NEWS IN GHANA

Accra, Dec 10, - As the world marks the Human Rights Day 2020 today, various activities are being organized in many parts of the world and on the global stage to commemorate the significant day.    In Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation, the Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), is equally raising its voice in support of calls to end human rights violations across the world by first commending the government autho rities of South Korea for the move which saw the acceptance of the bail conditions of the leader of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Mr. Lee Man-hee leading to his release from detention on November 12, 2020. Chairman Lee was arrested on last August July 31, 2020 for allegedly withholding information from government authorities about church members to help combat coronavirus, according to reports. A statement signed by the Mr Joseph Wemakor, the Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana and copied to the media commends the government authorities of South Korea...

Today is 2020 Human Rights Day, an important moment in the fight for and the respect for the human rights of people across the world.  This year's theme is "Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights." In a press release signed by the Executive Director, Joseph Kobla Wemakor and copied to the media, the Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), a non-governmental organization, non-profit human rights organization independent of all political parties, governments or religious groups in Ghana indicated that the world has not been the same since the covid-19 struck. Its presence across the world has caused struggles in moments of lockdowns, which came with its own shades of human rights abuses and infractions. Human rights and Election 2020 Ghana has come out of the election but not without some instances of electoral and post-electoral violence happening that led to the death of some persons. Ghanaians can only be assured the freedom to enjoy their rights if stakeholders ensure ...

  Community sensitisation is essential to reducing young people’s vulnerability to kidnappings, drug abuse and teenage pregnancy, says Joseph Wemakor. Ghana, a beautiful peaceful, culturally rich country in Western Africa, is home to a little over 30 million people. In recent history it has had the privilege of relative stability compared to many countries on the African continent but in 2018 something terrible happened.  KIDNAPPINGS, A NEW MENACE. Three young Ghanaian  girls from Sekondi-Takoradi in the west of the country went missing . They have still not been found. A little later two young Canadian women who worked for Youth Challenge International, were  reportedly seized at a golf course in the city of Kumasi . Then an Indian businessman was kidnapped, then an Estonian diplomat. All in all  almost 70 kidnapping cases were recorded during the latter part of 2018.   This bizarre saga hit like a tsunami sending shock waves of intense consternation and t...

  The Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) has condemned  in no uncertain terms the alleged reports of wanton human rights violations rearing ugly heads in Nigeria in recent times involving the violent attacks, torture, shootings and killings of civilians exercising their democratic rights in the #EndSars and #EndPolicebrutality protests across the country by the security forces. According to HRRG, several reports making rounds in news outlets indicate the security officers have resorted to the use of violence, torture, spanking, beatings, slapping including unlawful sporadic and shootings,   use of tear gas among others resulting to killings in Lagos on Wednesday night.    The group in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor condemned the act in no uncertain terms and appealed to the Nigerian Government, its President, H.E. Buhari, Nana Akufo-Addo, the President of the Republic of Ghana as well as the chair of ECOWAS as well a...

J oseph Wemakor is my beautiful name and I'm so proud of it. I’m very passionate about defending, protecting and promoting human rights, religious freedom and above all peace.  My commitment level towards the above is awesome and my quest for peace is unquenchable.  Everywhere I go, I preach peace, drink peace, eat peace, smoke peace, bath peace, embrace peace, love peace and live my whole life with and in peace. Do you know what that really means to me? Well, it's by no coincidence I happened to have been recognized as a Global Peace Ambassador in unique ways, even recently got selected as a Taskforce Member (Ghana National Focal Person) to lead the African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development (ANYL4SD), an affiliate of a high repute International Civil Society Organization based in Ghana.  Sounds so nice! Indeed no mean feat right?   If you care to know, I’m a staunch human rights activist/ defender without a border, a youth leader/ad...

  The Former President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi has waded into the controversies surrounding the burgeoning issues of human rights abuses being perpetrated against the Shincheonji church and its leader, Lee Man-hee by the South Korean Government in this advent of Covid-19, described it as ‘unfortunate and unique barefaced violation of rights of freedom of worship’. Speaking at a 2-day virtual summit to deliberate and proffer solutions to the escalating issues of   human rights abuses around the world with emphasis on the South Korean situation, the former UN boss lamentably said:   “The Shincheonji Covid-19 saga is more of state and conscious barefaced violation of rights of freedom of worship of unique occurrence which ought to be widely condemned in no uncertain terms”. “He further revealed: “this is just a clear sense of selective victimization in which the Shincheonji church appears to have only come under t...

The Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), Joseph Wemakor has charged all and sundry to join forces and unite with in oneness with ambition backed by passion and actions to aggressively resist the avalanche of persecution and oppression being meted out to the leader of Shincheonji Church, Lee Man-hee, its believers and his peace organization (HWPL) by the South Korean Government. Mr Wemakor who gave the charge on Thursday September 10 while speaking as a member of a high-profile panel at a summit to discuss Covid-19 and human rights abuses around the world with emphasis on South Korea said: “People of the world! let us all unite and combine all our efforts and powers just like the ‘Captain Planet and the Planeteers’ did in all situations to overcome the unthinkable and we’ll descend on President Moon Jae-in to as a matter of urgency release Mr Lee from detention and set the Shincheonji believers free from the shackles of oppression and we’ll win the war agai...

  The Executive Director of Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG), Joseph Wemakor has been listed among high-profile speakers who are poised to open fruitful discussions focused on human rights violations rearing ugly heads around the world with emphasis on cases in South Korea. The event dubbed: ‘Summit on South Korea: Covid-19 and Human Rights Abuses’, slated for September 10 to 11, 2020 at 2 pm  each day will convene an audience and distinguished speakers made up of human rights activists, advocates, lawyers and journalists from across the world via zoom. A statement released by the event organizers on Tuesday indicated that human rights abuses have been on the rise in the Covid-19 world. “The statistics show that in Ghana particularly, there are many recorded cases of domestic abuses in various homes and the situation is not different in other jurisdictions such as South Korea where the government is reportedly targeting minority groups in the name of fighting Covid-19...

  It is indeed heart-breaking to know that in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic where all hands are on deck in attempt to possibly stem the flow of the virus and have it defeated absolutely, we have some ill-mannered persons and groups of people engaged in all kinds of abominable activities including stigmatization, discrimination, scapegoating, targeting and even persecuting others for the cause of an outbreak and spread of the disease which amounts to wanton violation of the International human rights law.   Since the pandemic broke in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019, we’ve heard about worrying reports chronicling varying degrees of atrocities being perpetrated by some superior groups against some minority groups in many parts of the world which has received wide condemnation from many people including activists, journalists, CSOs, NGOs, regional and international organizations globally. Undeniably, there are indications of happenings in many ...

  A deadly pandemic hits at an alarming rate and brings untold pain and hardship upon the whole world. All of a sudden, life came to a standstill as public health and economic issues escalated, dominating the long lists of crises the deadly pandemic has given birth to. Since then, efforts are being made globally to contain the spread of the virus while help is sought for the affected. As part of a pandemic response, the World Health Organization outlined measures to contain the virus which countries in the world are to comply with. The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) equally demonstrated their support to spur faster action on COVID-19 response in African countries by mobilizing their partners in the fight. Massive support trickled down under various emergency packages to affected countries including funding, resources and policy advice was meant to help prevent, detect, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic which most African countries including our bel...