Media practitioners tutored on domestic violence reporting

Wa, July 22, GNA – Frontline media personnel from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions have attended a one-day capacity building workshop on domestic violence to deepen their knowledge on gender based violence in society.

Topics treated at the workshop included; “understanding gender-based violence and its impact”, “understanding police procedures”, “basic counselling and support for survivors of gender based violence” as well as “ethical issues in media response to gender based violence”.

It was organised by the Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana and sponsored by CORDAID.

Mrs. Ama Ofori-Antwi, Project Officer, DV Coalition, in a presentation, said an act or threat of an act that causes physical, psychological, emotional, economic and sexual pain or injury as well as isolation and coercion in an intimate relationship could be classified as domestic voilence.

She stated that domestic violence was a serious problem that occurred in all cultural and social groupings and has devastating physical, emotional, financial and social effect on women, children, men, families and communities.

According to her, domestic violence was a human rights violation because it violated the right to life and the right to physical and mental integrity amongst others.

Mrs. Antwi said studies conducted worldwide had shown that between one quarter and one half of all women had been abused by intimate partners and between forty and seventy per cent of all female murder victims were killed by an intimate partner.

The Project Officer said although the statistics varied slightly, women mostly bore the brunt of domestic violence in approximately 95 per cent of the cases.

Mr. Cezar Kale, the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, stated that domestic violence and other forms of abuses on women were still prevalent in the Ghanaian society especially, the North despite several attempts to curb it.

He noted that until recently, domestic violence was seen as a trivial issue not worth investigating, adding, it was time to expose perpetrators.

Mr. Kale therefore expressed his profound gratitude to the DV Coalition for its role in building the capacity of media personnel to take up the challenge in educating the masses on the issue.

Mr. Adolf Awuku Bekoe, National Coordinator, DV Coalition who took the participants through some basic counselling and support programmes for survivors of gender based violence, charged the media not to rush stories on domestic violence victims but be patient in order not to destroy them for life.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Alexander Amenyah, the Regional Director of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, briefed the participants on the police procedures in handling domestic violence cases.