THE 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign that starts on November 25, which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The celebration, which is a global campaign to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international level, ends on December 10,
Human Rights Day.
This year’s theme is “Let’s challenge militarism and end violence against women” and Ghana has adopted the sub theme “Engaging men and boys to end gender-based violence”.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence started in 1991 at Rutgers University and is a global campaign that seeks to mobilise communities worldwide to end all forms of violence perpetrated on the grounds of gender.
The campaign is an important reminder of the many opportunities that could be used to combat violence against women and gender inequality. This is in view of the fact that one in three women globally will experience sexual or physical violence in her lifetime, according to the United Nations.
During the 16 Days of Activism, Amnesty International’s focus is on ending violence against women and girls in five countries: Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Syria and Sudan, with regional actions being undertaken to mark the event.
Survivors tell story
In Ghana, records from the Accra Region Police Command, indicate that 1,466 cases of child sexual abuse were recorded in the first nine months of the year in Accra as against 1,392 cases for the whole of 2013. Women and girls suffered sexual, verbal, emotional and psychological abuse at the workplace, in schools, homes, communities and even on the street.
Traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, tribal markings, accusation of witchcraft levelled against women, Trokosi and forced marriage are some of the practices which cause physical, emotional and sexual suffering to women.
Some of the common ways of abuse is the use of belts, sticks and the hand or combination of all these to beat women which resulted in fractures, bruises, wounds and sometimes death.
A study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in June 2013, also revealed that intimate partner violence was the most common type of violence affecting 30 per cent of women worldwide.
As Ghana joins the rest of the world to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence in Ghana, men and boys have been urged to join the fight against gender-based violence.
Narrating her ordeal at the launch of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence in Accra on Tuesday, a middle-aged woman with four children said she was abused sexually, verbally and physically persistently by her husband after she had gone through a caesarean session.
According to her, efforts to report the husband to the police yielded no positive results as officials of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support of the Police Service (DOVVSU), did not give the case the needed attention.
In another story, the father of a seven-year old girl said his daughter was defiled by a 57-year-old man.
Another parent said a 24-year-old man who was a close friend to the family defiled her seven-year old daughter after he asked her to escort him to buy ice cream for her.
Speaking at the launch of the day, the deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Della Sowah, said gender-based violence against girls and women was a crime which should not be tolerated.
Men and boys needed
While acknowledging the fact that sometimes men were being abused by women, Mrs Sowah said women were mostly the victims of the inhuman acts of sexual abuse and gender-based violence.
According to her, the media, men and boys had major roles to play in ending sexual and gender-based violence since they had a greater voice and could serve as effective change agents.
“It is important to involve men in the campaign against sexual abuse and gender-based violence because they are mostly the perpetrators of the act and also effective change agents,” she said.
She added that men and boys should be made to understand and appreciate issues constituting gender-based violence.
She added that accusation of women as witches was a harmful practice which needed attention to stop the violation of their rights, adding that a national stakeholder’s conference to discuss the issue would be held this month.
In his welcome address, the Chief Director of the ministry, Mr Kwesi Armo-Himbson, said “perpetrators of the gender-based violence have weak minds and therefore they cannot engage in constructive decision so they go physical on the weaker one they are dealing with”.
Police demands
The Principal Nursing Officer of the Child Health Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Mrs Harriet Klufio, said the cases of sexual abuse on children were on the rise with more cases reported weekly.
She urged the police to step up investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Most of the victims are from poor socio-economic background so sometimes getting money to go for psychotherapy is a problem to the extent that, some
cannot even afford transport for free therapy”, she said.
She urged the government to resource the Department of Social Welfare to help give comprehensive treatment to children who suffered various forms of abuse, including sexual abuse.
Pull quote
“Most of the victims are from poor socio-economic background so sometimes money to go for psychotherapy is a problem to the extent that some cannot even afford transport for free therapy”
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