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.

Where are the Rescued Sex Trafficked Victims?

It is not clear from the report below the nationalities of the missing rescued women or girls from Operation Pentameter, but we do know that the European sex industry is fueled by girls, women mainly trafficked from Africa, Asia and some Eastern European countries. Are the world law enforcement and 'rescue' agencies well equipped to deal with the rising number of women and girls, men invlolved in sex slavery and are the post-rescue efforts strategic?

Sex trafficked victims ‘missing’

Daily Graphic, Tuesday, February 5, 2008. Page 11 (Women’s World)

The UK government does not know where the majority of sex-trafficked women rescued as part of the two national police operations are, BBC Wales has learnt. Operation Pentameter, launched by the Home Office in 2006, aimed to free an estimated 4,500 victims of trafficking forced to work in the sex industry. It was also designed to catch the criminals responsible for the exploitation.

But a BBC Wales “Week in Week Out” investigation has revealed serious concerns that it is not delivering. Operation Pentameter One resulted in 88 victims being rescued, but Vernon Coaker MP, a Home Office Minister, admitted to programme-makers he did not know where the vast majority were.

“I don’t know where all the 76 actually are, but what I do know is that they will have been dealt with in the appropriate way,” he said. He said he did not know how much public money had been spent across Wales and the rest of UK on Pentameter One or Pentameter Two-which followed a year later on. Nor could he tell the programme how many victims had been rescued in total.

The admission comes in the wake of a high-profile court case last week, involving brothel boos Diana Jones, who ran a string of illegal operations in Cardiff and Swindon. She was prosecuted as part of Pentameter, but there was no evidence of trafficking and the judge said no one at her brothels had been harmed.

In the “Week in Week Out” programme broadcast on Monday evening, she gave an insight into the illegal operation which police said turned over ₤3m. The programme reveals how it is business as usual throughout the investigation.

The court heard the brothels had run with at least some police officers knowing what went on behind closed doors-something the force had contested in court. When challenged in the programme about whether South Wales Police officers had “turned a blind eye” to Diana Jones illegal operations, Assistant Chief Constable Giles York said: “I do not know what is the minds of my officers, but what I can tell is the she has been prosecuted now, and it was a successful operation and she’s pleaded guilty to it.”

He said he believed Pentameter had been a success in his force area with five victims rescued, and nearly ₤500,000 recovered from offenders. He said his officers will continue to pursue Diana Jones for the money she made from her illegal activities. She was given a suspended prison sentence for brothel keeping and faces financial ruin. She was investigated after taking two trafficked eastern Europeans women to police for safety.

“I think Pentameter had all the right reasons for starting the operation off, but in terms of success, and capturing traffickers, no, they got far more success from people in the sex industry, in the know, passing information on” she told the programme. -BBC

‘Red Card’ to Trafficking of Women and Children

‘Red Card’ to Trafficking of Women and Children

Daily Graphic, Thursday, January 24, 2008. Page 17 (Women’s World)

Naa Lartiokor Lartey

International sporting events have become fertile ground for human trafficking and sexual exploitation. This is in view of the fact that some women and girls find themselves among the large number of visitors who travel to countries where such events are held, become victims of the forced sex trade while others may be lured by false promises of lucrative temporary work or abducted from their countries.

Documented patterns of flagrant trafficking of children and women for prostitution during the 2006 World Cup tournament in Germany, as well as reported increase in recruitment of children for prostitution in South Africa in the 2010 World Cup, create a dire picture.

It is for this reason that before the commencement of the ongoing Ghana 2008 tournament, a number of individuals, organisations and human rights groups warned that sporting events should not become a major factor for anti-social vices, such as human trafficking and commercial sex activities.

The call seems not to have made the desired impact following media reports that activities of prostitutes, including children below 18 years, have intensified and brothels, drinking spots, tourist attraction sites and part of host cities have become breeding grounds for prostitution and sexual abuse of children.

An effective awareness campaign is a primary component of addressing human trafficking during international sporting events and Ghana has launched similar campaign dubbed, “Red Card to Trafficking of Women and Children during Ghana 2008,” in Accra.

The “red card” can be seen as a centrepiece of any awareness campaign for international football tournament, as it is both attractive and useful to football fans. The simple message, “Red Card to Trafficking of Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation,” sends a clear message that could be easily misunderstood by the vast majority of participating countries, including hosts and visitors, as it will be stated in both English and French.

The front part of the card is red and associated with the reds cards given to players who severely violate the rules of the game and are disqualified from further participation. The back is yellow, which stands as a warning and will have the complete schedule of Ghana 2008 on it.

The “red card” will serve multiple purposes to all and will remand everybody that sexual exploitation of women and children has no place in Ghana 2008. The card can be used throughout the games for participants to constructively indicate to referees when they feel that a red or yellow card should be or was appropriately given to a player and it will be kept as a souvenir of the games and as a continuous reminder of the issue.

A similar awareness camping was carried out successfully in Germany during the 2006 World Cup, and other football events.

One ways of distributing the “red cards” is adding it to every ticket purchased or handing them out at the gates of the stadia as spectators enter them.

Speaking at the launch of “Red Card” against trafficking, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Mrs. Angelina Baiden-Amissah, said the government was actively implementing the Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) 2005 and would hesitate to punish all those who indulge in human trafficking. She stressed that the issue of both internal and cross-border trafficking would not be taken lightly during the Ghana 2008 event and beyond. She said though Ghana was considered a source, transit and destination of victims of trafficking, the perpetrators would be dealt with by the laws of the nations.

Touching on the response dot the government to the challenges of women and child trafficking, she mentioned the ratification of the West African multilateral agreement on Women and Children (Abidjan 2005) and the International Labour Organisation Convention No.182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in June 2003.

Others include the launch of a 5-year time bound programme to eliminate the worst form of child labour and the passage of the Domestic Violence Bill in to an act in February 2007.

The Programmes Officer of Enslavement Prevention Alliance-West Africa, Mr Moses Kanduri, said if strong preventive measures were not put in place prior to and during Ghana 2008, the resources of the government and NGOs might not be sufficient to cope with the pos-event consequences of human trafficking. According to him, the rise in HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) levels is a correlating factor to international sporting events, especially when nationals from higher prevalence areas attend such events in large numbers.

The National Programme Co-ordinator of the International Labour Organisation, Mr Matthew Dally, said apart from drugs and arms, human trafficking was the next lucrative job world-wide and appealed to the law enforcement bodies to enforce the law against human trafficking to its fullest during the Ghana 2008 and beyond.

He said 1.2 million children are trafficked annually world-wide and between 200, 000 and 800,000 are in West Africa. He described the act as a modern day slavery where children were being bought like a commodity and resold to others.

He said there was need for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the rescue and prevention of child trafficking to strengthen and co-ordinate their activities to avoid duplication. He also called for regular training for the judiciary on human trafficking in order to enhance their knowledge on the subject to enable them to help to stop the offence.