Government must pay attention to sexual violence - NGO

Hope For Future Generations (HFFG), a non-governmental agency in Ghana has called on government and individuals to pay attention to issues of sexual violence in the country.

Addressing the media at the 2nd International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict and World Refugees Day, the Executive Director of Hope For Future Generations, Cecilia Senoo said government and the people of Ghana must come to a realisation that sexual violence is a serious problem that requires urgent attention to save innocent lives.

According to her she was optimistic the reported number of sexual violence would decline as they launched their first International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict last year, but data obtained from various sources from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), the media and hospitals across the country showed sexual violence has increased massively this year compared to last year.

She indicated that although Ghana has not recorded sexual violence within the context of conflict and civil wars as witnessed in other countries, there has been several media reportage on various types of sexual violence including domestic violence, rape, human trafficking, forced marriage and defilement with women, girls and children being the most affected.

Content analysis of media reports over the past 365 days showed that there have been over 50 sexual violence-related reports in the media. Also, according to statistics from the Lekma Hospital in 2015, about 30 cases of rape were reported.

As at the last year of 2016, recorded cases of rape increased to 52 while the first quarter of 2017 witnessed 20 cases.

She further called on law enforcements in the country to urgently do something about the situation to ensure public confidence in the system as they work towards the total elimination of all forms of sexual violence in the country.