Monrovia – A commissioner of the Independent National Human Rights Commission said the identification of signals that leads to future conflicts is important in preventing violence and must not be overlooked.
Wilfred Gray Johnson said a reform in policies would create an avenue for persons with disabilities, especially those who are visually impaired to equally participate in the elections in October.
This, according to him, must be highly encouraged as it would prevent potential violence during the elections.
He named some of the signals as hate speeches, harassment and intimidation, as well as distances of polling centers from towns and villages as indicators that violate human rights and preventing them, must be a concern for all.
Gray-Johnson said he believes having polling centers in far distances would deny a good number of people who may not be able to walk those distances from participating in electoral activities.
“We are considering the possibilities of persons with disabilities to have extra consideration during the polling day, pregnant women and young breastfeeding mothers as well as persons above 60 years,” Gray-Johnson said.
According to him, the commission is considering working with the National Elections Commissions in finding a way so that visually impaired persons can be able to vote without being helped by anyone.
“You could say I want to vote for somebody else but the person who’s helping to mark for you wants to vote for another person, so he or she could place your finger to the person of their choice. So how could you know that you voted the person of your choice?” he pointed out.
He said amicable measures need to be worked out to create independence in the exercise.
He named the electoral reform law as a cardinal tool that should be looked at ahead of October’s elections as it has the potential of leading to human rights violation.
He noted that the electoral policies within this law do not include the participation of persons with disabilities as polling workers and civic educators.
He expressed the need for political parties to include in their platforms issues of economic, social and cultural rights as well as women, youth and vulnerability issues in upholding a peaceful election in October.
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