The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) has been urged to engage and build the capacity of the Police, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and other institutions mandated to protect persons with disabilities to deliver their mandates effectively.

A board member of the Federation, Madam Eyram Bashan said, if GFD and the disability organisations did not act quickly to ensure that duty bearers discharged their duties as required of them, many persons with disabilities, especially women and girls would continue to suffer abuses in silence.

Madam Eyram Bashan was speaking with DisabilityNewsGH on the sidelines of a forum organised by GFD on gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities in Accra on Friday, December 16, 2022.

Madam Eyram who could not control her tears when some disabled victims of gender-based violence were sharing their stories said, she was disappointed that a vital state institution like the Police was absent at the event, while CHRAJ failed to provide any data on women and girls with disabilities who reported cases of abuse to their outfit and how many of such cases were prosecuted.

She wondered how they could measure any progress made and how they could tell where they could improve if they did not have any data on victims with disabilities. 

It was evident in the narrations of abuses that most of the cases were not reported either because of the ignorance of the victims of the channels to seek justice or lack of confidence in the Police to pursue the cases.

It also came to light that in the few instances where the cases were reported, some of the victims were coaxed to withdraw the cases for home settlement, some with the agreement of the Police or the families of the victims and the perpetuators.

A widely known phenomenon of women and girls with disabilities failing to report abuses by close relatives due to the fear of losing the support of the abusers who happen to be their benefactors also came up, among others.

Madam Eyram Bashan noted that the many revelations at the forum pointed to the fact that the federation had a lot to do to protect its members from abuses, as well as to seek justice for those abused.

She, therefore, called on the executives of the federation, both at the national and local levels to take an active interest in tracking, monitoring and also reporting such cases on behalf of their members.

Madam Eyram Bashan also called for coalition building with other stakeholders to deal with violence against women and girls with disabilities. 

The national stakeholders’ forum on gender-based violence, according to the Executive Director of GFD, was to have a conversation on how to effectively protect and promote the rights of women and girls with disabilities.

Madam Rita Kusi Kyeremaa said, “it was also to increase awareness of the many challenges women and girls with disabilities face as a result of their gender and conditions”.

The theme for the forum was “Building a stronger voice to end violence against women and girls with disabilities in Ghana”.

It was organised in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Promoting Equal Rights of women and Girls with Disabilities (PERD).

The event by GFD and its partners was also meant to mark the end of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that starts on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and runs until December 10, Human Rights Day.

The period is used to organise strategies by individuals and organisations around the world to call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

SOURCE: DisabilityNewsGH.com

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