Government ordered to establish fund in support of victims of domestic violence

An Accra High Court, in a landmark ruling, has ordered the Government of Ghana to establish a domestic violence support fund for victims of physical abuse and domestic violence in the country.

The ruling comes on the back of a case filed by human rights lawyer, Martin Kpebu, who requested that the court orders a Judicial review to compel the state through the Attorney-General to implement section 8(3) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (Act 732) which mandates the state to provide free medical care to victims of domestic violence.

According to Section 29 of the same act, a domestic violence fund must be established for the purposes of providing basic material and for the rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of domestic violence.

The court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah delivered the judgement Friday morning following the Attorney General’s inability to enter an appearance by way of a response to the application filed by Mr. Kpebu.

The enforcement of the order however will be stayed for a period of 6 months till a response by the Attorney General is confirmed and the appropriate budgetary allocation provisions for the implementation is provided.

Addressing pressmen, the Human Rights Lawyer, Martin Kpebu said government, since the establishment of Act in 2007 has failed to allocate resources to the fund accordingly. He emphasized the need for the fund indicating that it will provide financial relief for victims involved in cases of such manner since it will cater for their medical needs.

"the domestic act was passed in 2007, why do we pass a law and wait donkey years to pass the same?, The purpose of the fund is to provide among others free medical care for victims of domestic violence", he said.

Additionally he stated, monies from the fund will be used to put up shelters for victims who may have to relocate after such cases to avoid future recurrence as well as support training for police personnel to better equip them pursue and fight such cases to the core and eventually bring pepetrators to book.

"The purpose of the fund is also to set up shelters for persons who suffer domestic violence, so if someone suffers domestic violence and it is not appropriate for the person to continue to live in that household, such a person will be taken from the home and put in the shelter, apart from that, the state will also draw from the fund to give training to police and other stakeholders to give training to better increase their capacity immensely to better protect victims of domestic violence".