Parental neglect on the increase

Story: Salome Donkor
Records at the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service indicate that the incidence of parents failing to supply the necessities of children is on the ascendancy.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the unit, Miss Irene Oppong, said for the first quarter of this year, the unit recorded 390 such cases, increasing to 411 in the second quarter, while 379 cases were reported in the third quarter.
It recorded 1,422 such cases last year.
She said the records showed that a number of parents had become negligent and abandoned their parental responsibilities, stressing that cases of that nature mostly increased when school re-opened.
According to Ms Oppong, a number of such cases reported to the unit were referred to the Department of Social Welfare, while parents who failed to compromise were sent to court.
She said between 1999 and 2006, 3,249 offenders, both men and women, were tried and convicted. Fines were imposed on 113 people out of the number, who were bonded to be of good behaviour.
The PRO stated that the increasing rate of child non-maintenance showed that there was still a lot to be done to sensitise parents to their parental responsibilities to reduce the number of children on the streets.
Other forms of domestic violence recorded by the unit included rape, defilement, assault, incest, indecent assault, abduction and exposing children to harm.
Cases of defilement reported to the unit in 2006 were 482, while assault cases by men against women were 1,997, with that of women against men being 66. Cases of men threatening women were 578, while those of women against men were 26. Cases of men causing harm to women were 20, with those of women to men were three.
Cases of rape were 142, while cases of abduction and indecent assault were 164 and 47 respectively, both involving girls under 18.
For the first, second and third quarters of this year, the unit recorded 327 cases of defilement, 1,551 cases of assault, 112 cases of rape, 40 cases of indecent assault and 346 cases of threatening.
During the first and second quarters of the year, the unit recorded 77 cases of abduction, and 341 cases of offensive conduct.
According to Ms Opare, the unit had embarked on sensitisation programmes at the markets and schools in view of the fact that there was still inadequate knowledge on the part of both men and women as to what constituted domestic violence.
She said a number of people still did not know that domestic violence was an offence punishable by law.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) says that apart from recent reports of human rights violations witnessed through police brutalities, forced evictions and instant justice, the rising incidents of gender sexual violence suffered by several innocent women and girls, severe abuse and exploitation through rape, defilement, incest and mutilation constituted the violation of the constitutional guaranteed human rights of victims and they deserve specific emphasis.
A press statement issued by the CHRI to mark the International Human Rights Day, which fell on December 10, stated that although gender sexual violence was undeniably not a new phenomenon, its upsurge within the domestic setting was a cause of concern.
A week-long programme of activities, which include the presentation of the State of Human Rights Report of the country, the launch of the Braille version of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Act and a Human Rights Manual for the Ghana Education Service (GES), is being carried out to mark the day.
  These activities have immense educational value to sensitise and heighten awareness of people on human rights issues in the country.
As the Head of Public Relations, CHRAJ, Ms Comfort Akosua Edu, rightly pointed out in a statement, the day provided an opportunity for human rights institutions to re-affirm their decisions and develop new strategies to advance human rights in the world.
The commission is the key institution that is responsible for promoting and protecting human rights in Ghana and it needs to step up collaboration with its partners, especially human rights non-governmental organisations, to solicit the support of Ghanaians in protecting and advancing human rights.
 We celebrate Human Rights Day because there are many people who do not have the rights granted to them (e.g. the right to equality). This day was declared so that all of us can become aware of our rights and create awareness among the people who are deprived of their rights.
Today, poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world. Combating poverty, deprivation and exclusion is not a matter of charity and it does not depend on how rich a country is.
By tackling poverty, as a matter of human rights obligation, the world will have a better chance of abolishing this scourge in our lifetime.