RIGHT TO DIGNITY & PRIVACY - MEDIA VIOLATIONS

1992 Constitution - Article 15.
   (1)    The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.
   (2)    No person shall, whether or not he is arrested, restricted or detained, be
            subjected to -
                 (a)  torture or other  cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
                 (b)  any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from
                       his dignity and worth as a human being.

Very often, media houses capture and broadcast images of arrested persons in Police custody for news purposes in blatant disregard to the individual's right to privacy.

The 1992 constitution in Chapter 5 outlines the inalienable rights of all citizens of Ghana including right to liberty - privacy, life, Speech, etc. These rights are further averred by International Conventions on Human Rights of which Ghana is signatory to. 

Many countries in pursuit of its virtues have further enacted laws to entrench the fundamental rights of citizens typical of which is the United States, that have severally amended its constitution to safeguard the fundamental rights of its citizenry.

These inalienable rights, by their nature are defended mainly through media crusade and the Judiciary.

However, the media, contrary to the expected, posture to blatantly violate an individual's Right to Privacy and dignity through public broadcast of persons arrested and in police custody. Such injures the course of liberty and dignity.

The role of the media in a quest to bring to societal bear, the  dynamics of crime and its trend through broadcast is appreciable, however, must be circumspect lest may end up institutionalizing impunity in reference to violating the right to dignity.

Truly, a convicted person may have aspects of his/her rights suspended by the State but for persons merely arrested and kept in Police custody or awaiting trial have their rights intact until otherwise determined.

A person is presumed innocent until beyond all reasonable doubt proven guilty by a competent court of jurisdiction and so for the media to initiate steps to broadcast a person suspected of a crime and in Police custody is pre-judicial, reckless and dehumanizing. The victims are forthwith branded as social misfit prior to the commencement of a trial.

The propaganda potency of the media can't be withstood by individual members of society, and so for such vile apparatus to be unleashed at the vulnerable in open connivance with supposed law enforcement agency (Police) is unacceptable and sinister.

Furthermore, there exist tendencies that persons are set-up unto crime scenes, arrested and then the media swiftly invited to actuate the whims of some faceless diabolic individuals. It is easily accomplished in a society where media coverage of events is mainly motivated by “soli” or a token. To be blunt, the tendency of some media houses to compromise their ethics in satisfaction of its pay masters threaten the prominence of Justice. In simple but strong terms, such practice of privacy and dignity violation and blackmail through reckless media broadcast of suspects in Police custody must cease.

The Media Commission must as well up its regulatory role and urge a halt to such inappropriately blunt broadcasts since damage associated with such endeavors is irreparable. 

Moreover, I hope for a day that article 14 (1) & 15 of the 1992 constitution shall be tested and interpreted by the Human Rights Court.

~ atiemo