By Dennis Peprah
Fiapre, (Bono), June 27, GNA – Amnesty International Ghana (AI Ghana) on Friday called on the Government to ‘end the silence’ and act decisively on the Bawku conflict to bring lasting peace to the area, and thereby protect the lives of innocent people.
AI Ghana, a Non-governmental Organisation is a local chapter of Amnesty International (AI), a global movement that focuses on defending and protecting human rights.
“The lives of Ghanaians at Bawku are just as precious as those in any part of the country,” Mr Francis Nyantakyi, the Board Chairman of the AI Ghana stated.
He asked the Government to “deploy transparent mediation efforts, rebuild trust among the feuding factions, and protect civilians from further harm.”
Mr Nyantakyi made the call when addressing the opening session of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the AI Ghana, underway at Fiapre, near Sunyani on the theme: “Resilience in a Restricted Civic Space”.
Mrs Easily Nemitz, the Board Chair and Dr Julia Duchrow, the Secretary General of AI, Germany, as well as representatives of AI chapters in Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire are also attending the four-day forum.
Mr Nyantakyi expressed the regret that “protracted violent conflict in Bawku continued unabated” displacing entire families, losing lives, with “a sense of fear normalized,” worrying that the “government silence and indecisiveness on this matter speak louder than any statement.”
He also expressed concern about the growing illegal mining activities in the country, saying, “illegal mining remains an urgent human rights issue and not just an environmental one.”
Mr Nyantakyi stressed that: “Toxic rivers, poisoned food chams, destroyed farmlands, and collapsing health systems in affected communities expose a failure of leadership and enforcement.
“Those who dare to speak on- journalists, traditional leaders, youth activists are met not with support, but with laws, police harassment, or violent attacks,” he added.
Mr Nyantakyi said the nation ought to treat illegal mining as a human rights crisis, saying “that must go beyond rhetoric and showcase political will by prosecuting both financiers and perpetrators of galamsey.”
He said: “The nation must also ensure that communities affected by environmental degradation are compensated and supported to rebuild too.
“We must refrain from using law enforcement as a tool to silence criticism, review and revise laws that criminalize free expression and ensure that the police, military and security agencies acts as a protector not violator of constitutional rights,” Mr Nyantakki indicated.
He called for strengthened state institutions, saying independent institutions like the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, National Media Commission, and the Judiciary “must be shielded from political interference.”
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Lydia Kukua Asamoah