Sunyani thinks how to curb violence against women

A national conference aim at developing innovative strategies to curb the increasing rate of violence against women in Ghana is to be held in Sunyani from November 28 to 30, 2013.

The three-day conference is under the theme: “The prospects and Challenges of Ensuring a Coordinating Response to Domestic Violence in Ghana”.

It is being organised by the Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a human rights and anti-corruption media advocacy organization, in collaboration with Human Care and Maintenance Foundation, a non governmental organisation.

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu Jnr, Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF, said domestic violence had been identified as a major social problem, which needed a collaborative effort to tackle.

He noted that though enactment of the Domestic Violence Act of 2007 was a great step to curb domestic violence, its enforcement was also a challenge.

Mr Ahenu, a human rights crusader, pointed out that attempts by the police, advocates and social workers to bring the situation under control, had always been fragmented.

Those efforts were seen as lacking a shared vision and had no co-ordinated mechanism for problem solving, he said.

This, Mr Ahenu said, had necessitated the need to create a unified vision and put in place the necessary reforms on domestic violence.

He indicated that the conference was expected to come out with innovative strategies that would enable the entire community to hold accountable perpetrators of domestic violence and ensure that the criminal justice system served the needs of all victims.

Source: GNA