By Emelia B. Addae
Koforidua Dec. 13, GNA – The Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General, together with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), are soliciting input for a National Action Plan on Businesses and Human Rights (NAP-BHR).
In this respect, the Attorney-Office General’s and CHRAJ are conducting interviews and focus group discussions around the country to obtain public opinion on the strategy and ensure human rights observance in business settings.
A National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights is an evolving policy strategy designed to safeguard business enterprises from negative human rights impacts in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles.
Mrs Sylvia Adusu, chair of the Steering Committee on NAP-BHR, told a gathering in Koforidua during a regional consultation that when stakeholders from both the public and private sectors make contributions to the NAP, it will be easier to implement and enforce.
”This national stakeholder engagement exercise will promote law enforcement because when the plan is finally drawn for public use, the public will be familiar with it and it will not be as if the committee sat in Accra to draw the action plan for Ghanaians,” she said.
The NAP-BHR in Ghana is intended to increase institutional capacity, operations, policy coordination, and implementation, as well as raise state actors’ and agencies’ awareness efforts for the protection and promotion of human rights by businesses.
The Eastern Region was the second location for the stakeholders’ engagement exercise, which was well attended by members from various organizations in Koforidua.
Traditional and religious groups, the Association of Ghana Industries, the Association of Small Scale Industries, the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, the International Child Development Programme Ghana, and several others were among the attendees.
Mr Victor Brobbey, member of the steering committee and lead anchor on NAP-BHR, explained the steering committee’s composition, which included representatives from the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection.
The rest included the Trades Union Congress, Ghana Employer Association, Ministry of Finance, Environmental Protection Agency, Private Enterprise Foundation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in a presentation.
He presented on the mandatory human rights impact assessment, the creation of a permanent business and human rights enforcement structure, and the three-pillar structure, which included protect, respect, and remedy.
Mr Thompson K. Afari, Chief Executive Officer of Heroes under God, a Christian non-governmental organisation, and a workshop participant, hailed the programme as inspiring and insightful, and said he learned more about business and human rights concerns.
“In our various work places, people tend to play down on people’s rights. I advise that every human being matters and for that we have to respect the rights of every human being,” he added.
GNA