Violence

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:
Feature: Vida-Pearl Atakpa

THE Criminalization of domestic violence under the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29) criminalizes assault and battery, incest, rape and defilement of a child, of less than sixteen years (having sex with a woman against her will, using violence or threatening behaviour.)

Domestic Violence is any forceful or serious offensive act that inflicts pain on the woman physically, psychologically and emotionally. It is also a serious evil that tarnishes the image of women in Ghana.

The code further provides protection against demeaning cultural practices such as widowhood rites, which is the type of hurtful rites performed on women especially who have lost their husbands which sometimes cause physical or mental problem.

Early customary servitude (Trokosi) which involves sending young virgin girls to the shrines to atone for crimes or sins committed by their relatives and female genital mutilation, which the act also criminalizes as using very sharp object to cut the cervix of the vagina to prevent the girl from having too much feelings for sex. Early marriage is however another discriminatory act against women in Ghana. It involves forcefully marrying a girl to a man at her early stage, due to the help the man has offered to her parents. This is mostly practiced in the northern part of Ghana.

Domestic violence refers to physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse between marital partners, former partners and other adults who are, or have been in close relationship. Most experts distinguish domestic violence form the mistreatment of the elderly or children. Both men and women may act violently towards each other. But women are more likely than men to be injured or murdered by their partners.

Domestic violence leaves long-lasting effects on it victims and their families. Victims may abuse alcohol or drugs and experience depression, eating disorders, or other types of psychological distress.

There is no single reason for domestic violence. Many offenders have a history of alcohol or drug abuse. Some experience stress caused by unemployment, sexual difficulties, and low job satisfaction. The most abusive offenders tend to have severe emotional problems. Numerous offenders were abused as children.

It has been observed that while a number of perpetrators of such violent acts virtually escape, with varying but lesser degrees of requisite sanction, custodial sentences following protracted court processes leave victims with adequate remedies.

Although Ghana has signed, ratified and adopted several international documents and conventions on domestic violence, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms Violence against Women, until recently domestic violence has been given little practical or real legislative attention.

Violence within the domestic situation takes many forms. The regime of customary law appears to permit the right of chastisement for husbands in some ethnic groups. It has led to a prevalence of wife beating in some communities. In some home setting; house helps, the aged, sick and physically challenged members in a family may be abused. A recent national study on violence revealed that one out of three women interviewed had been beaten, slapped and physically punished by a recent partner.

The Domestic Violence Act is to provide victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies in the form of protection orders. Legislation on domestic violence will uphold provisions in the constitution on respect for human dignity in Article 15 amongst other human rights provisions. It will also accord with the international commitment and obligations of the Republic under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ratified by Ghana in 1986.

The legislation seeks to bring an end to domestic violence in Ghana, targeting in particular the abusive practice of “wife beaters” and men who habitually perpetrate violence against their partners.

A report by the joint committee pointed out that domestic violence and sexual abuse in Ghana constitute a serious social evil which continues to undermine and threaten harmony in the family as a unit of society, with the potential to erode gains made by the country.

The president assenting the Bill into an Act therefore provides the victims of domestic violence with a broader set of remedies, including specific protection orders that will promote human dignity and ensure prompt, cost effective and less traumatic means of redress.