DOVVSU Affirms Commitment to Curb Domestic Violence

DOVVSU Affirms Commitment to Curb Domestic Violence

Daily Graphic; Tuesday, MARCH 16, 2010; Page 11 (Gender and Children)
Salome Donkor

Ghana has achieved gains in various areas, including education and development of national laws, policies and programmes aimed at championing the cause of women.

More and more people now understand that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal but the key to sustainable development, economic growth and peace and security.

However, there is the need to pay more attention to the needs of women and children in the country and women advocates, women groups and related agencies unanimously upheld this view as the world commemorated the International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8.

A statement from the Ark Foundation, a gender based non-governmental organization, to celebrate the day, pointed out that although legislation such as the Domestic Violence Act, Person’s with Disability Act, Human Trafficking Act, Labour Act, among others, which have been passed, as well as the Affirmative Action Policy Guideline, policies on health, particularly relating to maternal mortality and AIDS, there is still some work to be done.

Media reports indicate that, while there had been advances over the past years to enhance gender equality and the empowerment of women, with the establishment of Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service to expanded to all regional capitals, violence against women continue to be a problem in Ghana. The national prevalence of one in three women having being physically assaulted by an intimate partner still remains unchanged and statistic from the DOVVSU shows that violence against is still unacceptably high.

In support of the fight against all forms of discrimination against women on the occasion of the celebration of the International Women’s Day, the national secretariat of DOVVSU, on behalf of the Inspector general of Police, has reaffirmed the DOVVSU commitment to protect and promote the welfare of women by preventing, apprehending, and prosecuting abusers of women and children’s rights.

A statement signed by the coordinating Director of the Unit, Chief Superintendent Elizabeth Dassa, said “We celebrate their commitment to improve on the lot of their families, communities an the Ghanaian society at large and also seize this occasion to doff our hats to our dedicated stakeholders who have been consistent in the support of our efforts.’’

The statement said violence against women and gender-based violence were still rife in the society and such cases accounted for three-quarters of the over 95,000 cases so far recorded by the Unit.

It said Ghanaians should remember that violence against women and gender-based violence fragrantly violated the fundamental human rights of women and girls, as they impacted negatively on their survival and development and urged all to resolve to co-operate with the unit or any police station to arrest perpetrators.

Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions- A myth or reality?

Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions- A myth or reality?
Daily Graphic, February 11, 2010; Page 11
Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

A report of a recent research by Professor Luoise Morley and Dr Kattie Lussier of the University of Sussex, UK, that established that some male lecturers in Ghana and Tanzania “consider it their right to demand sex for grades”, has stirred discussions in various circles. The two conducted 200 interviews with academics and policy makers and 200 life-history interviews with students. They wrote their study after encountering widespread reports of sexual harassment suffered by female students during separate research on widening participation in the two countries’ higher education systems.

In a paper, Sex, Grades and Power: Gender Violence in Africa Higher Education, they said the “hierarchical power relations within universities appear to have neutralized a sexual contract in which some male academics consider it their right to demand sex for grades. This has led to the “constructive of negative female learner identities”, they added, and explained that “if women fail, this is seen as evidence of their lack of academic abilities and preparedness of higher education. If they achieve academically, this is attributed to prostitution”.

A survey conducted by the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) in 2003 defined sexual harassment as any unwelcome conduct, comment, gesture or contact of sexual nature, whether on a one time basis or a series of incidents, that might cause offence, humiliation, awkwardness or embarrassment, or that might reasonably be conceived as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment, opportunity for promotion, grades, etc.

Sexual harassment negatively affects a woman’s psychological and or physical well being and or leads to negative job or academic environment-related consequences for her. In the educational environment, the phenomenon which normally affects girls and women more than boys and men, has a potential to erode the future of many female pupils and students who are mostly the victims but do not have access to any counseling or channels for redress.

Professor Morley, Director of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research at Sussex and lead research, said sexual harassment in universities was not limited to Africa. “It’s a global issue,” she told Times Higher Education. “It’s about power and the abuse of power.” Professor Morley, who hopes to research the issue further, said the interview showed that sexual harassment had become “normalized” within some universities. Male students’ assumption about “prostitution” among their female peers “diminished women’s achievements,” she said recent findings by the United Nations suggest that sexual exploitation and abuse within schools is widespread but largely an unrecognized problem in many countries. The closed nature of the school environment according to the UN meant that students could be at great risk of sexual exploitation.

However the Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Prof. Kwesi Kwarfo Adarkwa, according to media reports, had denied that such a thing existed in that particular university. Prof. Adarkwa said female students were outperforming their male counterparts, adding that the university’s quality assurance office ensured students got quality education.

Some lecturers and students, however, think otherwise and a family life counselor and lecturer at the Engineering Faculty, Vincent Akwaa, said his encounter with female students indicate widespread harassment from male lecturer, and points out that some female students who were faced with academic challenges approached lecturers for such favours. Some students who were interviewed on a Kumasi-based radio station also confirmed that sexual harassment of female students by male lecturers was real. “It’s not a perception, it’s a reality. It goes on in every campus and the lecturers cannot deny it,” one student said.

The 2003 AWLA survey involved a total of 789 women respondents made up of 440 (56 per cent) workers and 349 (44 per cent) students. It called for awareness creation on this phenomenon and to combat the incident at the workplace and academic environment. It also recommended the need to formulate ‘based practices’ in the workplace and academia to minimize the incident of sexual harassment.

It also advocated co-operation between key players and stakeholders in a formal workplace environment and academia, and to sensitize the government to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment. Among some of the most common effects experienced by respondents in the AWLA survey were anger (48 percent), followed by surprise, disgust, indifference shame and fear. A total of 29 per cent of respondents said their experience of sexual harassment had a detrimental effect on the productivity and described loss of concentration, loss of interest, and low academic performance among other as some of the effects on productivity. Seventy-six respondents (15 per cent) expressed fear of losing their jobs or academic standing. When asked whether or not the experience had been reported to a superior person, 360 respondents (73 per cent) responded in the negative and 129 (26 per cent) responded in the affirmative. Only 19 per cent of the 129 respondents who reported the conduct to their superiors received a positive response. While 24 per cent of these respondents indicated that their harassers were queried.

The Women’s Commissioner on the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Ms Evelyn Ampomah Nkansah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said most tertiary institutions in the country did not have a sexual harassment policy to address such sexual advances in schools. According to her although some lecturers may be at fault, it could not be ruled out that some female students also indulge in the practice of ‘sex for grades’ because they did not want to learn.
According to her, such issues, when reported to the authorities, were normally dealt with as and when they happened without the schools having any proper or laid down guidelines to tackle them. The Women’s Commissioner said so far many of such reports were informal as students who became victims were not bold enough to report to the school authorities for fear of being victimized in their examination and therefore most of them suffer in silence.

As a way of helping to curb the issue, Ms Nkansah said her outfit undertook seminars and programmes on the various campuses to educate female students on their gender and reproductive rights, unsafe abortions among other, to ensure that the young ladies were empowered to know their rights sexually.

Most of the tertiary institutions in the country do not have comprehensive policies on sexual harassment and this therefore makes it difficult for such situations to be handled professionally. Also with the springing up of many diploma awarding institutions and private universities, the issues of sexual harassment has become more complex as it is difficult to track what goes on in all the institutions. Speaking to some heads of faculties in some tertiary institutions, the general consensus was that they did not have separate laws to tackle sexual harassment but that laws on sexual harassment were captured in the schools general policies that dealt with other issues such as drug abuse, misconduct, among other deviant behaviours.

A Human Rights Activist and Lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur, in a reaction to the UK survey findings said there was the need for tertiary institutions in the country to have separate policy guidelines on sexual harassment as the issue has become rampant.

According to her, the National Council on Tertiary Education which had oversight responsibility for the tertiary education in the country should come up with a law that would mandate all tertiary institutions to have separate policies on sexual harassment, since the issue has become a pervasive one affecting most tertiary institutions in the country.

She said international practices has clear policies on sexual harassment, which according to her were gender neutral and could be accessed by all. She explained that the issue of sexual harassment in schools has become one of power relations where the vulnerable ones had no alternative but to accept such proposals from their superiors. “We need such policies to give victims the provision on what constitute sexual harassment and how victims could report so that students who fell victims would be able to report to the school authority for the appropriate action to be taken.

Nana Oye said making a sexual harassment policy part of the general policy of an institution was not good enough and termed it as a “weak policy”, which according to her would not encourage students to report the conduct of their lecturers for fear of being failed or referred. She reinforced the AWLA survey which said “the fact that very few women will report sexual harassment to the police or to an investigative or advocacy institution suggests that the profile of these institutions must be raised so that more people are aware that they may bring complains to them. However, the ability of these institutions to deliver satisfactory responses to complainants must also be improved.”

Let’s protect victims of gender-based violence

Let’s protect victims of gender-based violence
Daily Graphic, Tuesday, 19th January, 2010; Page 6, (Gender and Children)
Adolf Awuku Bekoe

I was glued to my television set savouring the thoughtful and well-articulated responses to questions posed to President J.E.A. Mills by the media during his recent encounter with the press at the Castle.

Then came the turn of Eyram Acolaste of Metro TV. I was excited about her intervention because I had waited all morning during the encounter to hear something said for women and children.

Her concern to Mr. President was about the need for shelter for abused women and children and this was that I thought I heard Mr. President say, “We don’t have enough resources,” ‘what are our priorities?’ if what I heard was what he really said, then it is clear that victims/survivors of gender based violence are not a priority worthy of spending hard-earned national resources, on.

So it does not matter how often the Ministry for Women and Children’s Affairs inundates the Cabinet with the concerns of victims/survivors of violence, the Cabinet’s response would be “lack of resources.” The Cabinet must be a lonely place for Ms Dansua indeed! Many questions arose from the President’s comments.

Is the Cabinet-status position of MOWAC enough to secure women their fair share of the national cake? How influential is the voice of the minister? Is government really concerned about the safety of Ghanaians, particularly women and children? And finally, is there hope for the resuscitation of the Department of Social Welfare which has been in ‘coma’ for a long time and is now slipping off its life support?

If I were to rely on only the President’s interaction with the media for answers to the above questions, I would sink into a long period of major depression.

This is because, there was nothing to clutch on to optimistically respond to the above questions. The President’s responses did not offer hope for many women and children, who are wreathing in pain because of gender-based violence and homeless because they have no peace in their homes.

Worst still, others have become lifeless and bound for the cemetery because no one stood for them; Oh yes, with no money to build them safe houses, they could not defend themselves against the rage of their assailants, most of whom, unfortunately, are their intimate partners.

It is not my aim to proffer detailed answers to the above questions today, at a later date, I will attempt to do so, at least with the help of those who are in a position to tell me I did not hear the President right.

In the meantime, I would say that the President’s responses mean more than there is no money to build shelters. His declaration is a reflection of a deep-seated pedestrian attitude of policy makers to social welfare issues in the country.

Any wonder the Department of Social Welfare is in such a sordid state. The anguish, lamentations and sheer resilience of victims/survivors are enough to arouse any dead cell in me to stand with them. I am not alone in this regard; there are many advocates across the length and breadth of this country who are doing so much work with meager resources to affirm the humanity of victims/survivors.

I know some of you are busily finalising your work plans for the year and are devastating and humiliated by the President’s remarks as you dialogue with your donors.

To be fair to the President, every government must have priorities; so it is good to hear him talk about priorities. In the same vein, citizens have priorities based on which they are supposed to enter into a social pact with a political party that best articulates these priorities in an election year and vote them into government. Without doubt, I believe that the women of Ghana, convinced by their own plight and that of her children, voted for the Mills administrations so that they could be guaranteed safety. Safety, therefore, is a priority for women and children.

In the 2005 budget, the Australian government announced a Women’s Safety agenda programme at a cost of 75.7 million over four years. Five years down the line, a government under the leadership of a President, who not too long ago in New York extolled his government’s commitment to women’s empowerment, says there are no resources to protect women and children and protecting them is not a priority for his government.

Well, Mr. President, safety is a priority for Ghanaian women and children. Fortunately, your administration is not at the end of its term; in fact you are just a year into your term and you can quickly make protection for women and children a priority without losing focus.

Lest I forget, whilst the President says there is no money, the Dutch government has committed millions of euros over the next three years for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. Is domestic violence in Ghana the priority of the Dutch government? Why should the Dutch government sweat for the pepper Ghanaians have chewed? When at all shall we learn to put our money where our mouth is?

The President and his government must find money and build us shelters; this is what governments who care for their people do; they respect the laws of the land. Building shelters for abused women and children is a provision in the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732)!

Woman accused of witchcraft calls for justice

Woman accused of witchcraft calls for justice
Daily Graphic, Thursday, 13th January, 2010; Page 11, (Gender and Children)
Chris Nunoo, Wa

A 52-year old woman from Sokpeyiri, a village in the Wa West District in the Upper West Region, who was allegedly subjected to inhumane treatment by a soothsayer and two other persons is calling for justice.

The woman, Madam Sunkari Ghanyi, said she felt humiliated, depressed and demoralized when she was wrongly accused of being a witch and having a hand in the death of her husband’s relative for which she was forced to drink a concoction, which since had some psychological effects of her.

She explained that the concoction was made of the blood of a slaughtered fowl mixed with water and sand, as well as the chopped legs of a live taod.

Madam Ghanyi, who was in the company of some members of her family, called at the Wa office of the Daily Graphic to narrate her story, is, therefore appealing to the Chief Justice and human rights organizations to intervene in the matter so that justice would be done.

Amid sobbing, she said, “I feel I have been handed a raw deal by the Wa District Magistrate’s Court, which acquitted and discharged the three suspects involved in the matter.”

She said sometimes in the year 2008, the wife of her husband’s nephew had some compliations during pregnancy and dies while in labour together with her unborn baby at the Wa Hospital.

She said a few months after the death of the woman, her brother-in-law, one Bagabu Naa, who travelled to the southern part of the country at the time of the death of the woman, returned to Sokpeyiri and did not take kindly to the news of the death of the daughter-in-law.

She said Bagabu Naa, in the company of one Kojo Zineta, who was the guardian of the deceased, went in for a soothsayer known as Naasoyili Anderanaa to find out the cause of the death of the woman.

She said she (Ghanyi) were assembled by the soothsayer, who performed some rituals. She said the soothsayer first pointed at one woman as the one who caused the death of the pregnant woman but her children, who were around, protested vehemently as a result of which the soothsayer rescinded the decision.

She said after a few incantations, her pointed to another to another person, whose children resisted all attempts to blame their mother for the death of the pregnant woman.

She said the soothsayer then pointed to her as the main culprit who caused the death of the pregnant woman and her unborn baby.

She said because she did not have anyone to talk for her, she was not given a hearing after she and her son challenged the soothsayer, who, she said, by then had the total support of those present.

In ensuing hot exchanges, Madam Ghanyi said the soothsayer then claimed he was going to prepare some concoction for her to drink and that if she did not confess within three days she would die.

“He already had some liquid in a calabash and so he slaughtered a fowl, poured the blood into the calabash, mixed it with sand, and added the chopped legs of a live toad after which he (the soothsayer) asked me to drink,” she said amid tears, adding that for fear of her life, she had no choice but to gulp down the concoction.

Madam Ghanyi said when after three days nothing happened to her Bagabu Naa, her brother-in-law threatened to kill her and so shee run to Wa to inform a relative, who suggested that they report the matter to the police.

She said, the three, Bagabu Naa, Kojo Zineta and the soothsayer, Naasoyili Anderanaa, were charged after police investigations and processed before court but after almost two years of court sittings, the accused persons were acquitted and discharged.

She said the whole incident has affected her psychological and that she sometimes did not feel like a human being who deserved to live, adding that as a result of the threats on her life, among other accusations, she had been compelled to run away from Sokpeyiri for her safety.

*********

Blog Administrator's Question: If Madam Ghanyi's husband was alive, where was he throughout all this? Did he choose not to protect his wife but kept silent while Bagabu Naa and the others met out inhumane treatment to her? Has he abandoned her now? Has the justice system failed?

PRESS STATEMENT ON ALLEGED GANG RAPE OF FOUR GIRLS

Following the horrid news report on the alleged rape of girls in Nalerigu, in the northern parts of Ghana by some soldiers, NETRIGHT issued a statement to the press about these atrocities. Permission has been sought to share the press statement on this blog. Please read below:



NETWORK FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN GHANA (NETRIGHT)

C/O Third World Network-Africa
P. O. Box 19452, Accra-North
Tel: 233 21 511189/500419/503669
Fax: 233 21 511188
Email: netright@twnafrica.org
Mobilising for Women’s Rights in Ghana

STATEMENT TO THE PRESS ON ALLEGED GANG RAPE OF FOUR GIRLS

The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) is deeply disturbed by the alleged gang rape of four girls, aged between 15 and 17 at Nalerigu in the Northern Region by a number of solders and policemen who are said to have been deployed there to quell a public disorder. The story as reported on Joy FM on November 25, 2009 and also in the Daily Guide of November 26, 2009 comes in the wake of several other stories in the media about women and girls who have been subjected to a wide range of sexual violence including gang rape, beatings, torture with the possible threat of HIV infection. Such victims have sustained severe physical and emotional trauma and humiliation. Clearly we are living through a plague of brutal violence directed at women and girls with rape being used as a weapon of intimidation to instill fear in women and girls, in our families and our communities.

NETRIGHT is therefore using this platform to condemn this pattern of horrendous rape because violence is a wrong choice and as the evidence shows, sexual violence can transmit the AIDS virus. Thus for the girls who have suffered this brutal and unacceptable treatment, there is a double jeopardy: first they have been raped, and then there is the possibility of their contracting HIV/AIDS. What this pattern of behaviour shows is that violence against women and girls continue unabated in our country as we hear a story of rape or defilement almost every day. In this latest wave of violence, what is even more worrying is the link of rape with torture. In this particular story, one of the girls has alleged that she was tortured while being raped. Thus, the reality of this situation is that the girls – the victims – are definitely terrified, in tears, with broken relationships, liable to be stigmatized in their communities, and the attendant ill- health and psychological damage to them is extensive and irreparable.
The men who have committed this crime belong in prison. But NETRIGHT is concerned that vested interests will once again ensure the denial of justice to these young girls in the attempt to protect the perpetrators who are alleged to belong to powerful institutions such as the military and the police. We therefore urge civil society and women’s groups to condemn this rape and to demand justice.

We therefore demand:
* The safety and security of the girls and their families to be ensured;
* The victims and their families be allowed to exercise their fundamental rights of legal counsel of their own choosing in all proceedings related to the case;
* To be provided all medical care required for their well-being
* To interact freely with women’s rights and human rights organisations
* An inquiry to be held to establish why the military and the police went to that particular house where the girls live
* All proceedings to be made transparent, allowing observers from women’s rights and human rights organisations and doctors’ associations;
* The names of the perpetrators be made public and those of the victims protected;
* Those who obstruct justice to be apprehended and prosecuted under the law.

NETRIGHT insists that the military and the police are supposed to protect women and men in the society. However in many situations such as this, gender-based violence is overlooked, often due to the lack of implementation of existing legislation or by its being seen as a private matter. Implementation and enforcement of legislation is vital but it is also necessary to put a stop to laws that emphasise family reunification over the rights of women and girls. The government has a responsibility to intervene when there is systematic and widespread gender-based violence. By identifying violence against women as a national security threat, it increases the chances of preventing wider conflicts at an early stage.

NETRIGHT also has the conviction that gender-equal participation at all levels of society is key in order to assure women and girls’ security. We would therefore like to reaffirm our support for the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security, and Ghana’s Domestic Violence Law (Act 732) and call for their full and immediate implementation to benefit women and girls.

Issued this day, November 27, 2009 at Accra.

Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin
Convenor

Poor Economy gives grounds for domestic violence

Poor Economy gives grounds for domestic violence

Daily Graphic, Saturday, 28th November, 2009; Page 19, (News)
Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

The Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Emile Francis Short, has noted tat the resent economic situation in the country is fertile ground for perpetrating domestic violence.

“the current economic situation exerts pressure that can culminate in an explosive situation in the average home and lead to gender-based violence, with the least provocation serving as the last straw,” he said.

Mr Short said this at a ceremony orgainsed by the Ghana Human Rights NGOs Forum in Accra to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which forms part of activities marking 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (GBV).

The 16 days of Activism is celebrated internationally from November 25 to December 10 every year as part of efforts to end GBV across the world.

According to the CHRAJ Commissioner, there was need to educate the general public right down to the grass roots in order to inculcate attitudes acknowledging the dignity and worth of women.

He also called for the strengthening of institutional mechanisms so that women and girls could reports acts of violence against them in a safe and confidential environment, free from fear of penalties or retaliation, and file charges.

Mr Short also said that there was need to disseminate information on the assistance available to women and families who were victims of violence as well as develop programmes and procedures to educate and raise awareness of acts of violence against women that constituted a crimes and a violation of the human rights of women.

According to him, as a way of helping curb domestic violence, CHRAJ had established a specialized Women and Children’s Unit at its headquarters where it received and processed a myriad of cases that impinged directly on the rights of women and children.

He said in 2007, the commission received 1, 923 cases, as against 1,684 in 2008, with complaints in respect of wife battery standing at 66 in 2007 and 145 in 2008, adding that the situation was a clear indication that issues of violence against women were on the increase in the country.

The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Densua, in her keynote address, said the campaign to end GBV was a collective responsibility that required concerted efforts from all.

She said the ministry was ready to collaborate with all NGOs, parliamentarians and institutions to help curb GBV in the country.

A representative form the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Irene Oppong, in an address, said the unit handled 4,616 cases of domestic violence across the country.

Speaking on the criminal implications of domestic violence she called on the victims to ensure that they reported such cases early so that the evidence can be collected for prosecution.

In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said her outfit would come up with its industrial policy and sector support programme in which the economic empowerment of women would be addressed.

The President of the Ghana Human Rights NGOs Forum, Mr Peter Osei Badu, in an address said it recognized the global economic crisis and it adverse effects on developing countries but added that it would be a human rights abuse when budgetry allocation for human rights institutions such as CHRAJ were cut down, saying that would affect their activities in the fight against domestic violence.

‘Don’t force children into marriage’

‘Don’t force children into marriage’
Daily Graphic, Tuesday, 1st September, 2009, Page 11, Gender and Children
Maxwell Adomilla Akalaare

A Senior Investigator of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Mohammed Tiamiyu, has reminded parents that it is a criminal offence for them to force their daughters aged below 18 year into marriage. He made the statement at a day’s sensitation forum on domestic violence organised by the Department of Women at Palengu in the Talensi/Nabdam District in the Upper East Region.

Mr. Tiamiyu re-emphasised that the 1992 Constitution, as well as provisions of the Criminal Code, the Domestic Violence Law and the Children’s Act, protected all children, particularly the girl-child, against such practices that constituted abuse of their rights, and warned that the Commission and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service would not hesitate to prosecute perpetrators of such acts.

He said the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy made it mandatory for every child to be in school, adding that by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Children’s Act, a child is a person below age 18.

The acting Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Women, Madam Mercy Atule, said the country ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) was being hampered by various forms of domestic violence perpetrated against the vulnerable group, especially women and children.

She said since women formed more than 50 per cent of the nation’s population, the nation’s development would be hampered if women were not empowered with the needed resources and given the needed opportunities to participate in the development process. She [expressed remorse at] the cultural set up in some parts of the country gave undue advantage to men to discriminate against women and violate their rights.

Madam Atule explained that domestic violence referred to in homes and communities that had physical, traumatic and psychological effects on the victims. She said the regional office of OVVSU recorded a high incidence of domestic violence and forced marriages within the Pelungu community, and had therefore, decided to educate and sensitise them to their negative effects through the forum.

In speech read on her behalf, the Talensi/Nabadam District Chief Executive, Mrs Vivian Anafo, advised parent to desist from hiding under the pretence of poverty to forcibly send the daughter to the southern part of the country to work as female porters (Kayayee).

As part of the programme, a drama was performed by the Palengu Young Drama Group on the effects of gild-child elopement on education and the community as a whole.

Stop violence against girls

Stop violence against girls
Kofi Asare
Public Agenda, 31st August, 2009

Located at the heart of Central Regional capital, Cape coast is the Adisadel Primary and Junior High School, one of the most popular basic schools in Cape coast, a city regarded as the cradle of education in Ghana. Cape coast boasts of the finest education institutions.80 kilometres afar towards the northern part of the region is a community called Tintimhwe, a cocoa growing community with a basic school-Tintimhwe D/A primary school. Unlike the usual characteristic differences between rural and urban schools-quality school buildings, qualified teachers school library etc, there is characteristic similarity between the two schools in question-The lack of school toilets.

Perhaps another similarity, neither structural nor physical but attitudinal is that girls in both schools visit the bushes to attend to natures call whenever they are in school, and exposes them to the dangers of sexual and other forms of physical and psychological violence. This writer is convinced that among the regular patronizers of the bush (popularly called free range) are narcotics and alcoholics who care very little about sexual rights and the dignity of girls. The fear of the above also affects retention in school.

The Big lottery (U.K) Funded Stop Violence Against Girls in School project is concerned about making the school environment safer for girls through the institution and enactment of the requisite policies and legislations that focus specifically on alleviating violence tendencies against girls in school. On the occasion of Children's Day in Ghana, it is time to pause and reflect on the state of child protection, survival and development policies and practices in Ghana, with a central focus, Violence Against Girls in school.

Article 4 of the International Convention on the rights of the child, which has been ratified by Government of Ghana states that "The State shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present convention....With regard to economic, social and cultural rights which includes the right to education. The right of access to free quality basic education for all children, especially girls is fundamental to promoting the survival and development of children in Ghana. Of tremendous concern however are issues of quality and gender. Ghana missed out of the gender parity target of 1:1 in 2005 and has since not been able to equate the number of boys to the number of girls enrolled in school. The issue is similar when it comes to retention. Boys have a higher retention and completion rate in basic schools than girls and this affect the performance of girls in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

A careful observation and analysis of the situation indicates the lack of separate toilets for girls as a major cause of absenteeism for girls in schools. Adequate toilet facilities require the provision of separate and decent toilets and urinals for boys and girls in school. In 2008, the Ministry of Education reported that only 48% out of the total number of 13,247 primary schools have access to toilet facilities in Ghana with the highest proportion of primary schools with toilets (90%) in Tema and the lowest (10%) in Kintampo South District. At the Junior High School Level, only 52% of public schools had toilets with the highest (93%) in Dangbe West in the Greater Accra Region and the lowest (9%) in the Juabeso district in the Western Region.

The absence of toilets for girls does not only affect school attendance but also contributes to the denial of their right to dignity and quality education. The national completion rate for boys at the primary level is 91% whereas that of girls is 79% which suggests that boys have 10% additional chances of completing primary school than girls. This is the reason why the gender parity ration is 1:0.96 as against the target of 1:1 that was missed as far back as 2005. The situation is attributed mainly to the absence of a comprehensive and operational infrastructural policy of the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, enventhough the ministry claims there exist one on the face but has seen little or no implementation and coordination.

The result of the apparent laxity in implementing and coordinating the said policy (if it exists at all) is to blame for the over 16,000 basic schools without toilets. Before i proceed to make any recommendations to the Government, i would like to humbly request of the Ghana Education Service to inform Ghanaians on what it has been up to all these years, until the realization that up to 48% of our basic schools have no toilets. Did this happen overnight? ...What about the past Parliamentary Select Committees on education and gender? .... And the Ministry of Women and Children. Were they aware our children, especially girls had no toilets in schools, and still expected them to pass and pass well? If they were aware, what did they do? What about the District Chief Executives who have led this county in the past....How did they feel in awarding school contracts that had no toilets at all? Children are a vulnerable group...with no voice and whose rights need to be protected and provided for. In that respect any person who attempts consciously or ignorantly acts in a manner as to deprive them of their right to dignity, development and survival cannot escape without blame.

This year's Children's Day should signal the time for action. First, no recommendation will work until our institutions are strengthened and do act professionally .Ghana needs strong institutions who can prevent even an N.G.O from building a school in a locality just because it has no toilet facility in its design ; a Ghana Education Service that can prevent District Assemblies from building schools without separate toilets for girls..or a Ghana Education Service that can lobby and advocate for the inclusion of girl friendly facilities at the District Level. This is what we need.....An Education Service that can leverage the political interest of politically motivated DCE's and the real development needs of the child ,especially girls...and a Civil Society that can monitor District Assemblies to make sure they implement infrastructure policies of the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Education should collaborate with the GETFund, Social Investment Fund, International Donors and other funding agency in basic school infrastructure to adopt a common school design which includes separate toilets and changing rooms for girls. The support of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education could be sought n this respect, to facilitate the harmonization of institutional interests between the Ministry of Local Government , Education, Women and children. This should not be left for the Infrastructure Coordinating Unit of the Ministry. It should be at the Ministerial level with the participation of the Infrastructure Unit. After interagency consensus has been achieved on the policy, the Infrastructure Unit may now commence the actual work for which it was set up-monitor and coordinate compliance of District Assemblies to the infrastructure policy. The unit may seek a court order to prevent any District Assembly from putting up any school building without strict recourse to the infrastructural policy for basic schools.

What about the over 16,000 schools already built without toilets? District Assemblies should be encouraged to come out with collaborative strategies to construct separate toilets for girls in such schools. This could be done by community-District Assembly partnerships where the DA's will provide cement and roofing sheets for such projects, with the communities donating labour, wood, and other local resources available. On children's day, the 31st of August, the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition as part of the Stop Violence Against Girls in School project wishes to entreat all and sundry to renew our commitment as a nation to making the school environment and the world a safer place for children. Long Live the Children of Ghana. Long Live Education For All. Long Live Ghana.

‘Don’t settle rape, defilement cases at home’

‘Don’t settle rape, defilement cases at home’
Daily Graphic, Thursday, May 7, 2009 (Gender and Children) Page 11
Naa Lamiley Bentil

An Executive Board Member of the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ghana, Mrs Chris Daadzie, has advised traditional authorizes to discourage the practice of settling rape and defilement cases at home. Rather, she said, they should assist paralegals who are being trained by the federation to channel such cases through the formal system for proper redress to be sought for the victims.

Mrs Dadize, who was speaking at a durbar of chiefs and queens at Nungua to outdoor 30 paralegals for the Ledzkokuku Krowor Municipality, also appealed to the traditional rulers to review all forms of negative customs and traditional practices that violated the rights of women and children. “In spite of increasing reports by law enforcement agencies of sexual abuses, serious criminal offences, including rape and defilement are still no channeled through the appropriate legal system,” she said.

The 30 paralegals, made up of people with various educational backgrounds, were selected from the community and taken through a one-week intensive training on the Domestic Violence Act, the Children Act, Interstate Succession Law and other legal mediation training to equip them to resolve some of these cases and also serve as a point of referral on issues that might be beyond them.

According to Mrs Dadzie, Ledzkokuku Krowor was selected because of the high incidence of teenage pregnancy, school dropout rate, streetism and the high prevalence of domestic violence again women and children.

The federation, she further explained, selected the municipality because of a seemingly lack of knowledge by residents of where and how to seek justice for these abuses. She explained that the work of the paralegal was voluntary, so the Ledzkokuku Krowor Municipality Assembly would have to provide them with a meeting place where members could meet and share ideas in order to sustain the programme.

Another issue that came up was the menace of child maintenance. Mrs Dadsie said it was regrettable that although child maintenance was one of the major issues covered by the Children’s Act, many women continued to bear the burden of maintaining their children.

The Presiding Member for the Ledzkokuku Krowor Municipality Assembly, Mr Raphael Borketey Bortey, commended FIDA and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) for selecting the areas as the first beneficiary of the programme in the Greater Accra Region.
He observed that the work of the paralegals would improve women’s access to resolving issues legally, and stressed that, “The paralegals will bring the laws to the doorsteps of the community.”

Statistics for the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), he said, indicated that domestic violence was still a major problem in the country and that an estimated number of 708 female children and five boys were defiled between January and December last year.

Women’s Coalition urges action on Domestic Violence, Disability Laws

Women’s Coalition urges action on Domestic Violence, Disability Laws
The Ghanaian Times, Wednesday, May 6, 2009, Page 11
By Times Reporter

A coalition of non-governmental organisations advancing women’s right issues in the country, has urged the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) and Employment and Social Welfare to expedite action on the implementation of the Disability Action Act and the Domestic Violence Act, to help address specific concerns of women.

The NGOs are Network for Women’s Rights (NETRIGHT), the Coalition for Women’s Manifesto in Ghana (WMC) and the Coalition on Domestic Violence in Ghana (DV Coalition).

The coalition made the appeal when a delegation of NGOs called on the Minister for MWAC, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, in Accra.

Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, who led the delegation, also stressed the need for effective management of the oil find to promote gender equitable development in the country. Dr Mensah-Kutin said the NGOs were committed to advancing the cause of women in the country, and therefore there was need to collaborate with the ministry in that regard.

Ms Dansua thanked the group for the visit and assured them that the government was committed to implementing its plans for gender development, saying, “The government had already shown commitment by implementing the Disability Act and by also setting the Disability Council.”

Ms Dansua said the ministry would work assiduously to ensure that gender issues were mainstreamed in all aspects of governance.

Happy Women's Day

Hello blog readers,

Today's International Women's Day. The global United Nations theme this year is, "Women and men united to end violence against women and girls."

In celebration of women and their achievements all over the world, I would like to refer you to a resourceful website dedicated to International Women's Day, highlighting events taking place all over the world during this period. Please click on the logo on the upper right hand side to link the the website.

Happy Women's Day,
Akofa Anyidoho.

Training workshop organised for DOVVSU

Training workshop organised for DOVVSU
Daily Graphic, Thursday, July 10, 2008. Page 11 (Gender & Children)

A three-day training workshop has been organised for 35 newly posted staff to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.

A released issued by the Public Affairs Officer of DOVVSU, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Freeman Tettey, said the course was sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

It said that participants were lectured on the rights and protection of children, child abuse, child labour and domestic violence. The release said the other topics were on Interviewing and Counselling of Victims and Perpetrators of Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, Children and Juvenile Justice Acts, Investigating Child related cases, Data Management and Coordination of Domestic Violence activities were also taught.

It said the Director-General of the Human Resource Development of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police Mrs Joana Osei Poku, charged DOVVSU staff to discharge their duties towards the public with professionalism. It said that she urged them to ensure that perpetrators of domestic violence were brought to book whilst at the same time offering full protection to all victims of abuse.

The release said Mrs Osei Poku assured that public that DOVVSU would continue to champion the cause against domestic violence and all forms of abuses. It said she entreated the victims and witness to report perpetrators of abuse to the unit.

It said the Co-ordinating Director of DOVVSU, ACP Mrs Beatrice Vib-Sanziri, asked participants to practicalise their newly acquired skills on domestic violence cases. The release said Mrs Vib-Sanziri expressed appreciation to UNICEF for its continuous assistance to the unit particularly in the areas of logistics and capacity building.

It said forms of assistance she believed had brought the unit to this level, winning public confidence to the point of its nomination bas one of the few government institutions to win the presidential award.

It said a child protection specialist with UNICEF, Mr Eric Okrah, emphasised the importance of networking with all service providers in the field domestic violence. The release said he, therefore, asked participants to endeavour to be actively involved in a recently established Child Abuse Network which was aimed at forming a coordinated and comprehensive network for all interest groups and individuals. It said Mr Okrah also emphasised the importance of proper documentation of all domestic violence cases by the unit to enable the trend to be properly monitored and controlled.

It said certificates were presented to the participants.

Women enjoy being beaten by their male partners?

Women enjoy beatings by husbands
The Ghanaian Times, Friday, June 20, 2008. Front Page
Sandra D. Nyamkye

The Ghana Multiple Cluster Surveys (MICS) 2006, was on Tuesday launched in Accra, with a startling revelation that women generally accept beatings by their husbands.

The survey indicated that 47 percent of women believer that men beating their wives are justified.

The MICS is a nationally representative multi-purpose household survey developed to gather information on some indicators of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The survey provided up-to-date information for assessing the situation of women and children in the country.

Speaking at the launch, Prof. Nicholas N. Nuamah, Deputy Government Statistician, was surprised that some women were not bothered by the maltreatment meted out to them by their husbands and even go to their aid when arrested. “It is very shocking that a higher percentage of women than men justify wife beating, with the highest proportion of women in rural areas than the urban areas,” he said.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said that women in the Northern regions, especially the Upper West region are the highest victims of wife beating while the Greater Accra region was the lowest. He stated that with the help of MICS, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has been able to conduct survey that will help the country in attaining its MDGs.

Dr, Yasmin Hague, United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Resident Representative, who threw more light on MICS said the MICS was originally developed by UNICEF to measure progress towards an internationally agreed set of goals that emerged from the 1990 World Summit for Children. She said that the first round of MICS was conducted around 1995 in more than 60 countries.

The second round, she added, was conducted in 200 with increasing wealth of data which, she said, aided the monitoring of the situation of women and children in the country. “MICS presented an excellent opportunity to both monitor and provide baselines for UNICEF’s interventions in the country,” she added.

The MICS 2006 highlighted some positive results as it was revealed that more than three quarters of children between the ages of one and two received appropriate immunisation from health centres. Dr Hague said more than three quarters of the population have access to improved sources of drinking water and more than 90 percent of pregnant women have received medical care from health centres.

Major (rtd) Courage Quarshigah, Minister of Health, commended GSS and UNICEF for the hard work done. He appealed to them to help find a solution to the treatment of malaria, adding the cost of malaria burden in 2006 alone summed up to 762 million dollars.

Coalition monitors implementation of DV Bill

Coalition monitors implementation of DV Bill

Daily Graphic, Saturday, April 19, 2008, Page 17 (Women’s World)

Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

After making contributions successfully agitating for five years for the passage of the Domestic Violence Law (DV Law), gender activists in the country have not relented their efforts to ensure peace in the domestic setting. The activists who formed the DV Coalition, constitute a pressure group still monitoring the implementation procedures of the law and are calling for a speedy implementation of a National Plan of Action (NPA) to make the law effective.

The DV Law which was passed by parliament in February last year after a lot of consultations and education had been done by both government and gender activists, offers protection to people in the domestic setting.

The law, among other things, provides for setting up of a management board to see to its enforcement, calls for the establishment of a fund for victims of domestic violence and the provision of temporal shelters for them.

After the passage of the law which makes the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs the implementing ministry, a series of consultations had been organized by the ministry which brought on board members of the DV Coalition and other stakeholders, including the police. The consultative meetings were aimed at drafting a plan of action and that was finalized during the last meeting held earlier this year.

To ensure that provisions made in the law are implemented, members of the DV Coalition on Thursday organised a luncheon where they invited the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama and some officials from her ministry to brief them on the progress so far made with the drafting of the NPA for the implementation of the DV Law.

The luncheon was sponsored by the Ark Foundation, a member of the DV Coalition and the National Advocacy Project (NAP), a project put together by the Ark Foundation aimed at bringing together relevant stakeholders in the government and non-governmental agencies for the provision of a holistic and effective response to violence against women and children and domestic violence in general.

The meeting was attended by the minister and her Chief Director, Mr. Valentine Kuuzumi, the acting Director of the Department of Women, Mrs. Francesca Phobee-Hayford, Mrs. Marian Tackie, a Chief Director of the ministry and Mr. Emmson Daniel Kattah, Director of Policy, Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation. They were quizzed by members of the coalition on how far the ministry had initiated a plan of action and the establishment of a management board as prescribed by the law.

They also wanted to know how much money had been allocated into the implementation of the DV Law by the ministry as well as how much donor support the ministry had received with regard to the implementation of the DV Law. The Chief Director introduced the action Executive Co-ordinator of the DV Secretariat, Ms Christina Ankamah, who has been appointed by the ministry to oversee the management of the DV Secretariat.

Touching on some of the issues raised by members of the coalition, the Chief Director assured the coalition the management board had been formed and assured them that they were awaiting the President’s nomination to serve on the board for it to be inaugurated.

On the issue of funds, Mrs. Phobee-Hayford said an amount of GH¢ 1.7 m has been earmarked for the implementation of some provisions of the DV Law this year, saying that the ministry has allotted an amount of GH¢ 1,226,00 to the secretariat while the Netherlands Embassy has pledge a three year fund of 1.2 million Euros to support the law.

She said the ministry was still in the process of mobilizing funds and that the United Nations Development fund (UNDP) and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) were also getting on board. She said for this year, the ministry has drawn up 50 activities that would be undertaken with regard to the implementation of the DV Law.

The Minister said the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have been sensitised to the issue of gender budgeting and that the ministry would ensure that MDAs adhered to the directive which she said had been adopted as a national policy.

Improving Women’s access to Justice-

Improving Women’s access to Justice-

Relevance of Alternative Dispute Resolution

Daily Graphic, Thursday, March 27, 2008. Page 11 (Women’s World)

Salome Donkor

The issue of three ‘royal’ widows of Mo who have undergone widowhood rites for more than nine years as a result of a feud between three gates of the Mo Stool, which has been pending before the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs for nine years, continues to draw condemnation from human rights advocates. The widowhood rites would end only when a new chief is installed to perform the final funeral rites of the late chief, Nana Kwaku Dimpo.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kintampo North, Mr Stephen Kunsu, reportedly described the practice being perpetrated in the name of culture, as inhuman and said it had brought to the fore the need for negative aspects of the country’s culture to be discarded.

Despite constitutional provisions that guarantee the rights of men, women and children, a number of women continue to be falsely accused and incarcerated in “witches’ camps” or “prayer camps” where they are held to “deliver” them of evil spirits.

These seem to give credence to the assertion that women as daughters, mothers and wives face several challenges in their efforts to access justice in both rural and urban areas due to a number of factors such as illiteracy and poverty.

The Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) Ghana maintains that whether they come from a matrilineal or a patrimonial family background, women go through daunting challenges within the country’s existing legal systems to get justice.

This, the organisation says, is in relation to matters concerning domestic violence, property acquired with a partner or entitlement due to inheritance, access and control to land or relating to a third party seeking maintenance, custody or paternity of a child. Within the government’s development agenda and various international agreements, one critical factor that requires consideration is women’s access to justice.

According to WiLDAF, under the country’s plural legal system where both customary and statutory laws work side by side to offer flexibility and individual choice, the ordinary woman is confused because she is often unsure which system of justice she should pursue. For a woman in the rural area, her best option is to use the customary legal system, which in most cases is “patently patriarchal and often not in her favour”. Should she choose the state legal system, she is confronted with challenges of physical access to a court of law and low economic power to hire the services of a legal practitioner.

Access to justice has many components and WiLDAF talks about three. The first is access to government or civil society sponsored legal aid services, which include access to information about legal rights and responsibilities, legal counselling, advice and representation, physical access to structures and mechanisms and the application of constitutional provisions on human rights and legislation to ensure justice for all manner of persons, irrespective of their social, political, economic or cultural standing.

To deliberate on the challenges associated with women’s access to justice, WiLDAF Ghana, in conjunction with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) organised a dialogue in Accra to focus on the special case of women and their access to justice. Similar dialogues will be organised in Kumasi and Takoradi.

Linked to these discussions, the dialogues will also focus on how women’s access to justice affects their participation in the country’s development process, and focus on women as a special group because of the challenges that confront them in their daily quest for justice in one conflict or the other.

To critically examine a number of important concerns within the country’s legal system, presentations by the panellists at the forum in Accra touched on topics including women seeking State Legal Aid Services: Successes and challenges; the role of Muslim and Christian religions in women’s access to justice; promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution in Ghana - Implications for women’s access to justice and the “Police Service Ensuring Women have Access to Justice, Gains and Challenges”.

Deliberating on the topics, the issue of settling disputes amicably at the community level with the involvement of Female Traditional Leaders (FTL) to safeguard the interest of women, cropped up and that also led to the essence of setting up Community Mediation Centres (CMCs) in parts of the country.

A write-up on CMCs states that they provide a platform where individuals or groups in dispute could resolve the dispute with the assistance of a trained third party neutral, referred as the Mediator.

The CMC is the initiative of the Legal Aid Scheme, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The centres handle civil cases such as tenancy issues, employment disputes, family conflicts, maintenance and custody of children and such minor criminal cases that are permitted under the law such as assaults, acts tending to disturb peace, neglect of dependants and cases referred by the police, the courts and other social service providers.

The objective of the CMCs is to offer an alternative to adversarial, cumbersome and expensive means of conflict resolution to improve access to justice for all people within the community and to create awareness about mediation centres as a preferred alternative to the centres.
All these are geared towards promoting peaceful co-existence among members of the community, facilitating communication between those engaged in dispute and providing dispute resolution centres in the communities in order to offer the platform for those engaged in dispute to create their own solutions to their differences.

Dwelling more on promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution in Ghana and its implications for women’s access to justice, a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Kwadwo Arua-Appiagyei, said both the normal legal system and the traditional system of justice have not helped much in the promotion of women’s access to justice.

He explained that the problem with the traditional system of justice is that it operates in a society that is patriarchy controlled while the normal legal system is slow and complex and discourages women, especially those in the rural areas, from seeking justice under the system.

He said the next alternative is to widen the scope of Alternative Dispute Resolution and give gender training to the adjudicators to make them effective in promoting women’s access to justice.

The participants, however, cautioned that criminal cases, such as rape, defilement and incest are not to be dealt with under the traditional dispute resolution system but by the law courts.
The non-governmental organisations should help in training traditional leaders to appreciate the need not to mediate in such cases. They also called for the empowerment of women financially to address concerns that are raised by some family members in relation to the upkeep of children when a spouse is convicted for a criminal offence.They also called for an end to trial by ordeal under the traditional mediation scheme since it infringes on the fundamental human rights of victims.

The Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Mission, Maulvi A. Wahab Adam, shared his thoughts on Islam’s attitude towards women’s rights and the role of the Muslim religion in women’s access to justice in an address read on his behalf by Amtush Shakoor Karim, a lecturer at the University of Ghana. He said certain precepts and practices of present day Muslims cannot be said to represent the letter and spirit of the Shariah.

He made reference to Safiah, who was accused of adultery by a Shariah Court in Nigeria, which claimed that in Islam, punishment for adultery is death by stoning.
He said although he made a demand on all Muslim scholars and jurists in Ghana and across the world to cite one single verse of the Holy Qur’an to support their contention, since 2002, not a single verse had been cited from the Holy Qur’an to substantiate that claim until today and questioned the basis upon which Safiah was sentenced to death by stoning in the name of Islam.
He maintained that if the claim was true then justice demanded that the man who impregnated Safiah should also be stoned to death, but ironically, there was complete silence on that aspect of the prescribed punishment.

He stressed that severe sanctions, including suspension from the community, and where necessary, ex-communication await intransigent men and women.

In her presentation, the Queen of Juansa, Nana Afrakoma Boatemma, who touched on some challenges facing women who seek redress to disputes under the customary law, said in family related cases, the customary process for the resolution of such disputes are mediation and arbitration.

She said considering the cost of accessing the courts, especially for women, most of whom are poor and not well educated, there is the need to strengthen the ability of traditional authorities and sharpen their skills in dispute settlement to enable them mediate effectively in such matters, and generate their interest in such cases as well as to make their views heard.

In her presentation, Chief Superintendent (Mrs) Jessie Borquaye, Accra Regional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service said the unit seeks, through its outreach programmes, to prevent crimes against women by educating them on their rights, what constitutes domestic violence, how to identify potential perpetrators and where to locate DOVVSU .

She said one major challenge facing the unit is that some women who report cases at against their husbands turn round to beg for their release and this happens when especially, family or church elders meet and the women are compensated and also advised to forgive the men for the sake of their children.

To achieve gender equality, target men

To achieve gender equality, target men

The Ghanaian Times, Tuesday, March 20, 2008. Page 8

Yela Awunyo-Akaba –Through My Looking Glass

Our laws say women and men are equal but in reality, several disparities exist in the equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. As we work towards eliminating all forms of gender based discrimination, we’re apt to ignore the underlying reasons that make men perpetrators of abuse against females.

Sure, we have the Domestic Violence [Law] and [have] established DOVVSU but more incidents of rape, incest, wife beatings and other forms of harassment make their way into the news daily. If trends in the West with stricter enforcement of human rights laws can service as a yardstick, we are losing this war.

Few of our gender initiatives focus on men as the engine of changes even though our male dominated society offers the enabling environment allowing all forms of discrimination to thrive. Presently in Ghana, large proportion of women from all socio-economic backgrounds remain economically dependent on their male partners and most legislative decisions and social norms are crafted by male political, religious and traditional leaders.

In recognition that it’s still mainly a man’s world, how should we be navigating the struggles to level the playing field for both men and women? We’ve burnt our bras to signal an end to traditional restrictions, campaigned for equal pay, contraception and reproductive rights and criminalised abusive behaviour successfully. It wil be diffucltu to find too may Ghanaian men who can publicly win a debate justifying biases against women. But still the prejudices abound despite all the noise we make about it.

The perpetrators have taken their activities underground and unless activists change their strategies, we will make no further progress. It seems our widespread vilification of men as the cause of women’s woes has produced a generation of young men who will not voice any contrary views about female empowerment for fear of being labelled bigots.

I realised that the male students in my Gender and Health class were reluctant to rock the boat during our class discussions. They expressed their outrage about the existing traditional practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM), the trokosi system, child marriage and harmful widowhood rites. Missing in their opinions however was the male perspective on abuse, power sharing within marriages and bridging the gender divide.

Since I cannot understand why a man will beat a woman he loves or why he would be reluctant to succeed encourage his wife to succeed in her career, I would appreciate some candour from our men. The debate should not be skewed to represent what the women want but what men should have the courage to express their true opinions about female empowerment.

Though a woman, I believe it is unfair that men have limited rights to their unborn child and cannot override medically sanctioned abortion if the woman favours one. Our courts are more likely to offer an ex-wife primary custody of a child and we more easily dismiss reports of spousal abuse committed by wives.

Even if such situations remain in the minority, the absence of activists urging all of us to consider, the situation from the male point of view leaves our gender policies and positions seriously flawed. The cracks show up because our mothers still feel unable to leave an abusive relationship even when social support is available. Career women are more likely than men to be single, divorced or childless? The rising rates of violence against women also tell us something is wrong with our action plan.

The law to punish perpetrators have been tightened and advocacy efforts have increased awareness within the general population. The main method used to stop the violence against women and children is criminal prosecution and incarceration. While it is necessary to punish wrong doing especially when it violates others’ human rights, the statistics should tell us the status quo is not working.

All the men who perpetrate any form of abuse were once innocent babies incapable of hurting a fly. Along the way, they morphed into hulks capable of harming the women and children in their lives. Why have we not clamped down on the mothers who excuse every form of unruly behaviour in their sons with the pet phrase, “boys will be boys”? Isn’t it mothers who hold their little girls and allow their genital parts to be mutilated and together their husband give their young girls away in early marriages?

Many of these gender initiatives that have made any headway enjoyed the approval of the men at the helm of affairs. Even before the trokosi system was outlawed, advocates who were often male held extensive discussions with fetish priests. They sought to sensitize the priests to the detrimental effects of enslaving girls and persuaded them to accept alternate forms of compensation. This led to series of consultations with the deities and painstaking back and forth dialoguing before the priest agreed to release their slaves.

The increased reportage of FGM cases in northern Ghana was largely due to the advocates who sought the support of chiefs and opinion leaders in these areas to champion their cause. When the leaders understood the health and emotional risk of FGM, they endorsed the arrest and prosecution pf the practitioners.

If we get past out opinion that most men are Neanderthals incapable of changing their ways, we can then begin to solicit their views to help end all forms of discrimination against women. It is possible that because of the socialisation our men, we have to try to effect behaviour change using other means than aggressive confrontation? It is possible if we begin to look at abuse as a crime that affects even the perpetrators, we can encourage men to seek help instead of concealing their weaknesses?

Whenever abuse or violence occurs within a relationship or family, its far reaching repercussions affect all of is as a society. We can choose outright condemnation or include male participation as a key component in our initiatives for change.

Woman beats up Husband …at arbitration

Woman beats up Husband …at arbitration

The Ghanaian Times, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. Page 17 (Front Page)

Anita Nyarkoh

Official of the Domestic Violence Support Unit (DOVVSU) trying to settle a dispute between a husband and wife could not believe their ears when the man told them that he left home because his wife had been assaulting him. But as proceedings were going on to reconcile the, the wife, Yaa Serwaa, 38, slapped her husband (name withheld) twice compelling the DOVVSU officials to immediately arrest her while her husband was given a medical form to enable him attend hospital.

Disclosing this to the Times yesterday, Inspector Irene Oppong of the Unit said last Tuesday, Serwaa reported to DOVVSU that her husband had abandoned the family. Upon this, the husband was invited to report to respond to the accusation.

On Thursday, March 13, when the husband reported at the Unit, DOVVSU officials sat the couple down to arbitrate the matter.

After Serwaa had narrated her grievances, and her husband responded that her left home because he could not withstand the wife’s beatings, Serwaa allegedly slapped him twice on the cheek. As if it was not enough, she shouted in Akan; Yereko fie a, mebo wo asen sei which literally translates, “I will beat you more when we are going home.”

Narrating his ordeal to DOVVSU, the man said during the first fives years, his wife hit him anytime there was a misunderstanding over housekeeping. He said when her was involved in a car accident and had to use crutches, his wife would take his crutch form him and hit him with it when there was a misunderstanding.

He said fed up with the situation, he left the marriage home eight months ago to rent a house at Dansoman where his 20 year old daughter has been visiting him to collect money for the family upkeep. Asked why he had all the while not reported the matter to the police, he said it was because he thought his wife would change.