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Dr Akosua Darkwah, leader of the research team
Dr Akosua Darkwah, leader of the research team

‘Survivors of domestic violence lack shelter’

Research findings from the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy(CEGENSA) of the University of Ghana (UG) have indicated that victims of domestic violence continue to suffer from inadequate shelter in the country.

According to the report, which aimed at combating domestic violence in Ghana, the lack of network of shelters to scale up services has made it difficult to meet the real needs of survivors of domestic violence.

A former Director of the CEGENSA and the leader of the research team, Dr Akosua Darkwah, said this at a panel discussion which formed part of the 10th anniversary of the centre. It also marked 16 days of activism against gender violence in the country.

The research, dubbed “Evidence and Lessons from Latin America (ELLA),” was conducted by the centre in collaboration with FUNDAR, a Mexico-based non-governmental organisation.

Minimum shelters

She stated that the country had only two shelters for survivors of domestic violence and the results of the research had also provided insight into the nature of protective service models on the African continent.

“There are only two shelters for survivors of domestic violence in the country; a public centre and Helpers’ Foundation centre, a non-governmental organisation,” she said.

Dr Darkwah said domestic violence cases only manifested after it had reached advanced stages.  “It is about time we stood up to condemn some traditional beliefs and practices which tended to violate rights of the marginalised in the society,” she stated.

Law

Speaking on the theme: “Combating domestic violence in Ghana”,  a former Dean of the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Mansah Prah, said even though there were some good laws that protected citizens, their implementation had become a challenge.

According to her, it took almost a decade to get the Legislative Instrument of the Domestic Violence Act 732 of 2007 to be implemented.

She noted that survivors of domestic violence were often abandoned or rejected by society as a result of which many victims feared to report.

Professor Prah, therefore, charged the media to expose perpetrators of such violent conducts.

Programmes

For her part, an official from the Domestic Violence and Human Right Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP), Ms Victoria Natsu, said the government had initiated several programmes to combat domestic violence in the country.

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