Gender Ministry discusses ending gender-based violence
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has held a national stakeholders’ dialogue in Accra on improving prosecution and adjudication of cases related to Sexual And Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
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The dialogue, which discussed the ‘Role of the judiciary’, was aimed at helping to end the incidence of SGBV in the country.
Statistics
Statistics indicates that out of about 3,000 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) sent to courts in 2013, only 7.4 per cent of the cases were convicted.
According to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), as of December 2013, 66 per cent of the cases were still pending in courts.
The dialogue organised by the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGSCP) brought together representatives from the judicial service, the GPS, the Attorney-General’s Department and some stakeholders.
SGBV project
At a press briefing after the dialogue, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said as part of a project dubbed ‘Ending sexual and gender-based violence in Ghana’, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) has signed an agreement with the ministry to the tune of GH¢1 million for a period of two years.
The project, she said, would ensure regular engagements with organised men’s groups to enhance their capacities to prevent and report the incidence of SGBV.
Nana Lithur said the project would also help to sensitise religious and traditional leaders to better understand the damaging practices and consequences of SGBV and build strong partnerships with the media to demystify SGBV for journalists.
Legal and policy framework
At the programme, she said the government had been working to strengthen the legal and policy framework to address gender-based violence in the country.
According to her, the Domestic Violence Regulations Instrument had been finalised and was being forwarded to the Parliamentary Subsidiary Legislation Committee for consideration.
The minister applauded the Judicial Service for setting up gender-based courts in Accra, Tema and Kumasi.
However, she said issues such as undue delay of cases, frequent adjournments and the lack of adequate forensic science test to help in investigation and evidence gathering were issues that needed to be looked into, to ensure that gender-based violence cases were successfully adjudicated.
She said the role of the police as investigators and prosecutors of sexual and gender-based violence cases, and that of the judiciary in adjudication, were very critical in combatting gender-based violence.
Strengthening the justice system
Mrs Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, who represented the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Theodora Wood, said to strengthen the justice system to address SGBV, the judiciary must deliver on its core mandate.
She enumerated some of the mandates to include deciding cases expeditiously, establishing more gender-based violence courts in the various regions and also to educate the public and other stakeholders on how their roles affected the justice system as a whole.
A Chief State Attorney, Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, who represented the Attorney General, Mrs Marrieta Brew Appiah-Opong, said for the criminal justice system in the country to deal with SGBV cases, it needed to be robust and dynamic.
However, she said there were gaps in the country’s legislations which needed to be addressed to ensure that justice was served to victims.
Ghana’s Chair on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Ms Hilary Gbedemah, said the commission had called on the country to, among other recommendations, put in place a comprehensive strategy to stop stereotyping in the country.
She said the root cause of SGBV was patriarchy.
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Margit Thomsem, was of the view that no matter the laws and regulations on SGBV, not resourcing the key actors adequately to perform their roles would erode any gains that would be made in ending the act.
• Writer’s email:rebecca-quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh
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