Commission on Human Rights commends GNA Tema Regional Office

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has commended the Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office for its support in educating the public on human rights and administrative justice issues.

Mr. John Ato Breboh, a Senior Principal Investigator of CHRAJ, gave the commendation in an interaction with the Ghana News Agency as part of the Commission’s 30th-anniversary celebration, which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.

The celebration is on the general theme: "CHRAJ at 30: Promoting and Protecting Human Rights and Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Public Service Delivery."

The sub-theme for the Tema Sub-Regional Office is "Presentation on 30 Years of CHRAJ in Tema: Success, Challenges, and the Way Forward."

Mr. Breboh said, "Our collaboration with the GNA-Tema Regional Office has yielded a lot of results, as the stories went far and we had other media houses calling and inviting us to their platforms.

"Through this, we have been able to refer a number of people to make their complaints in our offices in other districts and regions."

He said over the past two years, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office has created a consistent platform for CHRAJ officials to discuss human rights, corruption, and other related issues towards national development.

The Commission also commended Plan ‘B’ FM and Obonu FM for providing them with a platform to sensitize the public about our operations.

Mr. Breboh indicated that the media was a strategic partner in educating the general public on their human rights issues as well as empowering them to report anti-corruption issues, hence their resolve to strengthen the relationship with the media in the discharge of the Commission’s mandate.

He said CHRAJ was established under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana by the CHRAJ Act, 1993 (Act 456) with three broad mandates of human rights, administrative justice, and anti-corruption-related issues.

Touching on the Commission’s work, he said apart from its three thematic mandates, it also has mandate such as investigations, legal services, research, and public education, among others, in the implementation of its programmes.

He added that the Human Rights Article and the 1992 Constitution also mandate CHRAJ to protect universal human rights and freedoms relating to civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights and other International Human Rights instruments that Ghana has ratified.

He said these functions were carried out through protection and enforcement as an Ombudsman and promotion and prevention, explaining that in protecting and enforcing fundamental human rights, CHRAJ investigates complaints of human rights violations by persons and institutions, both private and public.

He added that the Commission resolves complaints through various methods such as mediation, negotiation, and formal hearings and by instituting actions and proceedings in court, stating that it also carries out special investigations into human rights abuses that are systemic, cultural, or in other areas of public interest.

In order to prevent human rights abuses, the Commission monitors and assesses the observance of human rights situations, particularly those of vulnerable persons in Ghana.

These monitoring visits, he noted, ensured that his outfit could detect early warning signs of human rights abuses and prevent violations from taking place.

He said that under administrative justice, the Commission was mandated to protect and promote administrative justice to ensure that the government and public officials were accountable and transparent.

This, he added, was contained in Articles 218(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 70(a) and (b) of Act 456.

They also investigate allegations that a Public Officer has contravened or has not complied with a provision of Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution, which touches on the Code of Conduct of Public Officers.

He added that the Commission also has the mandate to investigate all instances of alleged or suspected corruption and the misappropriation of public funds by officials and to take appropriate steps, including reports to the Attorney-General and Auditor General resulting from such an investigation.