Amnesty International Ghana welcomes the news that the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Bill 2024 was passed by the Parliament of Ghana on 29th July 2024. This is a historic milestone, and we celebrate it as it reflects and reaffirms Ghana’s commitment to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to realise human rights of all, achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
The Affirmative Action Bill was first introduced in Parliament of Ghana in 2016 to prioritise an increase in women’s participation in governance and decision making at all levels. It encourages diversity at all levels and lays out policies and procedures to guarantee that underrepresented groups, particularly women, minorities, and people living with disabilities, have equal opportunities and are actively involved in decision-making in all levels of leadership in Ghana.
Amnesty International Ghana is part of the Coalition of the Affirmative Action Bill and sees passage of the bill as a further step by Ghana towards respecting all rights protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and contributing to the global development goals of gender equality. This is also in line with the priority areas of Amnesty international in advancing equality and non-discrimination, so we are very glad that the Bill has been passed.
We commend the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, the Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin under whose leadership the Affirmative Action Bill has been passed and we also commend the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Honourable Dakoa Newman for her immense contribution towards the passage of this bill. A big congratulations to all women’s rights CSO’s who not only contributed to reviewing the bill but played a key advocacy role on the content of the bill and its importance.
We would like to appeal to the President to assent the Affirmative Action bill into law as soon as possible to seal his commitment to advancing gender equity in Ghana.
Amnesty International Ghana looks forward to continuous engagement with members of the Affirmative Action Coalition, the State, partner CSOs and the media in the next steps following the passage of this Bill.
Amnesty International Ghana is a human rights organisation whose vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.