'CHRAJ committed to womens empowerment'

Pg3 Tues. April 15

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has committed itself to pay particular attention to Government's Affirmative Action Policy for women's empowerment.
The Commission will also monitor the recommendations contained in the women's manifesto with a view of passing legislation in favour of women's economic empowerment.
The acting Commissioner of CHRAJ, Ms Anna Bossman, made the commitment at a symbolic ceremony when the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Flemming Bjork Pedesen, handed over the Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG3) Champion Touch to her at a ceremony in Accra.
The handover of the touch to Ms Bossman is a "call to action" on MDG3, which seeks to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and at all levels by 2015 and also aims at promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.
This makes Ms Bossman one of three eminent women of the country who have committed themselves to ensuring that issues concerning women are given priority attention. The other two are Ms Adisa Lansah Yakubu, Project Co-ordinator of Africa 2000 network, and Nana Oye Lithur, African Co-ordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).
The aim of the campaign to "call to action" is primarily to obtain a commitment by all governments to make gender equality and women's empowerment key issues, especially if the world was to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
According to the commissioner, the Commission was committed to promoting gender mainstreaming within the Commission and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and continually monitor and influence government policy to ensure gender equality and consistency.
She said the Commission had started off with the upgrading of its women's desk to a unit and personally committed herself to speaking words of motivation and encouragement to young girls and women in all social spheres through fora and activities to make them more aware of their rights.
The Danish Ambassador on the other hand said his government acknowledged the Ghanaian government's efforts at raising the status of women in the country for national development.
He said the Denmark's government efforts at women's empowerment was guided by its strategy that seeks to promote equal rights and opportunities for both women and men in all areas of society.
Mr Pedesen said the empowerment of women was one of the key priority areas guiding Denmark’s development policy, which seeks to reduce poverty by promoting sustainable development through pro-poor economic growth, equal participation by men and women in the development process and promotion of respect for human rights, including women's rights.