133 girls defiled in W/R

Reports from the Western regional office of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service indicate that one-hundred and thirty-three girls in the region were defiled last year as against one-hundred and forty-four recorded in the year 2007.

Rape cases shot up from 26 in 2007 to 28 last year

An official at the Unit, Inspector K Koomson, disclosed these at a women's forum organised by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs in Sekondi recently.

According to Inspector Koomson, recorded defilement cases in Sekondi-Takoradi alone as at February this year was seven with rape cases being three. Abortion cases, he said, increased from the 16 recorded in 2007 to 18 in 2008.

 He regretted that in spite of efforts by the police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure sanity in the society, the number of cases before DOVVSU keeps rising every day.

The DOVVSU boss noted that last year for example the unit recorded a total of 2,071 cases as against 1,405 in the year 2007 comprising mostly of defilement, rape, abortion, assault and failure by parents, particularly fathers to cater for their children.

Earlier in an address, the regional director of the Department of Women, Jane Edna Nyame Philips, noted that a lot of atrocities are committed against women and girls as a result of which they suffer physical, economic, sexual and psychological abuse throughout their lives.

"Each day we hear of women beaten and thrown out of their marital homes. Some are even maimed. We also hear about how brilliant girls are withdrawn from school to marry against their wish. These unfortunate ones could be future leaders of our country and as a result our nation loses a great chunk of its human resource”, she added.

Mrs Philips said these violent acts contribute to the low image and status of women and girls in our society, a situation which must be checked immediately to enable the country experience meaningful development and advancement.

 Government has over the years made some effort towards the elimination of violence against women and girls, including passage of the Domestic Violence Law two years ago by Parliament.

The Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, she said, was also collaborating with other stakeholders to speed up activities towards the implementation of a National Plan of Action with respect to the Law.

regional heads of the Department of Children and Social Welfare respectively.