Ghana: ECOWAS Invests in Human Rights (II)

The event which was jointly organised with the Accra based West African Network for Peace, WANEP featured presentations and syndicate sessions. Among them was a paper on Reporting Format for the ECOWAS Human Rights Framework which was presented by Mr. Saka Azimazi, Executive Secretary of NNHRI and Jide Adesina.  Others papers were Tools for Human […]

The event which was jointly organised with the Accra based West African Network for Peace, WANEP featured presentations and syndicate sessions. Among them was a paper on Reporting Format for the ECOWAS Human Rights Framework which was presented by Mr. Saka Azimazi, Executive Secretary of NNHRI and Jide Adesina.  Others papers were Tools for Human Right Monitoring which was presented by Mr Constant Gnacadja, WANEP/ECOWAS Liaison Officer and presentation on Institutional Arrangement for Coordinating the Reporting Procedure. The presentation reviewed the Commission’s Memorandum of Understanding with West African Network for Peace building (WANEP) to monitor indicators relating to human security and human rights. This is a unique partnership between the Commission and CSOs in an effort to promote human rights in the region. Meticulous implementation of the MOU will ensure increase in CSOs’ involvement in the usage of the new ECOWAS Human Rights Reporting Framework already being used by the NNHRI Secretariat; development of a common strategy for obtaining CSOs’ report based on the new ECOWAS Human Right Reporting Framework and improved working modalities between the Commission and ECOWAS Parliament on the promotion and protection of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in the region.
The presentations provided the participants with information and technic for reporting human rights. The main focus of the CSOs involvement outlined by ECOWAS states that ‘Civil society organizations shall monitor Member States’ compliance with human rights instruments, and shall popularise and raise awareness about ECOWAS Protocols, regional and international instruments relating to human rights and the rule of law.’
Existing protocol also demands enforcement of legislation against outmoded and discriminatory practices, including forced marriage, modern slavery and caste discrimination. Another expects member states to ‘adopt, apply and ensure respect for freedom of information laws and discourage the persecution of media practitioners by ensuring strict adherence to the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and due process’ On socio economic rights, member states ‘agree that poverty alleviation and promotion of social dialogue are important factors for peace and undertake to provide the basic human needs of their populations.
 The expected outcome of CSOs activities working in the justice sector will include the following:
– Existence of transparent and affordable avenues in Member States for airing and seeking redress to grievances and injustice.
– Absence of or measurable reduction in tensions relating to citizenship and ethnicity.
– Positive public perception and confidence in the formal and traditional judicial and arbitration systems.
– Reduction in the cost of access to justice.
– High public awareness of ECOWAS and international legal instruments
– Active civil society involvement in judicial matters and debates.
– Establishment of a national human rights institution
– Freedom of Information Act enacted and implemented
– National Human Rights Strategy adopted and implemented and
– Mechanism in place for advancing girl child education.
The workshop drew from relevant human rights related documents such as ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy & Good Governance (2001); ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (2008), and the new ECOWAS Human Rights Reporting Framework.
However, the main working paper for participants was the report prepared by the ECOWAS Commission on the hypothetical Bana Republic which has established a Bana National Human Rights Commission (BNHRC). It was an imaginary attempt by a member state to lay the foundation for effective monitoring of human rights using the ECOWAS frame work.
One of the first steps taken by the BNHRC was to carry out a training of trainers for human rights civil society groups to enable them replicate the training on how to monitor, document and report human rights to their members. The BNHRC then set up a review committee comprising  its staff, members of the civil society, the media, professional associations and representative of vulnerable groups (including women and youth). The Committee meets quarterly with the support of the ECOWAS, NNHRI Secretariat and development partners to review reports of monitoring submitted by the network of NGOs and BNHRC Regional offices. The hypothetical report included outcome of the monitoring exercise documented in the past 12 months using the indicators from the ECOWAS Human Rights Framework. Interestingly, most of the participants said the hypothetical report actually captured the reality of their countries’ progress and stagnation in human rights. Another strong point of the hypothetical report are the practical recommendations it made to critical stakeholders such as government, the BNHRC, development partners including ECOWAS and NNHRI and CSOs.
After the presentations, participants moved to working group sessions and presented the outcome to the plenary. There were discussions on way forward for modalities for holding Annual General Meetings where CSOs would present annual reports on human rights activities in their various countries.
For most of the participants, the meeting provided the opportunity of having a firsthand knowledge of the indicators that were contained in the reports by the CSOs in other countries, the challenges faced in human rights implementation in West Africa, learning from best practices and enhancing networking. The schedule was so tight that there was no time for participants to visit any tourist site or other places of interest in and around Accra.