Ministry urged to speed up LI on Domestic Violence Act
The Member of Parliament for the Tano North Constituency, Ms Freda Prempeh, has appealed to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to speed up processes for the drafting of the Legislative Instrument (LI) to operationalise the Domestic Violence (DV) Act.
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Making a statement on the floor of Parliament to commemorate the 2014 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, Ms Prempeh said, “Enacting anti-gender violence laws alone would not help us reduce violence against women and girls,” adding that perpetrators of gender-based violence must not continue to have a field day.
Globally, November 25, every year, is set aside as the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as part of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence which is commemorated from November 25 to December 10.
Statistics
According to Ms Prempeh, for the first half of this year, about 231 cases had been filed at the Gender-based Violence Court out of which 70 per cent were defilement cases but due to the absence of an LI, prosecutors handling such cases were facing several setbacks.
She said the passage of the DV Act must be complemented with viable and vibrant social service systems and institutions.
She said, “As a country, we need to strengthen our social service systems, social welfare institutions and security agencies such as Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service (DOVVSU), to cater for victims of domestic violence, and more importantly educate the public on the repercussions of violence against women”.
She also appealed to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to establish more Community-Based Action Teams (COMBATs) across the country particularly in areas where gender-based violence was more prevalent, to sensitise the communities and also provide support to victims of violence.
The MP said, “Admittedly, significant progress has been made in the fight to eliminate violence against women and girls around the world since the Beijing Declaration almost 20 years ago. This notwithstanding, the fight is far from over. Violence against women and girls still continues to be one of the most widespread violations of human rights. The statistics are nerve-racking”.
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Effects of violence
According to Ms Prempeh, the effects of violence on victims were far-reaching and devastating, saying that women who were battered suffered from a variety of medical problems, depression and chronic pain.
She said violence reduced the freedom of women and girls to access education, work, recreation and essential services, adding that it restricted women’s participation in political life and often limited their participation in national, regional and global advocacy and policy exchange fora.