Danish team interacts with Gender Minister
A nine-member delegation from Denmark, led by the Danish Minister for Trade and Development, Mr Mogens Jensen, on Friday paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Nana Oye Lithur, to find out more about the mandate of the restructured ministry and its strategy to achieve its mandate.
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Some topics discussed at the meeting included the status of women, the ministry’s priorities for 2014, with focus on gender based violence (GBV), and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), the new Danish strategic framework for gender equality in development corporation, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues.
The meeting, which was at the request of the Danish team, also discussed the restructuring of the ministry and the Affirmative Action Bill.
Mandate of MoGCSP
Addressing the delegation, Nana Oye said the MoGCSP’s mandate was to ensure gender equality through mainstreaming gender considerations, promoting the welfare and protection of children and empowering the vulnerable, excluded, aged and persons with disability through the use of social protection interventions to achieve national development.
That, she said, was being achieved through gender equality and equity, the facilitation and enforcement of the rights of children, and the promotion of the integration and protection of the vulnerable, excluded and persons with disability in the development process.
Nana Oye also mentioned that the restructuring of the ministry was aimed at ensuring gender equity at all levels, as well as the rights and welfare of children and the co-ordination and harmonisation of all social protection interventions.
“It is also to ensure effective policy formulation and co-ordination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation,” she added.
Nana Oye said the ministry also intended to address challenges with respect to finances, human resource, infrastructural and resource gaps critical to the achievement of the overarching mandate of the ministry.
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MoGCSP 2013 achievements
Nana Oye said the ministry, in 2013, drafted and validated the Comprehensive Restructuring Plan and Performance Management Framework to reflect its new and expanded mandate.
That, she said, was to enhance performance and service delivery at all levels.
Additionally, she said the ministry drafted the National Gender Policy to address gender equality, equity and empowerment of women for national development.
On gender equality and equity, Nana Oye said the ministry sponsored the drafting of the Affirmative Action Bill, co-sponsored the Intestate Succession and Property Rights of Spouses bills and initiated the process for the validation of the Domestic Workers Regulations, among others.
Appeal for support
Nana Oye, therefore, appealed to the Danish team for technical and financial support in tackling gender-based violence as per the mandate of the ministry.
She said currently, the prevalence of gender-based violence in the country was quite worrying, especially the issue of spousal murders and the sexual abuse of young girls and boys.
“We realised that at the beginning of the year we had about six or seven cases of gender-based violence and rape which even ended in a victim getting fistula.”
“So it’s a top priority for us as a ministry and we need to complement government’s effort by getting some financial and technical support,” she said.
She also urged them to extend their support on the global platform in calling for one specific goal dedicated to GBV which would include issues relating to gender-based violence employment and other opportunities for women and even access to economic resources such as micro credit and banking in terms of the economic empowerment of women.
The Danish Minister
For his part, Mr Jensen said the relationship between the two countries had developed over the past years and there was the need to deepen such collaborations.
“We stand as two countries with one principle of promoting human rights and we believe that every person in a country has the right to be who they are,” he said
He also commended the work of the ministry and efforts by the government to promote human rights in all sectors of national development.
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Mr Jensen said the people of Demark were ready to do everything it could to provide assistance to the ministry and would also cooporate closely at the international stage to promote the rights of women.