'Reform negative cultural practices cultural practices,' Saturday, December 11, 2010 pg 11
Fourteen year-old Laila (not real name) was forced to marry a man who sexually abused her and physically assaulted her when she turned down his sexual advances. She became pregnant at 15 years but never availed herself of antenatal care.
When she could not take the abuse anymore, Laila left her ‘matrimonial home’ and escaped one dawn to Accra in search of the peace that has eluded her.
The touching plight of a 22-year old, Dora Galley, is not different. As a trokosi, she was compelled by the 'priest' to work on the shrine's farm without any wage or food. Her meal for the day comes in the evening.
“I had to cut and uproot tree stumps to burn charcoal and then sell to make some money to take care of myself,” she said.
“I did not have the right to take crops from the farm unless the 'priest' allowed me to do so. Occasionally, my parents sent me some food, but that was kept in the priest's room and any time I needed some, I had to make a request for it. I was forced to have sex with the priest as one of the rituals in the shrine, but luckily I did not get pregnant.”
Under the Trokosi practice, which means slave or wife of the gods, a girl is sent to a shrine to atone for an offence committed by her relative (s).
The Amnesty International (AI), Ghana has called for the reformation or abolition of all forms of negative traditional and cultural practices which continue to violate girls’ and women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
Speaking at a public forum to mark the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence in Accra, Mr Lawrence Amesu, the Director of AI, Ghana, observed that even though traditional values and culture of any society remained important elements needed for development and stability of that society, in Ghana and other parts of the world, some negative traditional and cultural practices continue to violate the rights of girls and women and prevent them from making choices relating to their reproductive health rights.
He said these negative cultural practices include female genital mutilation, child betrothal, early marriage, widowhood inheritance and trokosi.
The 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign which takes place every year from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day). Other important celebration during the period include Universal Children’s Day and World AIDS Day.
The period is used to highlight violence against women and human rights and to make people aware of the negative impact of violence against women and children and the need to find lasting solution to the problem.
Historically, the 16-day campaign had been used to draw global attention to the worldwide problem of violence against women. In its early years, the campaign initiated a worldwide petition calling on the United Nations to include women’s human rights issues on the agenda for the world Human Rights Conference in June 1993 in Vienna, Austria.
During the conference, the petition gathered 500,000 signatures from 134 countries. The petition helped to secure a formal declaration of women’s rights as human rights and violence against women as a human right violation in the Vienna Declaration.
This year’s event is running on the theme: “Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections Militarism and Violence against Women” but AI is focusing on the theme: “Sexual and Reproductive Rights.”
Mr Amesu noted that sexual and reproductive rights are crucial to ensuring that women and girls were empowered to make decisions throughout their lives regarding the nature of their intimate relationships and with whom they created a family.
“These rights impose on the state, traditional leaders and all right holders, the obligation to ensure that women and girls can make decisions about their sexuality and reproductive lives, free from discrimination, coercion and violence and their access to a comprehensive range of information and health service without risk of criminal prosecution or other sanctions,” he added.
He enumerated AI’s 5-point statement which, among other things, urged the government to provide an effective framework of remedies for sexual reproductive right violations and to provide access to mechanisms of justice, and appropriate and effective remedies for the harm they have suffered determined by a competent judicial, administrative or other authorities.
He, however, commended the government for its efforts towards tackling abject poverty among women and promoting girl-child education through various development strategies.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, in a speech read on her behalf said the passage of critical legislation relating to domestic violence and human trafficking, such as the Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2007 (Act 732) Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694), and provisions in the 1992 Constitution to reduce violence against women and other human rights abuses, as well as provisions in the Labour Act that deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, remained powerful tool for fighting gender-based violence.
She expressed the government's commitment to ensuring that women were empowered to play their roles in pushing the country's economic development agenda forward.
When she could not take the abuse anymore, Laila left her ‘matrimonial home’ and escaped one dawn to Accra in search of the peace that has eluded her.
The touching plight of a 22-year old, Dora Galley, is not different. As a trokosi, she was compelled by the 'priest' to work on the shrine's farm without any wage or food. Her meal for the day comes in the evening.
“I had to cut and uproot tree stumps to burn charcoal and then sell to make some money to take care of myself,” she said.
“I did not have the right to take crops from the farm unless the 'priest' allowed me to do so. Occasionally, my parents sent me some food, but that was kept in the priest's room and any time I needed some, I had to make a request for it. I was forced to have sex with the priest as one of the rituals in the shrine, but luckily I did not get pregnant.”
Under the Trokosi practice, which means slave or wife of the gods, a girl is sent to a shrine to atone for an offence committed by her relative (s).
The Amnesty International (AI), Ghana has called for the reformation or abolition of all forms of negative traditional and cultural practices which continue to violate girls’ and women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
Speaking at a public forum to mark the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence in Accra, Mr Lawrence Amesu, the Director of AI, Ghana, observed that even though traditional values and culture of any society remained important elements needed for development and stability of that society, in Ghana and other parts of the world, some negative traditional and cultural practices continue to violate the rights of girls and women and prevent them from making choices relating to their reproductive health rights.
He said these negative cultural practices include female genital mutilation, child betrothal, early marriage, widowhood inheritance and trokosi.
The 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign which takes place every year from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day). Other important celebration during the period include Universal Children’s Day and World AIDS Day.
The period is used to highlight violence against women and human rights and to make people aware of the negative impact of violence against women and children and the need to find lasting solution to the problem.
Historically, the 16-day campaign had been used to draw global attention to the worldwide problem of violence against women. In its early years, the campaign initiated a worldwide petition calling on the United Nations to include women’s human rights issues on the agenda for the world Human Rights Conference in June 1993 in Vienna, Austria.
During the conference, the petition gathered 500,000 signatures from 134 countries. The petition helped to secure a formal declaration of women’s rights as human rights and violence against women as a human right violation in the Vienna Declaration.
This year’s event is running on the theme: “Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections Militarism and Violence against Women” but AI is focusing on the theme: “Sexual and Reproductive Rights.”
Mr Amesu noted that sexual and reproductive rights are crucial to ensuring that women and girls were empowered to make decisions throughout their lives regarding the nature of their intimate relationships and with whom they created a family.
“These rights impose on the state, traditional leaders and all right holders, the obligation to ensure that women and girls can make decisions about their sexuality and reproductive lives, free from discrimination, coercion and violence and their access to a comprehensive range of information and health service without risk of criminal prosecution or other sanctions,” he added.
He enumerated AI’s 5-point statement which, among other things, urged the government to provide an effective framework of remedies for sexual reproductive right violations and to provide access to mechanisms of justice, and appropriate and effective remedies for the harm they have suffered determined by a competent judicial, administrative or other authorities.
He, however, commended the government for its efforts towards tackling abject poverty among women and promoting girl-child education through various development strategies.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, in a speech read on her behalf said the passage of critical legislation relating to domestic violence and human trafficking, such as the Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2007 (Act 732) Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694), and provisions in the 1992 Constitution to reduce violence against women and other human rights abuses, as well as provisions in the Labour Act that deal with sexual harassment in the workplace, remained powerful tool for fighting gender-based violence.
She expressed the government's commitment to ensuring that women were empowered to play their roles in pushing the country's economic development agenda forward.
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