By Ama A.A. Baafi and Cindy D.M. Asamoah
Women’s rights advocates have said forced evictions should be avoided as much as possible. They have urged that where they have already taken place, it is imperative that the state provides protection and fulfills the housing rights of citizens as contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Ghana ' s domestic laws do not currently afford adequate protection against eviction; the government has not laid before parliament the ICESCR for domestic ratification as required by section 75 of the 1992 Constitution.
This would have provided a legal and policy framework to guide agencies, particularly state agencies in the course of their work on evictions issues.

Ghana is party to the ICESCR, as such she has voluntarily taken on specific legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights as enshrined in each of these treaties without discrimination.
Forced eviction is defined as the permanent or temporary removal against the will of individuals, families/communities from their homes/land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to appropriate forms of legal or other protection.
A human rights-based approach to housing envisions that everyone everywhere is entitled to adequate housing or else a violation of this central right can lead to violation of other rights.
Ms Sylvia Noagbesenu of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), an non-governmental organization involved in women and their housing rights observed that in the case of women not all forced evictions are large scale and often times, they take place at the instance of family and community members.
“During evictions women are in a particularly precarious position. Its human cost and trauma is bad on women and families; they suffer discrimination in finding alternative housing, etc. Women suffer gender specific physical, economic, social and psychological harm ".
Speaking at a day ' s workshop for media personnel in Accra, she complained that physically, women experience rape, sexual assault and battering during and after forced evictions; and economically, evictions halt income generating activities such that they can result in utter destitution for women who are sole economic providers, as well as, their children.
COHRE in collaboration with Women Media and Change (WOMEC) organized the workshop to share knowledge on housing and land rights of women and to examine the opportunities and challenges in reporting such issues, and subsequently scale up reportage.
According to Ms Noagbesenu, “government should develop master guidelines, or pilot projects for the resettlement of the slum dwellers.”
She said plans should allow evictions to occur in phases and according to a person's ability to find alternative accommodation. Reasonable time is to be given before the eviction and for security reasons, slums along railway lines and roadsides should be cleared but inhabitants should be resettled elsewhere according to the guidelines.
Indeed, while the primary responsibility to protect persons from forced evictions is ultimately held by states, international law does not relieve other entities from obligations in this regard, in particular international financial and other institutions or organizations, and transnational corporations.
Statistics show that one third of the world's women are homeless or live in inadequate housing units. While they perform two-thirds of the world's total working hours, they own less than one percent of the world's property.
Women and children make up eighty percent of the world's estimated fifty million refugees and internally displaced persons. The right to adequate housing is defined by the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as “the right of every woman, man, youth and child to gain and sustain a secure home and community in which they live in peace and dignity".
Sadly, the inheritance systems in most African countries including Ghana generally discriminate against women and girls. The common practice is for men to inherit family property.
The rights of African women to land, housing and property are clearly recognized in international, regional and national conventions and constitutions, but they are yet to experience the practical benefits of access, ownership and control of land and housing.
In Africa, there is a clear gap between the theory and practice of these laws because cultural, social, and economic hindrances deny women their rights to own landed property.
 Madam Agnes Kabajuni, also of COHRE, corroborated that housing rights of women in Ghana is an issue that deserve to be more visible.
“That is where the media comes into the picture. An enhanced and strong collaboration between the media houses and individual journalists is very crucial in ensuring visibility of women's concerns and violations related to housing and land. "

Source: Public Agenda