| Research
work undertaken |
CURRENT
RESEARCH PROJECTS
- The human
rights dimensions of health and education policy
- The use of participatory methods for development programming in low income communities
- Mobilising
for change in freezone enterprises in Ghana.
- Investigating
the condition of Sierra Leonean Refugees in Ghana.
- Exploring extra judicial bodies and dispute resolution in Ghana.
FUTURE RESEARCH PROJECTS
- Social Movements in Ghana
- The historiography
of human rights activism in Ghana.
- The Administration
of Justice in Ghana
- Prison
conditions in Ghana, especially death row inmates.
- The role
of Chieftancy and the values that it embodies in national development
Advocacy/Grassroots Participatory Democracy
By working with the communities within the operational area of the LRC it was realised that some of the human rights issues at the community level cannot be dealt with through education and conventional legal aid. There is the need to mobilize communities for collective actions aimed at improving their human rights situations. The types of actions will depend on the most pressing human rights issues. One thing is certain however; communities must be mobilized in order to act collectively.
The LRC has started registering various community level networks of institutions and groupings as LRC Human Rights Action Groups. These groups are charged with identifying pressing human rights issues and doing advocacy around them with the help of the LRC. Issues so far identified in the project area include the following: issues of discrimination on grounds of nationality, religion, and gender; neglect of duties by state institutions charged with providing services to the communities; and inequities in the regulation of housing and social security benefits by the state and para-statal institutions. THE COMMUNITY LEADERS FORUM (CLF), an assembly of the leadership of the community level groupings is currently working hand in hand with the LRC on advocacy strategies for dealing with these issues.
The LRC proposes to complete the registration of these Human Rights Action Groups and work with the CLF to identify and execute advocacy strategies around human rights and social justice issues.
Due to the
long history of gender discrimination against females in the world, the
LRC has established a GENDER ACTION UNIT(GAU), to deal specifically with
gender issues. The CLF and the GAU have a complex relationship. The GAU
is the institution that is meant to level the playing ground between the
sexes, which is necessary if any meaningful progress is to be made by
the CLF. Their memberships also overlaps to a certain extent. The complex
structure is a practical result of the LRC019s policy not to attempt to
deal directly with issues of gender equity in the context of the CLF,
but to allow the work of the GAU to gently transform the CLF into an institution
that is conscious of gender equity and sees it as an imperative in its
operations.