The Law and Women Programme (LWP), has been launched at the Taifa Station in Accra to promote women’s rights and enhance their welfare. The organisation operates by listening to the needs and frustrations of women and dealing with their problems through the use of the Jaw. According to the founder of the organisation, gender and governance advocate, Ms Mary Ohenewaa Afful, women must know their rights under the laws of Ghana and also know that there were government institutions or legal aid agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) established to help them with their legal problems. She mentioned institutions such as FIDA- Ghana, the Department of Social Welfare, the Women’s Initiative for Self- Employment (Vv1SE), the Legal Aid Board and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CRRAJ), stressing that women must also know that there were provisions in the 1992 Constitution that provided for the protection and welfare of women and girls’ rights. Speaking at the launch, Ms Afful, who is also an international education and event management consultant and private legal practitioner, said the laws of Ghana also frowned on violence against women and children and pointed out that sections 97-111 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) also protected women against offences such as rape, defilement, abduction, female genital mutilation (or cutting), ritual servitude, widowhood rites and neglect. She observed that there were customs and traditional beliefs which had, over the years, helped keep women under subjugation and made them feel generally inferior to men and incapable of operating at the same level. She mentioned some of those practices as child marriage, polygamy, widowhood rites, issues related to inheritance, high fertility and female circumcision. She said in addition to measures such as the government’s intervention in the form of legislation, there was the need for sustained education, both formal and non-formal, as well as the institution of measures to empower women economically, and appealed to traditional rulers and heads of religious bodies to help deal with those problems. Ms Afful said it had always been her desire to help women and children and specifically mentioned the rural woman, the needy, voiceless, disabled/physically challenged, vulnerable, homeless, orphans and abused persons others are deprived communities, children in correctional centres, psychiatric patients, street children, victims of domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment, poor and malnourished children. Established in May 2010, LWP seeks to bring women from very different backgrounds together to share their experiences in suppression and discrimination, discuss their common problems and opportunities and learn about their rights. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana