Report - A Public Forum to Mark the 2010 IWD – Amnesty International Ghana at Ghana International Press Centre, Accra, Ghana - 8th March 2010

Introduction
AI Ghana organized a Public Forum on Monday, 8th March 2010 at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra, to commemorate this year's International Women's Day. The event took the form of presentations, an open forum, and collection of signatures.

Even though the day coincided with Ghana's Independence holiday, the event enabled AI Ghana to mobilize about 150 people on the day to support its campaign to stop violence against women. The participants were made up of representatives of government institutions, civil society organizations, media, schools & Universities and the general public.

Welcome Address
In his welcome address, Mr. Lawrence Amesu, Director of AI Ghana, called on the related government and traditional authorities to take the following actions:

to institute investigation into alleged gender based abuses on-going against girls and women in some of our schools, colleges and universities (such as soliciting sexual favours from female students in return for high marks/grades) and to bring the perpetrators to face the full rigors of the law.

to investigate into and make public the circumstances leading to the alleged raping of girls and women in Nalerigu, Northern Region of Ghana by some soldiers who were assigned responsibility to maintain peace in the Bawku ethnic conflict. Those identified to participate in such heinous crimes should be brought to face the law of land.

to make all efforts to end the Bawku ethnic conflict immediately in order to bring peace to all, especially women and children who are usually the most negatively affected by such conflicts.

to abolish all forms of traditional and cultural practices that negatively affect women in order to make our society a happy place for us all.

See attached for the full welcome address by the AI Ghana Director.

The Guest Speaker
The Hon. Deputy Minister for Women and Children's Affairs Hajiah Hawawu Boya Gariba,who attended the forum as the Guest Speaker delivered the opening speech, .

The Hon. Deputy Minister explained that the International Women's Day was a time set aside to assess challenges facing women worldwide, celebrate their achievements, and look ahead into the exciting opportunities that await women in the future. She added that she was very happy to be associated with this year's celebration organized by AI Ghana.

The Deputy Minister highlighted the fact her ministry gave recognition and attention to the role women play as well as the issues that affect women and children. She went on to enumerate some achievements of the Ministry and the Government, and efforts being made in enhancing the lives of women and children in Ghana in collaboration with other key Sector Ministries.

She challenged all concerned organizations and human rights groups to come together and offer support and provide protection for our women and children. She identified the provision of shelters for victims of domestic violence, training for law enforcement agencies, the enhancement of women's access to justice, improvement in the legal aid system to cover women and other vulnerable groups as well as training of more clinical psychologists as areas that require further action.

See attached for the full speech of the Hon. Deputy Minister

Presentations:
There were two presentations by Mr. Vincent Adzahlie Mensah, Chairman of AI Ghana Board and Mrs Janet Adama Mohammed, Programme Director of IBIS Ghana respectively. The first presentation which was on the topic “VAWG and the MDGs” drew attention of participants to the intersection between violence against women and girls and the Millennium Development Goals, emphasizing the fact that preventing violence against women and girls was essential for the achievement of the MDGs. Key messages included the following:

 Global studies show that VAWG is a largely un-addressed problem (World Health Organisation, 2005).

 VAWG is a major obstacle to development
 Urgent action is needed to save the millions of our mothers and sisters if we are serious about achieving the MDGs.

 Working towards the MDGs will reduce VAW
 Preventing VAWG is a pre-requisite for achieving the MDGs

The second presentation was on the topic “gender equality and women's rights” which highlighted the fact that the MDGs and human rights had common objectives aimed at preserving and protecting human dignity and gender equality.

See attached for the full presentations.
Radio & TV Interviews/Media Report
The various media houses which were represented at the event conducted interview with the Director of AI Ghana during and after the forum.

The event was covered and widely reported by the various Radio Stations, TV (GTV and Metro TV), and the newspapers. Enclosed are copies of how two most widely read national daily newspapers in Ghana (“Daily Graphic” and “Ghanaian Times”) captured the event Also attached are photos taken at the event.

The media reports achieved nationwide coverage since Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times are nationwide dailies. Metro TV covers nearly the whole country and GTV has nationwide coverage. Therefore the entire country was covered in the media with our SVAW campaign messages.

Petitions
AI Ghana took the opportunity of attendance at the forum to collect about 105 signatures to support three (3) of Amnesty International's recent petitions to the Presidents of Chad and Nicaragua and the Governments of Denmark, Findland, Norway and Sweden.

Closing Remarks
In her closing remarks the chairperson for the event, Ms Joanna Wilhelmina Mensah, Deputy Director of the Department of Social Welfare stated her outfit (Department of Social Welfare) was willing and ready to collaborate with organizations such Amnesty International in the promotion of women's rights. She added that activities of such AI and its partners had led to tremendous improvement in the situation of women in Ghana, and congratulated AI Ghana for organizing the event.