Ghana: Ghanaian authorities too slow in upholding the rights of persons with disabilities says UN Committee

Ghanaian organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and other civil society organizations (CSOs) have welcomed the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee) concluding observations on Ghana and called on the Ghanaian authorities to take expeditious steps to ensure their implementation. Early in August this year OPDs and CSOs made submissions to the Committee ahead of its examination of Ghana’s compliance with and implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The above image displays the logo for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). On the left, there is the blue UN emblem featuring a world map surrounded by olive branches, symbolizing global peace and unity. To the right, large, bold letters read “UN CRPD,” with smaller text below that says, “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

The organizations include the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) and the Africa Albinism Network (AAN). The organizations collaborated with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) – which, in turn, supported the engagement of national OPDs with the Committee.  The ICJ provided support to GFD and AAN in drafting their written submissions and presenting their oral submissions to the Committee.

OPDs and CSOs expressed support for the Committee’s concluding observations, which cover a broad range of human rights concerns that civil society had brought to the Committee’s attention.

“The Ghanaian authorities should study the Committee’s recommendations carefully, and, work closely with organizations of persons with disabilities to devise a clear, timebound plan for their implementation”, said Joseph Atsu Homadzi, National President of the GFD.

“The recommendations provide clear guidance for critical and urgently needed legislative and policy reforms, which, if undertaken, would improve the enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities substantially”, he added.

In particular, the Committee’s concluding observations draw the Ghanaian authorities’ attention to the inadequate implementation of Ghana’s legal obligations under the CRPD and to the “slow” progress in the development of the country’s proposed disability legislation – the Persons with Disability Bill 2024 – which is intended to domesticate the Convention, among other things.

The Committee also drew attention to the need to:

• review and revise the Constitution and other laws to remove offensive and discriminatory language against persons with disabilities; and
• provide effective mechanisms for legal remedies for persons with disabilities who are subjected to discrimination and other violations of their rights guaranteed under the CRPD.

Following submissions by GFD and AAN in respect of the rights of persons with albinism, in particular, the Committee recommended that Ghana: “strengthen sanctions, to ensure effective protection of the right to life” of such persons and “launch public education campaigns to dispel myths about disabilities”. It also expressed concern about the deprivation of liberty of persons with albinism and underscored the need to take measures to prevent violence, exploitation, and abuse of persons with albinism. The Committee also noted with concern that national surveys took “no account of persons with albinism and persons with psychosocial disabilities”.

“As we illustrated in our submissions to the Committee, albinism continues to be perceived as a curse in Ghana, and a range of harmful practices against persons with disabilities, including banishment from communities, persist,” said Kwame Andrews Daklo, Advocacy Manager of AAN.

“In line with the Committee’s recommendations, we urge the Ghanaian authorities to take urgent measures to collect information and data about the prevalence of albinism and take concrete measures, such as the adoption of the African Union plan of Action on Albinism 2021 – 2031, to curb harmful practices and other human rights violations and hold their perpetrators to account”, said Ikponwosa Ero, Executive Director of AAN. 

The Committee’s consideration of Ghana’s record under the CRPD also included significant scrutiny of the Mental Health Act of 2012, and its failure to comply with the CRPD as a result of the fact that the legislation strips persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities of their right to legal capacity. The Committee, therefore, called for a revision of various provisions of the Act relating to substituted decision-making, forced treatment, and institutionalization of persons with disabilities. It also called on Ghana to “establish a national policy framework for the closure of institutions and residential care facilities, providing clear pathways and support for persons with disabilities to transition into the community”.

“Institutionalization of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, based on their disabilities, remains common in Ghana. This contradicts the CRPD and falls short of what the Committee’s Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization require”, said Tim Fish Hodgson of the International Commission of Jurists.

The Committee also reiterated civil society’s calls for Ghana to ratify the Optional Protocol to the CRPD, under which the Committee may consider individual communications alleging violations of the Convention and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa (the Africa Disability Protocol).

“The expeditious ratification of the Protocol to the CRPD and the Africa Disability Protocol would act as signals by the Ghanaian authorities to persons with disabilities in Ghana and the Committee that the country is fully committed to realizing the human rights of all persons with disabilities. This is overdue and sorely needed”, added Hodgson.

Background

Ghana ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 31 July 2012. However, its core disability law, the Persons with Disability Act 715 of 2006 predates both the CRPD itself and Ghana’s ratification of it. The delays in the revision of the Act, spanning more than a decade, substantially weakened the implementation of Ghana’s commitments under the CRPD. Ghana’s Constitution also predates the CRPD, making the need for progress in the adoption of the Persons with Disability Bill 2024 all the greater.

Ghana submitted its first report to the Committee on 5 June 2018, nearly four years after it was due in 2014.

The Committee considered Ghana’s compliance with and implementation of the CRPD on 19^th and 20^th August 2024. After a constructive dialogue and engagement with representatives of the Ghanaian government, as well as representatives of Ghanaian civil society, the Committee issued its concluding observations on 2 October 2024.

Resources

The Concluding Observations of the CRPD Committee to Ghana are available here.

The Submission of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations is available here.

The submission of the African Albinism Network is available here.

Contact

Mulesa Lumina, ICJ Africa Legal and Communications Associate Officer, e: mulesa.lumina@icj.org

Kwame Andrews Daklo, Advocacy Manager, Africa Albinism Network, e: kwame@africaalbinismnetwork.org

Mohammed Lansah, Communications Officer, Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, e: Mohammed.Lansah@gfdgh.org

This statement is issued by the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, the African Albinism Network, and the International Commission of Jurists.