Commit more funds into DV act — Bekoe

Saturday, February 19, 2011 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
The Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence (DV) Coalition, Mr Adolph Awake Bekoe, has called on the government to give priority to gender-based violence and commit more funds for the implementation of the DV Act.
He said the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was so far the biggest donor towards the implementation of the DV Act, while the government's contribution was negligible.
"Civil society is not happy with the government's commitment. It is rather foreign governments giving support to deal with crimes perpetrated in Ghana," he said.
Mr Bekoe made the call at a one-day domestic violence reporting training for the media in Accra.
The programme was organised by the DV Coalition and sponsored by Cordaid.
He said gender-based violence, among other ills, undermined productivity and development and it was important that the government gave it priority and addressed issues affecting women and children.
"If we want more women to come into the public space, we must ensure they have peace in private space," he added.
He said the funds would also help train and retrain staff of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), judges, doctors and civil society and educate the public on domestic violence.
Mr Bekoe expressed concern that the state did not have shelter for abused women, noting that the only one was that of the Ark Foundation, an NGO.
Additionally, he said the coalition was still trying to get the meaning of the free medical provision in the DV Act, since victims of domestic violence still had to pay when they went to clinic.
Consequently, he said most victims of domestic violence did not push for prosecution because they had to foot the bill at the hospital.
Echoing the need for more funds to implement the DV Act, the acting Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of DOVVSU, DSP Bismark Agyapong, said the Ghana Police Service started the process of building a complex that would include a temporary shelter, a medical centre and a therapy/counselling room which would go a long way to help victims but that project had been put on hold due to lack of funds.
He mentioned some of the challenges in handling victims as delay in reporting the abuse, difficulty in getting evidence from witnesses to build a good case for prosecution and getting funds for medical treatment and reports.
DSP Agyapong urged the media to see the police as partners working for the common purpose of protecting the vulnerable against all forms of abuse.
He also appealed to the media not to publish one-sided stories.
He said since 2006, the Police Service had introduced gender issues and gender-based violence, child abuse, among others, into the curriculum of all its training schools.
In her presentation on, "Understanding Gender-based Violence and its impact", the Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, said it was estimated that violence against women was a greater ill-health than traffic accidents, cancer and malaria combined.
She appealed to the media not to trivialise issues concerning gender-based violence.
Participants were also introduced to basic counselling skills.