Accra
(Greater Accra) 14 March 2000
Professor
Akua Kuenyehia, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, Legon on
Monday said that women's rights continue to be on the fringes of the human
rights debate.
She noted that an unfortunate dichotomy
exists in human rights, which has not served the cause of women, saying there
is a clear distinction between civil and political rights on one hand and
economic, social and cultural rights on the other.
She said very often constitutions provide for
the adjudication of civil and political rights while economic, social and
cultural rights are provided for under Directive Principles of State Policy,
which are ideals that the state should aim at.
Prof.
Kuenyehia was speaking on the "State of women's human rights in Ghana: The
law and its enforcement," at the 12th Speaker's Breakfast Forum in Accra.
In
spite of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which states that
"all human rights are universal, indivisible and inter-dependent and
inter-related" and that "the international community must treat human
rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the
same
emphasis",
while economic, social and cultural rights are provided under ideals that a
state should aim at.
She
said the Declaration rejected the divisions and hierarchies that had earlier
been introduced into human rights.
Prof. Kuenyehia noted, however, that the
hierarchies continue and the mechanisms for enforcing civil and political
rights continue to be better articulated than those for economic and social
rights.
Prof. Kuenyehia noted that even though
international human rights are framed without discrimination on the basis of
sex, they have largely failed to work effectively to improve the situation of
women.
She said women were not involved in the
process of conceptualising and defining human rights and thus many issues of
central concern to women, such as underdevelopment, illiteracy, the adverse
impact of structural adjustment programmes and systematic violence, have not
been defined as human rights
issues,
adding that it is only recently that these are being considered by governments.
She said international human rights law
effectively excludes many acts of non-state actors and those that take place in
the private sphere, especially in the family and thus the numerous violations,
which are committed against women in their communities, their workplaces and
their own families, are excluded from the operation of international human
rights.
Prof
Kuenyehia explained that it is with this background that the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women came into being.
She noted, however, that the convention,
though a step in the right direction, has not really addressed the fundamental
problem of marginalization of women.
She said this is partly due to the large
number of reservations entered by some of the state parties, as well as the
lack of political will on the part of governments to incorporate the provisions
of the Convention into domestic legislation.
Prof.
Kuenyehia told the forum that Ghana ratified the Convention in 1996 and by so
doing, undertook to adapt its legislation and introduce new ones where
necessary, to translate the rights contained in the convention into reality for
Ghanaian women.
Prof Kuenyehia said since Ghana ratified
the convention, both governmental and no-governmental organisations are
initiating awareness programmes to encourage parents to send their girls to
school and keep them there for as long as necessary to enable them to acquire
qualifications and employable skills.
She said the country is on the right
track in this regard, and that what is needed is consistency and the will, as
well as the resources to sustain the programmes.
"The benefit of education of women
in any society cannot be overemphasised, it is therefore in our interest to
ensure that the drive to educate women is sustained".
Prof. Kuenyehia noted that all over the
world, social and economic conditions perpetuate the subordination of women,
saying that to strive towards equality of men and women, it is necessary for adequate
balance to be struck in the distribution of economic resources between them.
"Over the last few years, poverty is
said to have acquired a feminine face and the feminisation of poverty is the
direct result of the gender disparities in economic power sharing, she said.
"Macroeconomic policies, which
target the formal sector almost exclusively are also contributory factors to
the feminisation of poverty".
Prof
Kuenyehia said efforts are being made to address some of these issues, but
wondered whether the programmes instituted are having the desired impact in
addressing the socio-economic rights of women.
Majority
of Ghanaian women are rural dwellers who engage in agricultural activities but
the issue of access to land has not really been addressed in any meaningful
manner, she said.
"The
extensive involvement of women in food production and marketing is not really
matched by their access to and control of productive resources".
Prof Kuenyehia said access to land rights
provides one of the most interesting insight into the real situation of women,
adding, "they present a picture of what appears to be gender-neutral
concepts whose application and operation are fraught with gender
stereotypes".
"This is an area that needs a
comprehensive overhaul both in policy and legislation, if women are to realise
their rights", she said.
Prof.
Kuenyehia reminded the forum that the second Parliament is drawing to an end
and for whatever reason Article 22 (2) of the Constitution has still not been
made operational.
She warned that if this was not done, the
situation would continue to be that a wife who is unable to prove some kind of
substantial contribution, which is capable of monetary computation, will not be
able to successfully claim a share in the property, she and the husband acquire
during the subsistence of the marriage.
Article 22 (2) states that
"Parliament shall as soon as practicable after the coming into force of
the constitution, enact legislation regulating the property rights of
spouses".
Prof. Kuenyehia noted that the
long-standing failure to protect and promote the human rights and fundamental
freedoms in the case of violence against women should be a matter of concern to
all nations, which should be addressed.
She said violence against women in all
its forms is very prevalent in Ghana, adding that in the past, failure to deal
with the problem was attributed to lack of basic data on the form, nature,
extent and prevalence of the problem.
However, that in a comprehensive
country-wide study on violence against women, which was carried out in 1998,
data has been collected and a rich source of information now exists to aid any
intervention needed to deal with the issue.
Prof Kuenyehia noted that various
legislative interventions have been introduced to address the specific forms of
violence and mentioned Article 26 (2) of the Constitution, which states that,
"all customary practices, which dehumanise or are injurious to the
physical and mental well-being of a person are prohibited".
She also cited the Criminal Code
(Amendment) Act of 1994 Act 484, which makes female genital mutilation a second
degree felony with a minimum of three years imprisonment, saying the provisions
of the Criminal Code on sexual offences have been considerably strengthened.
She said the nation-wide study on
violence against women shows that the level of all types of violence against
women and adolescent females is very high, and there is, therefore, the need
for a comprehensive policy, as well as legislative intervention to deal with
the problem.
"It is only when this is done that women
will be free to enjoy their rights to bodily integrity".
Speaking
on the same topic, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, President of the Association of African
Women Lawyers, noted that the 1992 Constitution attempted to reflect the
country's obligations under the Convention on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women by guaranteeing the observance of basic and
fundamental human rights for all.
She mentioned a number of articles in the
Constitution, which seek to entrench and enhance the rights of women in all
facets of national development.
Mrs Iddrisu, who is also the head of
International Law Section of the Attorney General's Department, said the
Intestate Succession Law and the package of Family Laws, sought to rationalise
an equitable system of distribution of property on the death of a spouse.
She said the implementation and
enforcement of these laws over the past 15 years, has however, been resisted by
areas, which practice the matrilineal ystem of inheritance that do not
recognise spouses and children's right to inheritance.
She emphasised that these laws have been
important tool in promoting the rights of the "nuclear" as opposed to
the "extended" family concept, which is widespread especially in the
rural areas.
Mrs Iddrisu noted that if the country's
legislators had adopted a more holistic approach towards the implementation of
the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women,
it would have provided an environment conducive to the enforcement of women's
rights.
"The piecemeal approach towards
gender issues does not enable effective gender mainstreaming in national
development", she said.
While she welcomed the government’s
commitment to the advancement of women's
rights
in the country, Mrs Iddrisu suggested the enactment of a bill to give legal
backing to the principle of accelerated advancement of Ghanaian women.
She said the situation in Parliament is one that needs improvement
since out of the 27 Parliamentary Select and Standing Committees five had only
one female member while seven had two female members each.
Two committees had four women and nine
had three women members while four committees, including the Defence and
Interior, Youth, Sports and Culture, as well as the Constitutional, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs and the Members Holding Offices for Profit, had no female
member, she said.
Mrs Iddrisu said it has become apparent
that the role of civil society is vital in the enforcement of human rights
globally, and welcomed the activities of genuine non-governmental and voluntary
bodies in the country in the area of gender equality.
She noted that these organisations have,
more often than not, filled the void that has developed in the awareness and
implementation of women's rights.
She said the enactment of legislation
could not by itself create change, adding that laws can only provide the
catalyst for change.
"The need, therefore, for
governments to provide an enabling environment for the enforcement of laws is
imperative and we call on our government and politicians to institute the
appropriate framework and programmes to achieve this meaningful change.
In an opening address, Mr Justice Daniel
Francis Annan, the Speaker, said the forum has been instituted as an integral
part of Parliament's expanded outreach programme.
"We
seek through these forums, to listen to and cross-fertilise ideas with a
cross-section of people on matters we consider to be of national importance.
"We
have chosen this path of consultations and discussions in due recognition that
democracy is basically about satisfying the aspirations and interests of the
people."
Mr Justice Annan noted that the various
roles of women collectively constitute the cornerstone of the very existence of
society.
He said, "most men, I believe, do
recognise the indispensability of women in their lives and that without men womanhood
will be incomplete, thus the very symbiotic relationship between the two
sexes".
Mr S. K. Appiah, of the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA) referred to the celebration of "International
Women's
Day", last Wednesday and quoted from an Oxfam brochure, which says that
"women are half the
world's
population, comprise more than one-third of the official labour force, perform
two-thirds of the world's working hours, receive a tenth of the world's income
and own less than one- hundredth of the world's property".
He said the statement is generally
reflective of the current situation in Ghana and makes a very strong case for
greater efforts to advance the cause of women in the country.
During discussions, the participants were
of the view that there is the need for sustained efforts at building the
capacity of women to enable them to play their role as equal partners in
national development.
GRi../