Don't justify negative culture against women - Greenstreet

Elmina, Sept. 18, GNA - Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Chairperson of the Gender Development Institute (GDI) on Monday pointed out that although rape is the most often cited sexual violence against women, female genital mutilation, trokosi and widowhood rites were also forms of sexual and gender based violence.

She said these cannot be overlooked or justified on the grounds of tradition, culture or social conformity.

She said the term, also encompassed a wide variety of abuses that included sexual threats, exploitation, humiliation, assaults, molestation, incest involuntary prostitution, torture, and insertion of objects into genital openings.

Prof. Greenstreet, who is also a member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism (NAPRM) Governing Council, was speaking at the opening of "The 4th International Conference on Gender", being organized by the GDI, at Elmina.

The five-day event, is under the theme: "Sexual and Gender-Based Violence- A social Nightmare-Provoking Action", and has more than 50 representatives of gender-based organizations and institutions from Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and Belgium attending. They would be briefing each other on the situations in their respective countries and exchange ideas as to how best to contribute towards resolving the situation.

She acknowledged that men and young boys, may also be vulnerable to sexual violence, but women and girls were more vulnerable, and cite surveys in Ghana in 1999 which revealed that such crimes against women, were mostly not reported for a variety of reasons, including threats, shyness, ignorance or fear of parents and relatives.

Prof. Greenstreet, therefore stressed the need for the concrete implementation of laws, legislations and policies formulated to curb the situation and said that, in addition, victims should be given "quality counselling" and be treated with empathy, care and support.

She expressed the hope that the conference, would discuss the problems and challenges in-depth and that the legal aspects of addressing them will be examined so that the prevalence of the problem would be minimized to enable females to play "a fuller role in the development of society".

In an address read for her, the Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, (MOWAC), Hajia Alima Mahama, said the need to ensure that attention to gender perspectives is an integral part of interventions in all areas of social development was made clear in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

The government of Ghana, she said was through various interventions, such as gender mainstreaming, ensuring balanced development through the equitable distribution of resources and benefits to both males and females.

She also briefed them on other policies and programmes geared towards women and girls' welfare and empowerment, through the establishment of MOWAC, which she said, was also training chief directors on gender concepts and gender mainstreaming. Additionally, a core of gender experts from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been identified and trained as trainers on gender issues.

Hajia Mahama however, consented that there were challenges to be addressed, relating to inadequate sex/gender disaggregated data, financial and human resource and capacity for gender analysis and budgeting and of coordinating the gender mainstreaming process. She therefore, called for a concerted effort from all MDAs and that, there was the need to intensify efforts at mainstreaming, adding that awareness creation and sensitization on gender issues and mainstreaming must be on-going by all stakeholders.

Mrs. Jane Kwawu, an International Gender Consultant who opened the conference, observed that the long - standing failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms in the case of violence against women was a matter of priority and urgency to many nations and should be addressed.

She noted that until recently, sexual and gender-based violence and especially, violence against women and girls, was viewed as a private family matter, and had only been "moved from the shadows" during the last decade.

She pointed out that violence against women and girls was an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace, and violates, impairs and nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedom.

Mrs. Kwawu said women's rights advocates have mobilized within and across countries and regions to secure significant changes in national, regional and international standards and policies addressing the problem.

She cited some of the achievements of these measures as the 1993 Convention on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the United Nations resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security in 2000. The problem, she said, however still existed, and that studies and literature review indicate that at least one woman in every three, has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her life time, adding that the rates could reach 70 percent in some cases. She said, though in recent years some progress has been made in efforts to eliminate the problem, much more remained to be done "if we are to end this impunity for violence against women, especially regarding evaluation of the impact of existing interventions." Mrs Kwawu, among others, therefore called for the implementation of laws that criminalize violence against women and build the capacities of law enforcement agencies, like the police as well as community leaders, parliamentarians and the media to enhance their knowledge about the problem.

In his welcoming address, Mr Wilbert Tengey, Chief Executive Officer of the GDI, said the GDI was compelled to organize the workshop as a result of the suffering of women and children in conflict areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to him, "scores" of women in that country, have been raped, violated in other forms and their limbs cut off, adding that the conference was not only for sharing of experiences but to review such experiences for lasting solutions.