Human rights dialogue fixed for December 11

The third human rights advocates and health professionals' dialogue, which will set the pace for combining the knowledge in health with the law and ethics, is set for December 11 in Accra. The December dialogue on the theme: "Hippocratic Oath within the Framework of the Right to Information," is being organized by the African Commission of Health and Human Rights Promoters (CAPSDH) in collaboration with the Right to Information Coalition and the Ghana Medical Association. The lecture would be delivered by Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, President, Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and chaired by Mrs Jeannette Quarcoopome of the Media Foundation for West Africa. The discussants are expected from the Ghana Bar Association, Ghana Registered Nurses Association, staff from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Police Hospital, Ghana AIDS Commission and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. Others are representative from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ghana Journalists Association, the Judicial Services of Ghana, Department of Social Welfare and the RTI Coalition. Dr Edmund Delle, CAPSDH President, said in a statement that the dialogue would create a platform for human rights and health advocates to begin the process of sharing experiences. It will stimulate the creation of collaborative networks for research, education, communication and advocacy and to strengthen national solidarity among people working in health and human rights fields. He said deliberations from the monthly dialogues would be published in the CAPSDH's monthly newsletter, "HEALTHRIGHTS Advocates," which would serve as educational and resources material for the public. CAPSDH is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the defence and promotion of the ideas enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Union's African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Nana Oye Lithur, Chief Executive Officer of Human Rights Advocates Centre and RTI Convener, said the peoples' right to information had been widely recognized as an essential pre-requisite for an effective and functional democracy. She said in Ghana, this was echoed in the words of Article 21 (1) (f) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which provided for 'Every Individual's Right to Information subject to such qualifications and laws as were necessary in a democratic society.