[women-rights] UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women to visit Ghana

UNITED NATIONS Press release
2 July 2007

Prof. Yakin Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations
Human Rights Council on Violence against Women, its Causes and
Consequences, will conduct an official visit to Ghana, at the invitation
of the Government, from 7 to 15 July 2007.

During the visit, the Special Rapporteur will meet with Government
authorities, civil society representatives, United Nations officials and
individual victims of violence against women. The Special Rapporteur plans
to visit the Greater Accra Region, the Northern Region and the Volta
Region to gather first-hand information on the situation of violence
against women in the country. The mission, which will focus on domestic
violence and other social and cultural practices that are violent towards
women, is meant to assist the Government and civil society in their
efforts to address these human rights concerns.

Based on the information obtained during the visit, Ms. Ertürk will
present a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council containing her
findings and recommendations.

Ms. Ertürk, Professor of Sociology at Middle East Technical
University in Ankara, Turkey, was appointed Special Rapporteur in 2003.

For more information, please go to
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/index.htm