[ad_1]
Eunice Hilda Ampomah / Dorothy Arhin-Dofo, RNG
Accra, July 10, GNA – The Samuel Amo Tobbin
(SAT) Foundation advised widows to be bold to say no to abuse
made available to them in the name of widowhood rites.
These mistreatments include shaving their
pubic hair, expelling them from their homes, forbidding them access to food,
forcing them to sleep with the dead body of their deceased husband, and refusing them the
right of access, possession, control or inheritance of property and lands
lived on.
Mr. Samuel Agbotsey, a campaign coordinator
with Amnesty International Ghana, who addressed widows at the commemoration
of the International Widows Day by the Foundation said: "Be bold to say no to
widowhood because the law is on your side. "
The theme of the celebration was "Widows
Rights".
Refer to the article in chapter 5
15, Articles 1 and 2 of the 1992 Constitution, he stated that "the dignity of all
the persons must be inviolable and no one must be arrested or not,
prohibit or detain to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
punishment or degrading treatment. "
"Therefore, when you are shaved, food is refused
or if your belongings are taken away from you, report them to the police, "he added.
When asked why widows failed to come forward
such mistreatment to the police and the court, some said that we could not
successfully file a lawsuit if the person was not financially healthy that the
court asked for money to work on a case.
Others said it was because we asked them to do it.
to succumb to the treatment reserved for family members because it was of use
some thought that the priority was given to those who were well dressed and who had the air
financially stable, widows as poor as themselves have sometimes been asked to
to go and come back several times to the police station or the court because those to
to attend them were busy.
Mr. Agbotsey said that many injustices were
widows due to lack of proper documentation of their marriage, and
advised women to go to the district badembly offices with witnesses to sign their
marriage certificates.
"Any man who does not want to sign the
Marriage certificate does not like you, he uses you, "he added.
The speaker said that it was unfortunate
how it is mostly women who practice abusive rites on widows, adding that,
they were unhappy when the same rites were practiced on their loved ones.
He advised widows to stand up
and defend any widow they witnessed was experiencing similar ill-treatment
gradually put an end to this.
To give widows the rights they have
Mr. Agbotsey said that it was necessary to empower all women, to address their
needs and concerns, to ensure the establishment of protective laws, to educate widows and their
communities on the laws, and hold the government accountable for the rights of
widows.
"I will ask parents not to push their
girls in weddings for which they are unprepared, especially financially. If a
women go into the wedding and must ask her husband the money to buy all the
little thing, it will give the man an advantage over the woman to abuse
she, he says.
Ms. Harriet Asante, Executive Director
SAT Foundation explained that the meeting was part of the activities
undertaken by the Foundation to celebrate the International Day of Widows
falls on June 23 of each year.
He said that the Foundation for years had been
provide support for health, education, social development and livelihood enhancement
widows, but noted the need to enlighten them about their rights to enable them to
ask what they deserved.
"When widows come to our office to get help,
they usually talk about their families neglecting them and some taking all the
properties they have gathered with their last husbands. And the organization can not
continues to counsel them without helping them to know their rights as widows. "
GNA
Source link
