Story: Salome Donkor
IN SPITE of her failure to realise her ambition to become a parliamentarian in 2004, following her defeat in the parliamentary elections, Ms Pearl Akua Agyeman still maintains high spirits.
She lost the Kpone-Katamanso seat, which she contested as an independent candidate, to Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Pearl, as she is affectionately called, continues to aspire for leadership position, and takes inspiration from the popular saying that “when one door is closed, many more are opened”. She has therefore worked hard to achieve positive results. She was elected President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Education, Winneba in April, 2007.
Pear is the first female SRC President of the university, which was established as the University College of Education in September 30, 1992 as a result of the government’s Tertiary Education Reform programme launched in 1988 alongside the educational reforms at the basic and senior secondary levels.
With her election, Pearl became the second female SRC President of the country’s public universities after Louise Carol Serwaah Donkor, who was elected the first female SRC President of the University of Ghana Legon, the country’s premier university.
Pearl described the campaign prior to her election as hectic, saying that she contested the position with three men.
She said her 44 per cent votes could not secure her the win, but she pooled 68 per cent in the run-off.
With an eight-member executive, including a female treasurer, the SRC of the university has set up a welfare fund and is undertaking a hostel project with funds from a development levy being paid by the students. The SRC is also undertaking an electricity project by providing solar panels to serve the Central Campus.
She appealed for support from public-spirited individuals and organisations to complete the projects.
Born some 40 years ago, Pearl, a professional teacher, started her primary education at Pai-Katanga in the Volta Region, from where she continued to the Dambai Training College. She had been a teacher over the past 20 years and had thought at schools in Ashaiman and Michele Camp.
She is a Level 300 student at the University of Education, offering a degree programme in Early Childhood Care and Development.
She contended that women had the capabilities to participate in active politics, win elections and make impact in the lives of the people, but maintained that the quota system was necessary to get more women elected and called on political parties to field more women in areas considered as their strongholds.
Pearl was, however, not happy with the attitude of women who regarded certain areas as the preserve of men and discouraged their counterparts from venturing into such area. She said to change this, there was the need for a sustained educational campaign, which should start from the pre-school level to make the girl-child understand and accept the fact that women were helpers and not lesser human beings.
“After all, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a woman, who is ruling Liberia, a war-torn country,” she said.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Volunteers undergo training -In malaria prevention
01/01/08
Article: Salome Donkor
Malaria is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Ghana, directly contributing to poverty,
low productivity, and reduced school attendance. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), between 3-3.5 million cases of malaria are reported each year. The disease accounts for more than 61 per cent of hospital admissions of children under five years, and 8 per cent of admissions of pregnant women.
In support of the national malaria prevention programmes the United States Government announced in December 2006, that Ghana had been selected as one of the eight countries to benefit from an initiative to rapidly scale up malaria prevention and treatment interventions in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease was most prevalent under a five-year, $1.2 billion project.
The most up-to-date information on nation-wide coverage of key malaria prevention and control
measures in Ghana comes from a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, conducted from August to
early October 2006, which indicates that approximately 30 per cent of households reportedly own at least one bed net (of any type) while almost 19 per cent reportedly own one or more insecticide-treated nets (ITN).
In order to extend the reach of malaria interventions to the community level, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) was instituted to reduce malaria mortality by 50 per cent in vulnerable
groups, namely pregnant women, children under five years of age, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
This will be accomplished by achieving 85 per cent coverage of groups at risk of malaria with four key
interventions which are the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for malaria in pregnancy, use of ITNs, and indoor spraying with residual insecticides (IRS).
Another goal of the PMI is to strengthen and improve the capacity of indigenous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to undertake malaria prevention and control activities under the
leadership of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
In pursuit of this objective the Central Medical Laboratories in Accra has organised a two-day workshop on malaria prevention and cure for 50 voluntary home-based care assistants.
The participants were equipped with skills to enable them enlighten residents of some communities on the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN), as a key component of malaria prevention in Ghana and intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women to avoid the fatalities associated with malaria in pregnancy.
The participants also constituted a corps of home-based care assistants, trained by officials of the laboratory to step up malaria prevention campaigns in the communities and to offer home-based care.
According to Mr M.O Mensah, the Managing Director of the Central Medical Laboratories, the workshop, organised under the auspices of the NMCP was followed up with educational campaigns on malaria prevention in some churches, mosque and markets at Agege, Gbwebgeisee, Russia, Lanteyman, Chorkor and some community along the beaches in Accra, where malaria is prevalent.
He said the organisation provided a number of insecticide treated mosquito nets to the residents of the communities and screened films on malaria prevention measures and treatment in support of the educational campaign.
Mr Mensah advised residents to keep their environments clean to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes that cause malaria, as a way of leading healthy lives.
He said if people did not desist from poor environmental management attitude, the use of artesunate amodiaquine, the approved drug for the treatment of malaria by the World Health Organisation (WHO) malaria would not be effective.
He also advised patients to finish the course of drugs prescribed for the treatment of malaria to prevent, drug abuse.
Article: Salome Donkor
Malaria is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Ghana, directly contributing to poverty,
low productivity, and reduced school attendance. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), between 3-3.5 million cases of malaria are reported each year. The disease accounts for more than 61 per cent of hospital admissions of children under five years, and 8 per cent of admissions of pregnant women.
In support of the national malaria prevention programmes the United States Government announced in December 2006, that Ghana had been selected as one of the eight countries to benefit from an initiative to rapidly scale up malaria prevention and treatment interventions in countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease was most prevalent under a five-year, $1.2 billion project.
The most up-to-date information on nation-wide coverage of key malaria prevention and control
measures in Ghana comes from a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, conducted from August to
early October 2006, which indicates that approximately 30 per cent of households reportedly own at least one bed net (of any type) while almost 19 per cent reportedly own one or more insecticide-treated nets (ITN).
In order to extend the reach of malaria interventions to the community level, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) was instituted to reduce malaria mortality by 50 per cent in vulnerable
groups, namely pregnant women, children under five years of age, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
This will be accomplished by achieving 85 per cent coverage of groups at risk of malaria with four key
interventions which are the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for malaria in pregnancy, use of ITNs, and indoor spraying with residual insecticides (IRS).
Another goal of the PMI is to strengthen and improve the capacity of indigenous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to undertake malaria prevention and control activities under the
leadership of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
In pursuit of this objective the Central Medical Laboratories in Accra has organised a two-day workshop on malaria prevention and cure for 50 voluntary home-based care assistants.
The participants were equipped with skills to enable them enlighten residents of some communities on the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN), as a key component of malaria prevention in Ghana and intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) for pregnant women to avoid the fatalities associated with malaria in pregnancy.
The participants also constituted a corps of home-based care assistants, trained by officials of the laboratory to step up malaria prevention campaigns in the communities and to offer home-based care.
According to Mr M.O Mensah, the Managing Director of the Central Medical Laboratories, the workshop, organised under the auspices of the NMCP was followed up with educational campaigns on malaria prevention in some churches, mosque and markets at Agege, Gbwebgeisee, Russia, Lanteyman, Chorkor and some community along the beaches in Accra, where malaria is prevalent.
He said the organisation provided a number of insecticide treated mosquito nets to the residents of the communities and screened films on malaria prevention measures and treatment in support of the educational campaign.
Mr Mensah advised residents to keep their environments clean to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes that cause malaria, as a way of leading healthy lives.
He said if people did not desist from poor environmental management attitude, the use of artesunate amodiaquine, the approved drug for the treatment of malaria by the World Health Organisation (WHO) malaria would not be effective.
He also advised patients to finish the course of drugs prescribed for the treatment of malaria to prevent, drug abuse.
Women’s groups need to support ‘kayayee’
Article: Salome Donkor
The recent decongestive exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) that resulted in the destruction of illegal structures in parts of the metropolis, was greeted with reactions from the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT) and other women’s organisations.
The NETRIGHT, The Women’s Manifesto Coalition (WMC), the Domestic Violence Coalition (DVC) and other civil society organisations raised concerns about what they described as the destruction of property of traders during the exercise.
In what may be described as a response to these sentiments, there was a decision by the President to the AMA to allow traders who had been displaced to resume business and this has resulted in brisk business at the central business district, including the Tema Station, where the AMA evicted the traders in order to renovate the place.
Traders of food items, clothing and shoes are doing brisk business at the station while the activities of female porters or ‘kayayoo’ have also been intensified.
The AMA Chief Executive, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, was reported to have explained that the decision was to allow the traders to make some income during the Yuletide in order to pay for loans they had taken.
The action by the Assembly was lauded by the traders, since some of them had complained that the recent decongestive exercise carried out by AMA had affected their businesses and thus rendered them jobless. The AMA, however, assured the traders that the intention of the assembly was to make them happy and comfortable.
A statement issued and signed by the NETRIGHT Convenor, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, expressed gratitude to the government for promptly responding to the concerns raised on behalf of traders affected by the recent exercise.
The NETRIGHT, the Women’s Manifesto Coalition, the Domestic Violence Coalition and other civil society organisations said they recognised the government’s action as a direct response to a number of campaign initiatives that had been mounted by different actors on behalf of the traders against the demolition exercise, with specific reference to the Tema Station traders, and petitions to the AMA and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC).
The statement recalled a news item on Ghana Television on December 3, 2007 which made reference to a meeting between government officials and traders, including members of the Tema Foodstuff Sellers Association, during which the government officials assured the traders of the government’s commitment to enhance the living conditions of ordinary citizens, such as traders.
It said the meeting ended with a promise to the affected traders that temporary spaces would be provided to enable them to return to undertake their economic activities pending the construction of permanent structures.
Much as one sees NETRIGHT’s intervention as a positive step to ensure that the AMA carries out the decongestive exercise with a human face, since majority of those affected are women and breadwinners of their families, it is equally important to appreciate the need to control trading at prohibited areas to keep the station and the central business district clean to promote healthy living.
The activities of female porters who have turned the station into their homes also deserve serious attention, since most of the porters, who are teenagers, suffer frequent sexual abuse and harassment from men.
Consequently, a number of them have become teenage mothers who sleep in the open with their children, while some of them are also exposed to sexually transmitted diseases.
This paper has carried a number of stories portraying the woes of female porters who operate in various parts of the metropolis and the need for proactive measures on the part of the government and the related ministries of Women and Children’s Affairs and Manpower Youth and Employment, as well as organisations concerned with the welfare of women, to address the menace, but little has been done.
Some of the ‘kayayoo’ interviewed seemed ignorant of the various government interventions put in place to retrain them for gainful employment. Others who are aware of these programmes seemed not to be interested, since they see the female porter business as more lucrative then ‘wasting’ time on apprenticeship training, which they think will not be beneficial to them without a start-up capital.
This is where the various women’s organisations have a significant role to play in the area of sustained education and sensitisation programmes for the female porters.
Dr Mensah-Kutin indicated in an interview that NETRIGHT and the other women’s organisations would collaborate with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs to sensitise the female porters to take advantage of the numerous programmes by the government and other non-governmental organisations to undergo skills training in areas like dressmaking, hairdressing, catering and craft making.
She said they would also be enlightened on the credit facilities available to small-scale business entrepreneurs to help them set up their businesses to enable them to lead dignified and secured lives.
It is obvious that the city authorities will not relent in their efforts to ensure that people would conduct their business activities in a conducive and healthy environment and that means that the AMA will not entirely discontinue the decongestive exercise.
It is for this reason that the Assembly has instituted a Sunday Market programme in Accra to operate between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and also advised the displaced women to patronise satellite markets in the metropolis that they have abandoned, for street business.
The assembly, therefore, needs the support of the various women’s organisations to educate the displaced traders to participate in the Sunday Market and also patronise other satellite markets in the metropolis to make them more vibrant and attract customers.
While the statement from NETRIGHT lauded the government’s decision to provide temporary spaces for the traders, it called on the government to compensate all those who lost their livelihood and working capital in the demolition exercise, with particular reference to traders in Tema Station.
It also called for immediate halt to the destruction of property of traders across the country, and stressed the need to expedite action on the provision of permanent structures for traders.
NETRIGHT and its other coalition members reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion of human rights, gender equality and social justice.
They also called for systems and processes that facilitate dialogue, active participation, inclusiveness and a specific interest in protecting the poor to solve the country’s economic problems.
These assertion really impose a great task on NETRIGHT and its other coalition members to put their words into action in promoting human rights, gender equality and social justice.
The organisations also need to educate parents to ensure that children of school age who have taken to the streets to sell various items go to school, as was alluded to in a letter by the Headmistress of SOS Herman Gmeiner International College, who appealed to the government to continue to deliver universal education and create jobs to stop "this wholesale taking over of the streets in search of meagre livelihood".
The recent decongestive exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) that resulted in the destruction of illegal structures in parts of the metropolis, was greeted with reactions from the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT) and other women’s organisations.
The NETRIGHT, The Women’s Manifesto Coalition (WMC), the Domestic Violence Coalition (DVC) and other civil society organisations raised concerns about what they described as the destruction of property of traders during the exercise.
In what may be described as a response to these sentiments, there was a decision by the President to the AMA to allow traders who had been displaced to resume business and this has resulted in brisk business at the central business district, including the Tema Station, where the AMA evicted the traders in order to renovate the place.
Traders of food items, clothing and shoes are doing brisk business at the station while the activities of female porters or ‘kayayoo’ have also been intensified.
The AMA Chief Executive, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, was reported to have explained that the decision was to allow the traders to make some income during the Yuletide in order to pay for loans they had taken.
The action by the Assembly was lauded by the traders, since some of them had complained that the recent decongestive exercise carried out by AMA had affected their businesses and thus rendered them jobless. The AMA, however, assured the traders that the intention of the assembly was to make them happy and comfortable.
A statement issued and signed by the NETRIGHT Convenor, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, expressed gratitude to the government for promptly responding to the concerns raised on behalf of traders affected by the recent exercise.
The NETRIGHT, the Women’s Manifesto Coalition, the Domestic Violence Coalition and other civil society organisations said they recognised the government’s action as a direct response to a number of campaign initiatives that had been mounted by different actors on behalf of the traders against the demolition exercise, with specific reference to the Tema Station traders, and petitions to the AMA and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC).
The statement recalled a news item on Ghana Television on December 3, 2007 which made reference to a meeting between government officials and traders, including members of the Tema Foodstuff Sellers Association, during which the government officials assured the traders of the government’s commitment to enhance the living conditions of ordinary citizens, such as traders.
It said the meeting ended with a promise to the affected traders that temporary spaces would be provided to enable them to return to undertake their economic activities pending the construction of permanent structures.
Much as one sees NETRIGHT’s intervention as a positive step to ensure that the AMA carries out the decongestive exercise with a human face, since majority of those affected are women and breadwinners of their families, it is equally important to appreciate the need to control trading at prohibited areas to keep the station and the central business district clean to promote healthy living.
The activities of female porters who have turned the station into their homes also deserve serious attention, since most of the porters, who are teenagers, suffer frequent sexual abuse and harassment from men.
Consequently, a number of them have become teenage mothers who sleep in the open with their children, while some of them are also exposed to sexually transmitted diseases.
This paper has carried a number of stories portraying the woes of female porters who operate in various parts of the metropolis and the need for proactive measures on the part of the government and the related ministries of Women and Children’s Affairs and Manpower Youth and Employment, as well as organisations concerned with the welfare of women, to address the menace, but little has been done.
Some of the ‘kayayoo’ interviewed seemed ignorant of the various government interventions put in place to retrain them for gainful employment. Others who are aware of these programmes seemed not to be interested, since they see the female porter business as more lucrative then ‘wasting’ time on apprenticeship training, which they think will not be beneficial to them without a start-up capital.
This is where the various women’s organisations have a significant role to play in the area of sustained education and sensitisation programmes for the female porters.
Dr Mensah-Kutin indicated in an interview that NETRIGHT and the other women’s organisations would collaborate with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs to sensitise the female porters to take advantage of the numerous programmes by the government and other non-governmental organisations to undergo skills training in areas like dressmaking, hairdressing, catering and craft making.
She said they would also be enlightened on the credit facilities available to small-scale business entrepreneurs to help them set up their businesses to enable them to lead dignified and secured lives.
It is obvious that the city authorities will not relent in their efforts to ensure that people would conduct their business activities in a conducive and healthy environment and that means that the AMA will not entirely discontinue the decongestive exercise.
It is for this reason that the Assembly has instituted a Sunday Market programme in Accra to operate between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and also advised the displaced women to patronise satellite markets in the metropolis that they have abandoned, for street business.
The assembly, therefore, needs the support of the various women’s organisations to educate the displaced traders to participate in the Sunday Market and also patronise other satellite markets in the metropolis to make them more vibrant and attract customers.
While the statement from NETRIGHT lauded the government’s decision to provide temporary spaces for the traders, it called on the government to compensate all those who lost their livelihood and working capital in the demolition exercise, with particular reference to traders in Tema Station.
It also called for immediate halt to the destruction of property of traders across the country, and stressed the need to expedite action on the provision of permanent structures for traders.
NETRIGHT and its other coalition members reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion of human rights, gender equality and social justice.
They also called for systems and processes that facilitate dialogue, active participation, inclusiveness and a specific interest in protecting the poor to solve the country’s economic problems.
These assertion really impose a great task on NETRIGHT and its other coalition members to put their words into action in promoting human rights, gender equality and social justice.
The organisations also need to educate parents to ensure that children of school age who have taken to the streets to sell various items go to school, as was alluded to in a letter by the Headmistress of SOS Herman Gmeiner International College, who appealed to the government to continue to deliver universal education and create jobs to stop "this wholesale taking over of the streets in search of meagre livelihood".
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.
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.
Violence against women - The HIV/AIDS connection
Article: Salome Donkor
In every country across the globe, a number of women suffer daily acts of violence perpetrated by men they know, as well as strangers.
The perpetrators include husbands, boyfriends, family members, teachers and employers of the victims.
No matter their race or religion, ethnicity, class or creed, women as housemaids, married women, school girls, professionals, advocates of human rights, women are vulnerable to violence just because they are women.
Victims and survivors of violence suffer the ordeal in their own homes, endure groping and sexual propositions in their offices, both from subordinates and superiors and face harassment on the streets.
In Ghana the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre published the first widespread study on gender-based violence in the country, Breaking the Silence and Challenging the Myths of Violence Against Women and Children in Ghana (referred to as the “Nkyinkyim Project”) in 1999.
The publication, a comprehensive study of Violence Against Women (VAW), was compiled from the experiences and perceptions of violence, as well as recollections, opinions and records shared with a team of researchers over a ten month period.
One of the 12 critical areas of concern in the Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 was violence against women.
In pursuit of the country’s strategic objectives to take measures to prevent and eliminate VAW, The Ark Foundation, an advocacy-based women’s human rights non-governmental organisation, with support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), has published a manual on violence against women and HIV/AIDS this year.
The document is to inform service providers and policy makers to understand the connection between the two issues.
Violence against women happens in a frightening array of forms and the manual lists them as rape, sexual assault, incest, sexual harassment and exploitation, female infanticide, forced pregnancy and forced abortion.
Others include forced sterilisation, female genital mutilation, intimidation at school and at work, psychological abuse, sexual abuse of girl children, child marriage trafficking, cruel widowhood rites and customary servitude, while some women are tricked or abducted and sold to serve as sex-slaves in foreign countries.
These forms of violence, have complicated causes and effects and manual focuses on VAW, which it describes as the most prevalent form of gender-based violence.
This is because VAW directly facilitates the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since every form of VAW plays a part in increasing women’s risk of infection.
The booklet describes VAW as any violence against a woman because she is a woman and that disproportionately affects women.
According the World Health Organisation (WHO), most studies on VAW indicate that the majority of the perpetrators of the act are men and that women are at the greatest risk of violence from men they know, while women and girls are the most frequent victims of violence within the family and between intimate partners.
According to the document, domestic violence, which included physical, sexual, economic, emotional/psychological and social abuse, is the most common and most under-addressed form of VAW.
It says the act undermines women’s ability to protect themselves from HIV infection and refers to a wide-range of violent behaviours between intimate partners or family members, as well as abuse between members of a household.
Domestic violence is also often referred to as family violence, spousal abuse, wife abuse, wife assault and woman battering.
In view of the realisation that the two problems go hand-in-hand, many groups and communities are developing programmes to discuss and act on this complex problem.
The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has created guidelines on responding to sexual violence in refugee settings. Other bodies are developing guidelines on violence and partner notification for voluntary counselling and testing.
United Nation bodies and international NGOs are financing and carrying out micro-credit schemes to address women’s economic vulnerability that leads to both violence and susceptibility to the contraction of HIV/AIDS.
The ARK Foundation says that individuals and communities have so much to do by adopting various actions at the work place and in the community to help change the world so that neither HIV/AIDS nor VAW can flourish.
The booklet calls on people who have the opportunity to speak to many people at once, either because they regularly address a particular audience, for example in the church, or at organised workshop or during group discussions and other opportunities to disseminate helpful information on HIV/AIDS, its link to VAW and encourage participants to talk about these issues.
The manual recommend that people should get involved in the activities of an organisation in their areas that provides services to people living with HIV/AIDS or abused women, stressing that such groups are typically happy to have volunteers.
It also called for the involvement of women in all levels of group decision-making and programming in schools, churches or community, who should be encouraged and respected as leaders enact the gender equality we believe in, provides role models for young women, and ensure that women’s perspectives become part of all decisions that affect them.
These include plans for education and prevention strategies, research and development priorities, allocation of resources for treatment, social support and health care delivery.
It also recommends that people should work with others to educate more people, assist those in need, and build prevention initiatives, through the use of partnerships and networking with local, regional, national and international organisations, to mobilise more resources and carry out positive messages to reach a greater audience.
To help women overcome some of the problems associated with VAW and to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, the booklet calls for women’s empowerment in the form of access to resources and information and the ability of women to make choices about their sexuality.
In every country across the globe, a number of women suffer daily acts of violence perpetrated by men they know, as well as strangers.
The perpetrators include husbands, boyfriends, family members, teachers and employers of the victims.
No matter their race or religion, ethnicity, class or creed, women as housemaids, married women, school girls, professionals, advocates of human rights, women are vulnerable to violence just because they are women.
Victims and survivors of violence suffer the ordeal in their own homes, endure groping and sexual propositions in their offices, both from subordinates and superiors and face harassment on the streets.
In Ghana the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre published the first widespread study on gender-based violence in the country, Breaking the Silence and Challenging the Myths of Violence Against Women and Children in Ghana (referred to as the “Nkyinkyim Project”) in 1999.
The publication, a comprehensive study of Violence Against Women (VAW), was compiled from the experiences and perceptions of violence, as well as recollections, opinions and records shared with a team of researchers over a ten month period.
One of the 12 critical areas of concern in the Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 was violence against women.
In pursuit of the country’s strategic objectives to take measures to prevent and eliminate VAW, The Ark Foundation, an advocacy-based women’s human rights non-governmental organisation, with support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), has published a manual on violence against women and HIV/AIDS this year.
The document is to inform service providers and policy makers to understand the connection between the two issues.
Violence against women happens in a frightening array of forms and the manual lists them as rape, sexual assault, incest, sexual harassment and exploitation, female infanticide, forced pregnancy and forced abortion.
Others include forced sterilisation, female genital mutilation, intimidation at school and at work, psychological abuse, sexual abuse of girl children, child marriage trafficking, cruel widowhood rites and customary servitude, while some women are tricked or abducted and sold to serve as sex-slaves in foreign countries.
These forms of violence, have complicated causes and effects and manual focuses on VAW, which it describes as the most prevalent form of gender-based violence.
This is because VAW directly facilitates the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since every form of VAW plays a part in increasing women’s risk of infection.
The booklet describes VAW as any violence against a woman because she is a woman and that disproportionately affects women.
According the World Health Organisation (WHO), most studies on VAW indicate that the majority of the perpetrators of the act are men and that women are at the greatest risk of violence from men they know, while women and girls are the most frequent victims of violence within the family and between intimate partners.
According to the document, domestic violence, which included physical, sexual, economic, emotional/psychological and social abuse, is the most common and most under-addressed form of VAW.
It says the act undermines women’s ability to protect themselves from HIV infection and refers to a wide-range of violent behaviours between intimate partners or family members, as well as abuse between members of a household.
Domestic violence is also often referred to as family violence, spousal abuse, wife abuse, wife assault and woman battering.
In view of the realisation that the two problems go hand-in-hand, many groups and communities are developing programmes to discuss and act on this complex problem.
The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has created guidelines on responding to sexual violence in refugee settings. Other bodies are developing guidelines on violence and partner notification for voluntary counselling and testing.
United Nation bodies and international NGOs are financing and carrying out micro-credit schemes to address women’s economic vulnerability that leads to both violence and susceptibility to the contraction of HIV/AIDS.
The ARK Foundation says that individuals and communities have so much to do by adopting various actions at the work place and in the community to help change the world so that neither HIV/AIDS nor VAW can flourish.
The booklet calls on people who have the opportunity to speak to many people at once, either because they regularly address a particular audience, for example in the church, or at organised workshop or during group discussions and other opportunities to disseminate helpful information on HIV/AIDS, its link to VAW and encourage participants to talk about these issues.
The manual recommend that people should get involved in the activities of an organisation in their areas that provides services to people living with HIV/AIDS or abused women, stressing that such groups are typically happy to have volunteers.
It also called for the involvement of women in all levels of group decision-making and programming in schools, churches or community, who should be encouraged and respected as leaders enact the gender equality we believe in, provides role models for young women, and ensure that women’s perspectives become part of all decisions that affect them.
These include plans for education and prevention strategies, research and development priorities, allocation of resources for treatment, social support and health care delivery.
It also recommends that people should work with others to educate more people, assist those in need, and build prevention initiatives, through the use of partnerships and networking with local, regional, national and international organisations, to mobilise more resources and carry out positive messages to reach a greater audience.
To help women overcome some of the problems associated with VAW and to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, the booklet calls for women’s empowerment in the form of access to resources and information and the ability of women to make choices about their sexuality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)