Mr Gilbert Onyango, Regional Director, UPR Info Africa, said one of the key elements of the UPR was creation of awareness among the public, which the Ghanaian media has been upholding.

He said the media plays a pivotal role in putting duty bearers on their toes to ensure the implementation of UPR recommendations.

"The Ghanaian media is doing very well in getting the public informed about the UPR. I think you are doing a great job and you deserve a great commendation," Mr Onyango remarked in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-lines of an UPR workshop for journalists in Accra.

The UPR is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC) aimed at improving the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 193 UN Member States.

Under the mechanism, the human rights situation of all UN member states is reviewed every five years.

The workshop was organised by the POS Foundation, which serves as the Secretariat for the Ghana Human Rights NGO Forum, and the UPR Info Africa Office, Kenya, in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and the UN Office in Ghana.

The over 50 participants were schooled on the UPR, human rights and the role of the media in promoting human rights.

Mr Onyango said at the end of the third UPR meeting in November 2017, Ghana accepted 212 recommendations out of 241.

He said the team was in Accra to support Ghana to develop a strategic plan for the implementation of the UPR recommendations it had accepted.

He urged the media to continue to hold duty bearers and the government accountable to the people and also to the international community.

Mr William Nyarko, the Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA), said his organisation is monitoring the implementation of the 212 recommendations accepted by Ghana.

He said there were three main recommendations that were made to Ghana for the UPR on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT).

“One was that Ghana should legalise same sex marriage, which Ghana rejected. The second was that Ghana should decriminalise consensual same sex relations. This relates to portions in the criminal code, criminal offences act; which criminalises unnatural carnal knowledge, which is basically not that it criminalises homosexuality but it is when people have sex through an unnatural means, Ghana rejected that.

He said Ghana was told that there had been reports of violence against LGBT people in the country and steps must be taken to protect their rights; however, Ghana gave the assurance that the 1992 Constitution provided protection for all people.

Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director POS Foundation and Vice Chairman Ghana Human Rights NGOs Forum, recounted that Ghana’s human rights record was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), UPR Working Group (WG) in May 2008 (first Cycle) and in October 2012 (second Cycle).

He said the country underwent the third Cycle review on 7th November, 2017 and received 241 recommendations.

He said in the draft report of the UPR WG, 200 recommendations enjoyed the support of Ghana while 41 were noted.

He said during the formal adoption that took place in March 2018, Ghana accepted an additional 12 recommendations (10 accepted and 2 partially accepted) out of the 41; which brings the number of the total accepted recommendations by Ghana to 212 out of 241, while 29 recommendations were noted.

Mr Osei Owusu urged the Ghanaian media to continue to champion the promotion of human rights in the country.