By Anthony Apubeo, GNA
Bolgatanga, Aug 20, GNA – Stakeholders at a
forum in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region have called for a collaborative
and holistic approach to end gender-based violence.
They said gender-based violence particularly
domestic abuses against women were still prevalent in many communities
especially in the rural areas and there was the urgent need for synergy between
state institutions, Civil Society Organisations and community leaders to tackle
the phenomenon.
The forum was organised by the Widows and
Orphans Movement (WOM), a gender empowerment advocacy organization, with
funding support from Action Aid Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation, to give
women the opportunity to share their experiences with mandated state
institutions in an effort to find solutions to them.
Ms Fati Abigail Abdulai, the Executive
Director, WOM, explained that the event was to create a platform for the women
who were mostly victims of domestic violence to interact with each other and
human rights state institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights and
Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit
(DOVVSU) and Department of Social Welfare.
It was meant to create awareness of the
women about the existence of such institutions and how they could contact them
whenever they were being abused, she said.
It would further contribute to the
attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals particularly goal five, which
is on gender equality and women empowerment and eventually promote inclusive
sustainable national development.
The women’s groups were drawn from the
Talensi and Nabdam Districts in the region.
Mr Edmond Alagpulinsa, the Regional
Principal Investigator, CHRAJ, said with domestic violence and gender based
abuses, women particularly widows were the most vulnerable “about 90 percent of
gender-based violence cases reported to CHRAJ in the region are against women”,
he added.
He said people were attached to their
socio-cultural belief systems and attributed it to lack of education and
sensitisation and therefore called for effective partnership among major
stakeholders to address the canker.
Mr Gabriel Azagsa, the Nabdam District
Officer, Department of Social Welfare, said the most worrying issue in some
communities of the district was high teenage pregnancy and added that most of
the time the men involved could not marry the girls due to cultural barriers.
He said the department was currently
handling 15 of such cases particularly girls who were under the age of 18
years.
Police Inspector Godfrey Quaye, the Regional
Station Officer of DOVVSU, Ghana Police Service, who schooled them on the
Domestic Violence Act of 2007, Act 732, said defilement, rape as well as
physical abuses were cases that were frequently reported.
He demystified the perception held by many
people that the police would break their families even more if such cases were
reported and said officials at the
office were trained to offer guidance and counseling to parties who had
misunderstanding.
He said there were no charges involved in
reporting cases to the office for redress and encouraged victims of abuse to
report to DOVVSU offices for solutions.
WOM, with support from Action Aid Ghana has
over the years, worked in the Upper East Region to promote gender equality,
fight dehumanising cultural practices against women such as widowhood rites and
domestic violence among others.
GNA
