Amnesty International holds forum on slums and forced evictions in Ghana

Accra, Oct. 17, GNA – Government is committed to lead the crusade in charting the path for empowering and integrating women and children in the country’s development process, Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, Deputy Minister of Women and Children Affairs, said on Wednesday.      She said the Ministry has been engaged to help promote the cessation of all forms of discrimination against women through its various stakeholder interactions.      She said priority has been placed on child protection issues including intensifying programmes to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and child trafficking, child abuse, commercial sex exploitation of children as well as the protection of children in conflict with the law.      Hajia Gariba was speaking at an Amnesty International organized public hearing on slums and forced evictions in Ghana.      The event which was used to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, also served as a platform to urge local authorities to end forced evictions, develop and adopt guidelines for evictions and push for the adoption of a national housing policy.      It brought together participants from Ministry of Water Resource Works and Housing, Ministry of Women and Children, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana Railway Development Authority and other senior public officials.      Hajia Gariba said eliminating gender inequalities and achieving women and children’s empowerment was of paramount concern to the Ministry and commended Amnesty International for the initiative saying, “It is an excellent opportunity to have an open discussion about the need and the important role we can all play in guaranteeing the rights of women and children in Ghana”.      Mr Lawrence Amesu, Director of Amnesty International Ghana, said the body recognized people living in the slums as the most vulnerable group of people who needed special attention.      “You all know the situation on old Fadama- extremely poor sanitary conditions, extreme overcrowding, lack of access roads, lack of social amenities and it appears to be devoid of any hope for a better life”, he said.      He said the problem of urban slums would continue to be major challenge to the country if attention is not given to address the increasing population, poverty and unemployment.     Mr Amesu said these factors if not properly managed would force people to migrate from rural areas to cities in search of jobs and called on government to put in place pragmatic measures to deal with the slums and squatter issue.   GNA... Read Full Story