Madam Rita Kyeremaa Kusi (left), Executive Director, Ghana Federation of disability (GFD), briefing journalists at a press conference on the state of implementation of the UN conventions of the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD). With her are Mr Alexander Bankole Williams (2nd right), a member of the Ghana Federation of disability Communication Team, and Mr Moses Fordjour (right) the monitoring and evaluation officer (GFD) in Ghana. Pictures: GLADYS ATTA BOATENG.

Govt urged to come up with strategy on rights of PWDs

Salomey Appiah Aug - 20 - 2016 , 12:26

The Ghana Federation of Disability (GFD) has called on the government to come up with a strategy for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

The convention is an international agreement between the United Nations (UN) and signatory countries with the intention of protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

Countries that have signed the agreement, including Ghana, are required to promote, protect and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoyed their rights as human beings and also treated equally under the law.

But, according to the organisation, the government seems to have ignored the implementation of the treaty since it became a signatory to the protocol in 2007 and later rectified it in 2012.

Convention

At a press conference in Accra last Thursday, the executive director of the GFD, Mrs Rita Kyeremaa Kusi, said Article 33 of the Convention demanded that the government sets up a national monitoring framework to facilitate the implementation of the agreement.

She, however, observed that in spite of numerous letters and petitions to the government, no effort had been made to have a strategy for implementation.

According to her, the organisation would continue to campaign and impress on the government to implement the agreement which seeks to protect and promote the well-being of persons with disabilities.

Demands

A member of the communication team of the GFD, Mr Alexander Bankole Williams, said the government needed to harmonise the existing domestic legislation including the Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) to conform with that of the UNCRPD.

He said Article 35 of the agreement urged countries that were parties to submit state reports to the UN on how the agreement had been implemented after two years of signing. However, he said the government had not appeared before the UN to present a report.

“Close to four years have passed without a state report sent to the UN. We want the government to take immediate steps to prepare a report on the implementation of the UNCRPD,” he said.

Mr Williams also called for a national monitoring committee to be set up to coordinate the implementation processes.

The officer in charge of monitoring and evaluation at GFD, Mr Moses Fordjour, said the organisation had embarked on a campaign aimed at ensuring that the government paid heed to their calls.