS Foundation, a civil society organisation (CSO), with support from the UN Ghana Office and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and was on the theme, “Diplomacy Meets Human Rights on Ghana’s Record; UPR is a Process, Not an Event”.
The event brought together CSOs working on human rights, institutions that promote human rights and policy makers to assess human rights in the country as a precursor to the assessment of the country’s human rights under the UN UPR mechanism.
UN UPR
The UN UPR was introduced in 2006 by the UN General Assembly as part of reforms to promote human rights in the world following the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council.
Under the UPR mechanisms, UN member countries are peer-reviewed and examined on their entire human rights record every five years.
Countries must respond not only to all recommendations made by its peers, but also to provide data on the implementation of recommendations it has previously accepted, including voluntary commitments.
Ghana has been reviewed under the UN UPR on three occasions — 2008, 2012 and 2017 with the next one scheduled for 2023.
Ghana’s efforts
In a speech read on his behalf, the Attorney –General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, said the country had submitted its report to the UN Human Rights Council and was ready for the review in 2023.
In order for the country to fulfill its UN obligations, he said his outfit had established a dedicated office to manage the UPR and other UN reporting mechanisms in Ghana.
"The office was set up with the desired aim of enhancing continuous reporting, monitoring of recommendations and progress made by the state with regard to the implementation of the said recommendation," he said.
The A-G said the country had an enviable human rights record and had some success stories on human rights after the last review in 2017.
He mentioned some of the successes as the passage of the Right to Information Act, the Narcotic Control Commission Act which addressed drug use from the human rights angle and not a criminal one and the work on the Non-custodial Sentencing bill.
More efforts
For his part, the Executive Director of POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu, said the country needed to do more to promote human rights.
According to him, most of the recommendations given to Ghana during the UN UPR in 2008 were repeated in 2012 and 2017, a testament that the country must up its game.
"We are not progressing that much. Ghana is living on past glories of democracy and rule of law, but currently, the human rights records, if not retrogressing is becoming stagnant," he added.
