Aburi (E/R), Feb. 25, GNA – The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development has urged residents of Akuapim South Municipality to report incidences of abuse to the social welfare unit to help eliminate gender-based violence in the area.
Ms Angeline Nagertey, Akuapim South Municipal Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, who made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the department had resolved several cases but there were still quite a few that remained unresolved.
The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, formerly known as the Social Welfare Department, oversees justice administration, community care, and the promotion and protection of children’s rights.
For some time now, advocacy on gender-based violence has increased in the Akuapim South Municipality, with various non-governmental organizations such as the Human Rights Advocacy Center, the International Child Development Programme and others encouraging residents to be aware of their human rights and to report abuse cases.
So far, Ms Nagertey said the Department had been able to settle more than half of the abuse cases reported to it, but the unresolved cases were referred to the court or the family for redress.
“For our child protection cases, we are able to settle the majority of the cases that are reported to us,” she said. “Those that we were unable to settle, we referred to court, and some are also being settled at home.”
“More parents are well aware of the punishment that will be meted out to parents who abuse their children,” she added but noted that education and sensitization on the consequences of abuse had deterred most perpetrators and encouraged victims of abuse to report cases to the department.
She warned men not to abuse their wives because of their strength, saying, “Please don’t use your physical power as a man, your God-given power as a man, to molest our women.” “Most women are vulnerable, and men prey on them.”
Ms Nagertey said the Akuapim South Municipality had registered 618 Persons with Disabilities and has assisted 305 of them with education and skill acquisition since 2018 through the Disability Common Fund allocation.
GNA