Students ask to report cases of sexual harassments to authorities
Students especially girls, have been advised to muster the courage and report sexual harassments to either school authorities or their parents, for the necessary action to be taken against the perpetrators.
Mr John Ato Breboh, Senior Investigator at the Tema Regional branch of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) who gave the advice at a Lecture on Sexual Harrassment in Schools at Adjei Kojo near Ashaiman, said the Commission was ever ready to take up issues on sexual harassment if only those cases would come before it.
From the beginning of this year, the Commission has been organising talks to educate students in first and second cycle institutions within the Metropolis on topics such as: Domestic Violence; Sexual Offences; Fundamental Human Rights; and Children’s Rights, in order for them to know much about their rights and responsibilities.
Mr Breboh said acts of sexual harassments ought to be given the utmost attention, because they constituted a violation of the dignity and self-respect of the victims.
He expressed regret that more often victims of sexual harassments feared of either being victimised or stigmatszed, and therefore failed to report acts and conducts of sexual harassments to the appropriate authorities for redress.
He said they would be doing the society and themselves a great disservice if they failed to bring the perpetrators to book.
Explaining sexual harrassment, the Senior CHRAJ Investigator said, for any act or conduct to constitute sexual harrassment, it must either be of a sexual nature; unwelcome, or detrimentally affect the victim and his/her environment.
Mrs Florence Lamptey Okosso and Mrs Joyce Boahen, Principal Investigator and Assistant Legal Officer respectively, said by virtue of the Children’s Rights, physically-impaired pupils of Institutions like Schools for the Deaf and Dumb, had equal rights to benefit from the programmes lined up for schools by the Commission.
Source: GNA