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03_V1_OAK_SEPT22.qxd The Oakville Beaver, Friday September 22, 2006 - 3www.oakvillebeaver.com ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Models and actors ages 4 and up! Model & Talent Search Canada will be conducting Free Auditions in Oakville on September 27 at the Hilton Garden Inn on South Sheridan Way at 6:00 pm Call 1-800-929-5581 to fi nd out more about this exciting opportunity! If you've ever dreamed of becoming a model or an actor, then you need to be at these FREE auditions! Kate Barrie, ON Radio Free Roscoe Lindy Oakville, ON Cry Wolf Kaitlyn Chilliwack, BC FOXY Jeans Campaign David Toronto, ON Parent Magazine Ryan Toronto, ON Armani Campaign Morgan Vancouver, BC Crayola Crayons FREE AUDITIONS ■ By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Child labour, gender inequality and accusations of witchery are among the human rights issues cur- rently affecting parts of Ghana. That's what Oakville's Jenny Becker spent her summer investi- gating. To finish off her honours degree in International Development at McGill University, the 23-year-old spent three months working for the Ghanaian government's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, specifically evaluating the state of women's and children's rights. "There's a lot of problems of forced marriage, people inherited as property, a lot of child labour. Child abuse and child neglect is a big prob- lem, especially in the very poor areas," said the Loyola grad, who returned from the three-month stint at the end of August. "But on the whole, the abuses of women and children in Ghana aren't that bad in comparison to other countries. I expected it to be worse, to be quite honest." Becker, who just started her Masters in Poverty, Conflict and Reconstruction at the University of Manchester, heard many human rights abuses first-hand from the Ghanaian people. "We'd visit farms and other sites with questionnaires and speak to people, mainly investigating child labour," she said. "You'll still find a lot of children working on farms. That's quite common." More than anything else, it was the child labour in Ghana that really struck Becker. "I didn't realize the extent to which children are used. I think Ghana's economy would literally grind to a half if you forbade children from working," she said. "They work in the fields, long hours, work on the streets. During the school year, they only have half-days during harvest- ing. "The extent of child labour is probably the only thing that really shocked me." Most of the human rights viola- tions in Ghana occur in the north, which is also the poorest part of the country. The office Becker worked out of was based in the centre of Ghana, in the Ashanti region. "It was a cross-section of the problems the country is dealing with. In the south, it's quite devel- oped and women have a lot of rights, they're quite empowered," she said. "As you get further north, it's not the case. It's quite the opposite. "In the north you have every- thing from forced marriage, genital mutilation, you have problems with women being banned from partici- pating in public action." It was Becker's job to analyze how effective the Commission on Human Rights and Justice was in targeting women's and children's rights, and in dealing with complaints. "It's a really good organization, but it doesn't have any money," she said. "There are very few people working there, so it's difficult." As a result, the commission relies on complaints from Ghanaian peo- ple whose rights are being violated. The problem is, many women aren't able to file complaints. "In the north, there's a lot of men forbidding women to make com- plaints. They're told they'll either be disowned by their family, or that a complaint is considered grounds for divorce," said Becker. "You have a problem with women coming for- ward." Even religious leaders in Ghana have been telling women it's wrong to report any abuse suffered at the hands of their husband or family, she added. "It's more a problem of people needing to know their rights. Educating people is important, and that's happening now. The problem is actually getting better." Another problem the country faces is an old Ghanaian cultural practice: labeling people as witches. "They'll call elderly people or children witches if they're bad or misbehaving, or even disabled" said Becker. "I had a couple cases of kids being locked away in rooms and beaten because they were witches." Oftentimes, these 'witches' are ostracized from the community and form their own communities, which Ghanaian people call 'witch camps.' "It's really hard, because even in the south where it's quite advanced, people believe someone can be a witch. It's a cultural tradition, you can't tell people they're wrong. "You have to convince them that, ok, they may be witches, but they shouldn't be kicked out of the com- munity." These are just some of the issues Becker was evaluating in Ghana, in addition to investigating an MP for corruption and abuse of office. "It was a really interesting and fun experience, I had a great time," she said. "The people in Ghana are probably some of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. As a culture, they're absolutely amazing." Of Ghana's future, Becker says things appear to be heading in a pos- itive direction. "There's a lot of international involvement in the north, and I think the more economic develop- ment, the better it will get all around," she said. "It's moving. In about 10 to 12 years, I would put Ghana as a middle-income country, and no longer a developing country." -- Krissie Rutherford can be reached at krutherford@oakville- beaver.com Charting human rights violations in Ghana Jenny Becker spent her summer vacation examining the rights of women and children in Ghana HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Oakville's Jenny Becker is seen here beside a map of Ghana, where she spent three months on an internship to finish her honours degree in International Development at McGill University. Becker prepared a report for the Ghanaian government evaluating the state of women's and children's rights in the country. RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER