Women in the Talensi district of the Upper East region are calling on the District Assembly to as a matter of urgency establish an office for the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, DOVVSU, of the Ghana Police Service to help fight domestic violence in the district.
In a communiqué issued by Community Based Anti-violence Team (COMBAT), secretary of the group, Kolog Elizabeth said women in the district met to discuss issues relating to violence against women and children in the district before issuing the communiqué.
She stated that domestic violence is a cause of poverty in the district meanwhile victims of the act have no access to justice due to absence of the DOVVSU office. This according to her makes perpetrators take advantage and continue to violate the rights of women and girls. Mrs Elizabeth who was worried over the increasing rate of the act in the area outlined some recommendations issued by the women in the communiqué.
The group urged the assembly to “provide an office space in the district for DOVVSU, liaise with the regional police commander to as a matter of emergency post DOVVSU staff to the district and National Commission for Civic Education with Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice should come out with strategies to support victims of the act to seek justice”.
The communiqué was presented to the DCE at the 16 Days of Activism celebration in the district. 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence Campaign is a world-wide campaign organized by United Nations Women to take action to end violence against women and girls around the world. The 16 Days of Activism runs annually from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to December 10, Human Rights Day.
District Planning Officer for Talensi, Agyeyomah Talata Juliana who received the communiqué on behalf of the DCE, Edward Awunoore, said her outfit will look into the demands of the women with the necessary attention it deserves. She added that women need to take advantage of any economic opportunity available to them so as to support their families.
She cautioned women to be each other’s keeper in fighting violence against women and children in their daily lives.
By: Adugbire Cletus/A1RADIOONLINE.COM/GHANA
