Launching of Essential Services Guidelines for Women and Girls Victims of Violence

General News on Friday, June 14, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-06-14

The Ministry of Gender, Childhood and Social Welfare (MoGCSP) released Wednesday a document containing guidelines for the provision of quality essential services to women and girls victims of violence.

Ms Mialonin Asibi, executive secretary of the Ministry of Gender Equality's Family Violence Secretariat, who launched the document at a workshop in Accra, said the goal was to provide better access to a co-ordinated package of essential and quality multisectoral services for all women. and girls who have been victims of gender-based violence.

She said the package was a practical tool for countries, establishing a clear roadmap on how to ensure the provision and coordination of quality services in all sectors, and also helping them to design, implement and implement the package. implement and review services for all victims and survivors. of violence in a wide range of contexts and situations.

Violence against women and girls, she said, is a global pandemic and an obstacle to achieving equality, pointing out that one in three women in the world has suffered physical or badual violence (30% of women), according to a WHO study. – South Africa displays a statistic of 37.0% of this problem.

Asibi said that although gender-based violence, as well as domestic violence, directly and indirectly affects a large number of institutions around the world, access to essential services remains unaffected. limited or nonexistent, while the lack of reliable data makes it difficult to design effective support. systems to solve problems.

The "Essential Services Package" includes five overlapping modules, including overview and introduction; Essential health services; Essential justice and police services; Essential social services; and Actions essential for coordinating and coordinating governance, she said.

She added that it was thought that these coordinated actions could significantly reduce the impact of violence on the well-being, health and safety of women and girls, help recovery and empowerment. these groups and stop the commission of such crimes. against them.

Again, the provision of essential services could reduce the losses women, families and communities experience in terms of productivity, academic success, public policy and budget, and help break the cycle of recurring or recurring violence, and play a key role in poverty reduction development, as well as in efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ms. Erika Goldson, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the country, said that Ghana had the privilege of hosting the launch of the document with the support of the regional office of its team for the 39, West and Central Africa, affirming that the SDGs explicitly aimed at the end of the process. discrimination and elimination of all forms of violence and harmful practices against all women and girls.

It noted, however, that despite all the efforts and commitments made, such provisions remained ubiquitous in societies and at country level, claiming that this was a form of serious discrimination.

"Discrimination and other forms of violence against women and girls, including badual violence and harmful practices, continue to seriously undermine the enjoyment of women's human rights, particularly their human rights. badual and reproductive health, "she said.

Ms. Goldson mentioned some of the necessary support services, a shelter for victims of GBV and trafficking, trauma counseling services, access to badual and reproductive health services, medical care, and more. emergency and a rapid judicial system for such cases of violence. the services would not provide immediate support or recovery, but would also help put an end to impunity.

She thanked all stakeholders and bilateral partners, who contributed to the development of the document, and said that UNFPA was looking forward to developing a plan of action for co-ordinated multisectoral prevention and response to badual and gender-based violence; and building the capacity of key sector professionals and UN agency staff to achieve better results.

She urged workshop participants from implementing agencies, gender ministries and departments, civil society organizations and the media to work together to implement the basics and the lessons learned. quality guidelines of the Essential Services package to ensure equal access, protect the human rights of women and girls and other vulnerable groups.