Abesim (B/R), May 20, GNA – The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSSU) of the Ghana Police Service on Saturday raised concern over the re-surfacing of widowhood rites in the Ghanaian society and appealed to the citizenry to assist in stopping it.
According to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Setina Aboagye, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Coordinator of DOVSSU, the 1992 constitution frowned on harmful traditional practices which remained detrimental to human health and existence.
DSP Aboagye therefore implored the general public to be vigilant and help the Police to arrest and prosecute perpetrators to stem it.
She said DOVSSU had received information that the bad and outmoded widowhood rite was gradually resurfacing in certain communities in the country and some families revered and observed such practice clandestinely in the name of tradition which was against fundamental human rights of victims.
While calling on victims to be bold, report and expose perpetrators to the DOVSSU, DSP Aboagye emphasised that the Police would not deal leniently with those who hid behind, spearheaded and performed such atrocious and outrageous practices.
Speaking at the opening session of a two-day media capacity building workshop for selected media personnel held at Abesim, near Sunyani, and facilitated by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), DSP Aboagye said DOVSSU relied mostly on media information to fight such outmoded and harmful traditional practices and called on practitioners to be diligent in that direction.
The Bono Regional Coordinating Council in collaboration with the Department of Gender organised the workshop, which aimed at equipping the 20 reporters selected from Bono East Region to report accurately on gender-sensitive issues.
It was sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in line with the UN agency’s seventh country programme under output two: that has to do with young people and adolescent girls having skills and knowledge to claim and make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive rights and well-being, including humanitarian settings.
DSP Aboagye said under no circumstance should a widow be allowed to go through any physical or psychological torture in the name of tradition in this modern day and age.
She said Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was another heinous traditional practice which was still on-going in some parts of the country.
She stressed that FGM remained a serious offence and crime to humanity, regretting that perpetrators had changed their mode of operation to outwit security as they transported victims to communities in the Ivory Coast which shared borders with Ghana, performed the practice and return to Ghana.
DSP Aboagye called on security agencies and local communities along Ghana-Ivory Coast borders to be vigilant and help identify and bring perpetrators to book.
Mrs. Joycelyn Adii, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Director of the Department of Gender, emphasised that the media remained a key partner and practitioners have an enormous towards promoting gender equality at all levels.
She said her Department was determined to build healthy relationship with the media, and hoped that with the support from the GJA, the media would continue to highlight on pertinent issues relating to gender in the course of their duties.
Mr. Larry Paa Kwesi Moses, the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regional Chairman of the GJA commended the organisers for the training, and pleaded with the participants to go back and apply the knowledge acquired to bring about positive change in society.
He advised the media to always be guided by high ethical standards by ensuring that they double-checked their facts well before going to the press and charged them to use their pens and airwaves to promote development.
GNA
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