LMVCA files petition at UN against govt, police
A political pressure group, Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), has filed a petition at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly against the Government of Ghana and the country’s Police Chief for “human rights violations.”
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In the petition, the group accused the government of “violating the international human rights of the country and the people,” by “deliberating using their control of state institutions to turn the country into a police totalitarian state.”
The petition, filed by Kwame Agyeman-Budu, Ibrahim Sanni, Issah Ballah and Mujeeb Mogtaari, is dated September 30, 2015.
In the view of the petitioners, the police’s use of force and the court to prevent the group from picketing the country’s Electoral Commission (EC) on two separate occasions as part of their demand for a new electoral roll ahead of the 2016 general election is a breach of UN Charter, Chapter 1, Article 1 (3); the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right.
The police botched the pickets with the explanation that the EC is a security installation.
On the group’s first attempt, the police fired tear gas and water cannons at the demonstrators and beat some of them with truncheons and cudgels for allegedly veering off agreed routes for the protest activity.
The second attempt was thwarted by a restraining order from the court.
Apart from insisting that the EC is a security installation which cannot accommodate picketing, the Police Service said it had a tip-off that robbers and other criminals were going to unleash mayhem on Accra, which was a threat to the country’s security, and, therefore, could not detail any officers to guard the picketers.
Leaders of the group accused the police of using excuses to frustrate their protest.
The group, along with its other partners, is seeking redress from the UN to “act for humanity by finding that the Ghanaian Government is acting in violation of international human rights law, and more importantly, with an intentional and reckless disregard for human rights, by unilaterally ordering and directing a ‘preemptive strike’ against unprovoked and legitimate expression of fundamental human rights of Ghanaians, which will have a scathing effect on peace and stability in the country.”