Every young Ghanaian must become a Human Rights Ambassador – Lawyer Sosu

Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has admonished every youth in Ghana to take up the mantle of being Human Rights advocates.

According to the popular Human Rights lawyer, the youth form more than 50% of Africa’s 1.2billion population and 41% of that are below the age of 15 so if the fight for Human Rights is to go very far, the young population should take it up as an active part of their lives.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) chapter of the Youth for Human Rights Africa (YoHRA), Lawyer Sosu appealed to the young journalists-in-training not to just “lament and trumpet the fate of the about 100,000 children on the streets in the Greater-Accra Region or the about 10,000 boys on the Volta Lake” but they should take a step to fight for the rights of such children.

He advised them to also seek to make a difference that will keep them in the history books for the generation to come, to appreciate.

“Let the generation ye unborn note that you lived in this generation and contributed to substantial changes that gave them a better life. This is a call for action”, he said.

He called on the prospective members of YoHRA to rise and bring to light the treatment prisoners receive at the hand of the police, the treatment of patients in the hospitals and also to rise and hold leaders accountable to the people.

He added that judges should be bold to defend the law and the justice system without submitting themselves to manipulations.

“The justice system must be predictable, certain, sincere and should uphold the values of Rule of Law”, he stated.

He urged them to treat all persons equally when fighting for Human Rights both in Ghana and Africa at large, without discriminating on grounds of race, color, religious affiliation or party color. For Human Rights advocates just seek to do the will of God, he said

He also highlighted some major situations in Africa that amount to Human Rights abuses and are in contradiction with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on Human and People’s Rights African Charter on Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Human Rights guarantees in our national constitution.

He urged the prospective members to stay sincere to the values of accountability in the integrity and accountability as stated in the YoHRA constitution and also hold civic education, research and giving legal aid where needed in high esteem.

He told the students to be prepared for challenges as the perpetrators of Human Rights abuses will not back down easily.

“You cannot be the voice of the voiceless without attack by individuals who benefit from deprivation of others”, he said.