Amnesty International advocates abolition of corporal punishment

Accra, May 21, GNA – Amnesty International Ghana (AIG), a human rights organization, on Monday reiterated the call for the abolition of corporal punishment in schools in Ghana.

Mr Lawrence Amesu, Director of AIG, mentioned that corporal punishment was against fundamental human rights of children and was considered as torture under the United Nations human rights regulations.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday, Mr Amesu said corporal punishment rather makes children stubborn instead of correcting them to become responsible adults.

He noted that AIG had taken initiatives to educate teachers on the use of the cane, and other human rights friendly projects, in some communities.

Touching on the justice system in the country, Mr Amesu said about 3000 people were remanded in prison custody without trial for a period ranging between three to seven years whereas the law stipulate that people, should not be kept in custody for not more than forty eight hours without the approval of the court.

On custodial sentences, Mr Amesu noted that about 138 prisoners, including four women, were on death row as at September 2011.

He commended Government for the expansion of the Ankaful Prison, to ease the problem of congestion and improving on their feeding.

Mr Amesu said though human rights observance had improved in the previous years, there was still more room for improvement, and appealed to Parliament to pass the Right to Information Bill, to enhance citizen's rights and promote accountability and transparency.

He expressed concern about violence against women and girls, and cited rape, physical abuse, denying the girl child of education, which he said was on the ascendency.

Mr Amesu lauded the efforts of Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit and other stakeholders, as well as provision of books and feeding program in school to encourage girls to go to education.

GNA