With Vice President Naana Opoku-Agyemang sounding the alarm on critical issues affecting the safety and well-being of women in Ghana, the country must respond with bold and decisive action to protect them.
Development Diaries reports that Opoku-Agyemang called for an end to violence against women and girls in Ghana during her speech to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day.
According to Madam Vice President, it is only when the violence against girls stops that they will grow to become the worthy women the society wants them to be.
‘We must choose to end violence against all persons, especially women and girls. This in whatever form it may take: whether human trafficking, domestic violence, accusations of witchcraft and the resulting instant justice, child marriage, female genital mutilation, or sexual violence’, she said.
‘We deserve to live in dignity. Let us be intolerant to violence against women and girls in our homes, schools, places of work and worship, communities and nations. It is time for men and women, and boys and girls to choose to end such violations of human rights’.
In Ghana, over 27 percent of women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence at least once in their lifetime, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
Also, two out of ten girls in the country become pregnant or welcome their first child before they reach the age of 18, a fact that underscores the systemic barriers impeding their progress, according to a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Additionally, reports from the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) indicate an increase in cases of domestic and sexual violence, yet only a fraction of perpetrators face justice due to weak legal enforcement and cultural silence.
While Ghana has made strides in gender parity, it needs to allocate more funding for the enforcement of existing laws on domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault.
Education is a fundamental right, yet period poverty forces many girls out of school. The government’s commitment to reintroducing the free sanitary pad policy must be followed with a clear implementation roadmap to reach underserved communities.
Development Diaries calls on the vice president to take the lead in ensuring women and girls are protected by steering the government towards enforcing laws and policies that guarantee the safety of women and girls.
We also urge the Ghanaian government to ensure existing laws meant to protect women and girls across the country from violence are fully enforced.
Photo source: Ghanaian Times
