HelpAge Ghana petitions Government to protect older people’s rights

HelpAge Ghana,  a Non Government Organisation (NGO) that caters for the aged in society on Friday presented a signature petition on promotion and protection of rights of older people to the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare.

It joined other sister aged care organisations across the world to collect signatures from both prominent and ordinary citizens to a petition calling for action on the rights of older people and possible UN Convention on older people’s rights.

Mr Sorsey Adjetey, Executive Director, HelpAge Ghana, said a total of 56,796 signatures from 118 countries had been collected.

The campaign had been running for the past six years in 60 countries to encourage older people and their organisations to engage governments and policy-makers on issues bothering on their rights and entitlements, as well as their general wellbeing.

“We present you with our global petition and would like to ask the Government to continue the discussion towards the establishment of international instruments to promote and protect the rights of older people, including a UN Convention for older people’s rights,” Mr Adjetey added.

Mr Edward Ameyibor, Vice President of HelpAge Ghana, said among all the African countries, Ghana was the only country involved in the aged demand action, adding that the petition from Ghana was from all the zonal offices.

Mr Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, who received the petition, expressed appreciation to the NGO saying that Government was committed to addressing issues relating to the aged.

HelpAge Ghana and other relevant organisations have improved the wellbeing of older people in the country,  it has accepted participation in the Third UN Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting in New York from August 21-24, to discuss proposal for the promotion and protection of rights of older people in member countries.

The OEWG was created to strengthen the protection of the human rights of older persons by considering the existing international framework of the human rights of older persons and identifying possible gaps and how best to address them.

Source: GNA