Participants call for regional domestic fund to support victims of SGBV

Participants at an Essential Services Package (ESP) training workshop in Koforidua, have called for the establishment of a Regional Domestic Violence fund to support victims of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV).This, according to the participants, had become necessary because many victims, especially parents of children who had been abused sexually failed to pursue medical care or go through the prosecution process due to financial constraints.The Domestic Violence Act of Ghana makes provisions for a domestic violence fund to support victims of SGBV financially and logistically. Unfortunately, the law has not been implemented, leaving victims to their own fate.The participants made up of representatives of selected Essential Service providers including the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), the Attorney General's Office, Legal AID, Social Welfare Department, and traditional and religious authorities noted that, such a fund was critical to ensure fairness in the delivery of justice .The Eastern Region had been selected to be a beneficiary of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Government of Ghana's 8th country programme (2023-2027) and the workshop was part of implementation arrangement for these service providers.Chief Superintendent Florence Anaman, Eastern Regional Coordinator of the DOVVSU, mentioned that payment of medical endorsement fees at health facilities and transportation from victims'location to the various institutions relevant in processing cases such as defilement were not affordable to most victims.There had been times that officers of the DOVVSSU and other service providing agencies or departments have had to contribute moneys to support parents of some victims to pay for the medical endorsement fees or take transportation back to their communities or location.Some in the process do not even come back again at all after the initial report.The ESP training for stakeholders was to strengthen inter-agency collaboration to provide greater access to a co ordinated set of essential multi-sectoral services and to strengthen support system for all women and girls who had experienced gender-based violence.It also provided guidelines to strengthen support system for sexual and gender-based violence victims.The ESP sought to fill the gap between agreements and obligations made at the international level for the provision of services for violence against women and girls and it reflects the vital components of multi-sectoral responses for women and girls subjected to violence.Ms Juliana Abbey-Quaye, Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Gender, said inter-agency collaboration was critical to ensure seamless and smooth management of sexual and gender-based violence cases without any interference.She explained that the ESP guidelines aimed to provide guidance for essential services to work together both formally and informally to ensure a comprehensive women and child-centred response when necessary.Madam Victoria Asiedua, a legal practitioner, said financial and logistical support remained key in addressing gender-based violence since most of the victims were vulnerable and from deprived backgrounds.While agreeing for such fund, she noted that the medical endorsement form was not the only material for evidence in sexual violence cases and therefore, prosecution could not discontinue due to the 'mere fact that a victim could not afford to pay for it.'She therefore urged DOVVSSU to do diligent investigations to get substantial evidence aside the medical form so 'no one is denied justice on the face of not being able to pay for the medical endorsement form, after all its not the only material for evidence.'Source: Ghana News Agency