Eastern Region: Coordinator of DOVVSU worried about rising incidents of physical assault

Incidents of physical violence and assault have been identified as the major contributors to all cases of domestic violence in the country.

According to Chief Superintendent, Mrs. Florence Anaman, Eastern Regional Coordinator of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), physical assault remains the foremost reported case of sexual and gender-based violence in the Eastern Region.

Disclosing the statistics of reported cases on various issues during a two-day training workshop for selected stakeholders who offer essential services to victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, she said a whopping six hundred and one (601) cases were reported from 2023 to the first quarter of 2024.

Another worrying trend is the non-maintenance of a child, followed by 405 cases and 215 cases of threats of harm, another major issue, recording 215 cases.

Additionally, 193 cases of death threats, 172 cases of emotional abuse, and 92 reported cases of defilement were recorded over the period.

The training workshop was organized by the Department of Gender, with support from UNFPA, under the auspices of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council.

Its major objective was to ensure more access to a coordinated set of essential and quality multi-sectoral services for women and girls who have experienced or suffered gender-based violence (GBV) in the region.

The essential services package is a United Nations global joint program between UN Women, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), aimed at providing better access to essential and quality multi-sectoral services for all women and girls who have been subjected to gender-based violence.

Developed in 2015, it is designed to respond to internationally agreed-upon agreements and obligations in the context of the provision of services for combating violence against women.

Even more worrying is the discovery that women face barriers to reporting violence perpetrated against them owing to cultural beliefs that domestic and sexual violence ought to be treated as personal issues capable of being handled by other adjudicating bodies other than the criminal justice system.

A major revelation during the workshop pointed to the disclosure that between 33 and 37 percent of women in Ghana have experienced intimate partner violence in the course of their relationship.

These types of violence include physical, sexual, and emotional violence.

A further 14 percent of girls in schools are victims of sexual abuse, and 52 percent have experienced gender-based violence; however, the fear is that the numbers are probably understated as most girls shy away from reporting such cases for fear of reprisal.

On her part, the Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Juliana Abbey-Quaye, while explaining that the workshop was aimed at empowering women and girls to report issues of gender-based violence to the right authorities, added that it was also to make services available and accessible to women and girls who have suffered issues of gender-based violence.

The workshop, she added, was also to make stakeholders appreciate their roles in combating sexual and gender-based violence in the Eastern region.

With police and justice responses being identified as critical in addressing the canker, a Principal State Attorney at the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, Victoria Asieduwaa, emphasized that such actions were crucial in ensuring that relevant laws against gender-based violence victims that meet international standards are enforced.

According to her, there was a need to safeguard the rights of women and girls by holding culprits accountable for their actions.

The Principal State Attorney furthered that there was a need to ensure that reported cases of gender-based violence are investigated transparently within the criminal justice system.

On his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, explained that appreciating and understanding the essential services package is critical to ensuring a comprehensive women- and children-centered response to sexual and gender-based violence.

He underscored the relevance of the workshop, bringing together stakeholders in the Essential Services Package Providers value chain to enhance the capacity of its stakeholders through a multi-disciplinary and cross-agency approach to responding to violence against women and girls.