BREAK SILENCE ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE ON CAMPUS (PAGE 11, DEC 18, 2010)

GENDER activists in the Northern Region have urged female students of tertiary institutions to break the silence on sexual abuse and other forms of gender-based violence they might encounter on their campuses.
At a forum at Tamale Polytechnic (T-Poly) to mark the end of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, various gender activists took turns to challenge the students to report abuses and ensure that their abusers were duly punished.
According to them, remaining silent over such abuses would further embolden their abusers, be they colleagues, lecturers or administrators, and this would not help the cause of women.
The forum was organised by the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC), a gender-based advocacy organisation, in collaboration with the Women’s Commission of T-Poly and with funding from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF).
It was held on the theme: “Managing gender-based violence in tertiary institutions: role of the women’s commission.”
The Programme Co-ordinator of FIDA-Ghana, Mrs Saratu Mahama, argued that the effects of violence against women were so grave that women must not allow such abuses to be swept under the carpet.
She mentioned the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, the injury to one’s self- esteem, the exposure to high risk pregnancies and childbirth complications as some of the consequences of violence against women.
Mrs Mahama said there were so many forms of violence, but physical and sexual violence were the commonest, citing media reports of wife beating, murder, rape and defilement to back her case.
The Programme Co-ordinator of the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC), Ms Hafsatu Sey Sumani mates female students to be bold to report violent abuses to the appropriate institutions for redress.
She said the female students could use their associations on campus, such as the Women’s Commission, to influence their mates to resist all forms of violence, adding that there was strength in numbers.
“Condoning violence is as criminal as committing it and you should be bold to speak out irrespective of threats surrounding it,” she further stated.
With regard to the campaign, Ms Hafsatu explained that the 16 Days of Activism against gender violence was an international campaign used by women’s groups globally to call for the elimination of violence against women.
She said the campaign involved raising awareness about violence against women, strengthening efforts to halt such violence, formulating and sharing effective strategies to safeguard women’s rights and strengthening the solidarity among women groups all over the world.
The co-ordinator mentioned that NORSAAC had been working closely with other organisations in the Northern Region to champion this campaign, as well as promote women’s participation in decision-making.
“Each year, we join the government and civil society organisations to run this campaign to make people aware of the negative impact of violence on women and children and to act against such abuses,” she further noted.
The T-Poly Women’s Commissioner, Ms Fauzia Dauda said the commission had planned to foster more dialogue among its members regarding violence against women on the campus.
“We want to use this body to create the platform for such serious matters to be discussed and to support each member who happens to suffer from such abuse to seek redress,” she stated.
Meanwhile, the campaign, which was started on the 25th of November, came to a close on December 10th.