GenCED calls for action against the rise of femicide

By Ruth Dery

Tema, Aug. 2, GNA – Madam Esther Tawiah, the Executive Director of the Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED), has called for collective action from law enforcers and the government against the worrying trend of Men murdering their partners in Ghana.

In a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency, in Tema, it said that femicide remained a danger for women both within and outside of intimate relationships.

The statement said the cases had increased over the years, with male partners making up most suspects.

In that sense, Ghana has slipped deeper into an extreme form of violence against women by their partners.

It said media reports, indicated that 25 women were murdered by abusive partners in homes, farms, and hotels between January and August 2021, and since then to 2023, over 100 women have been murdered by male partners.

Ms Tawiah noted that every month, a woman died in the hands of a man resulting from some form of abuse leading up to the murder, either by being stabbed, poisoned, shot, strangled, clubbed, or battered to death.

She demanded for an immediate action from the government and called on the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection to spearhead programmes that ensure the safety of women and girls.

“The state must further assure the public of efforts and measures being put in place to guarantee justice for victims,” she noted.

She also called on the Mental Health Authority to also begin discussions on the cause of the issue and how victims’ families can navigate the grief.

It urged all civil rights organizations, human rights organizations and activists, women’s rights groups, and non-profit organizations to show up for women in their own capacities. “Every woman deserves to live a full life”.

GNA

FA/KOA/GRB

Aug. 2, 2023