By D.I.
Laary, GNA
Wa, Sept. 26, GNA – Madam Asibi Malonin, the
Acting Director of Domestic Violence at the Ministry of Gender, Children and
Social Protection, has called on religious bodies and traditional authorities
to accommodate the concerns of victims of domestic violence.
She said the situation where victims are being
“pushed back” to their perpetrators after lodging their complaints was not
helping survivors of such situations.
Madam Malonin, who was addressing
representatives of Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) in the Upper West Regional
Capital, said domestic violence remains a serious crime and its scope was still
widespread in the country.
The meeting was organised by the Gender
Ministry in collaboration with Christian Council of Ghana under the theme:
“Mainstreaming social protection into the activities and policies of FBOs in
Ghana”.
“Domestic violence (DV) is a crime, it’s a
serious crime, it has debilitating effects on the victims, parents, the
community and the larger society,” Madam Malonin said.
“Let’s not push back victims of domestic
violence to their abusers, it’s not helping us, survivors are often helpless in
such situations and so need empowerment,” she said adding: “Let’s listen and
take their stories and assure them that they can function again”.
Madam Malonin called on the FBOs to make
follow-ups when DV cases were being reported to them before issues concerned
escalate into the “explosive stage” that may result in deaths.
She cautioned religious leaders and
traditional authorities against handling rape and defilement cases saying those
ones are very serious cases that should be reported to the appropriate state
agencies for swift intervention.
She said those cases should not equally be
handled at home and warned that perpetrators could be jailed for a minimum of
five or a maximum of 25 years.
Madam Malonin expressed worry that Ghana at 61
years many still did not recognise the importance of educating the girl child
who often fall victim to abuses like educational, sexual, social, economic and
psychological stresses among others.
She said “preventing abuse is one way of
achieving social protection results,” and that no one deserves to be beaten,
hit, battered, abused or harmed as this would make them live in perpetual fear.
Madam Malonin urged FBOs to document cases of
domestic violence and use their pulpits to preach against the social canker.
Alhaji Baba Dawud, the Spokesperson for Upper
West Regional Chief Imam, called FBOs to incorporate issues of social
protection into their weekly, monthly and yearly programmes.
He urged leaders to get acquainted with the
devastating consequences of violence and use relevant quotations from the Holy
Quran and Bible to back their summons.
Others called for the setting up of vocational
training centres in all the districts of the country, particularly to train
Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).
GNA