WAJU records more assault cases in Northern Region

Tamale, Oct. 24, GNA - The Northern Region Branch of the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service has recorded a total of 94 cases of violence against women and children between January and September this year.

Out of the cases, 34 were assault on women, 14 on threat to cause harm and 12 on defilement.

Mr George Opong Asante, Northern Regional Police Commander made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale on Friday.

He said 80 cases of violence against women and children were recorded within the same period last year, of which 30 were assault on women, 18 on defilements, six on threats to cause harm, while three cases of failure of parents to maintain their children were registered. Mr Asante said women and juvenile concerns were assuming alarming proportion globally and urged the WAJU to do more investigations into violence, especially against women, to reduce the incidence of inhuman treatment meted out to women by their male counterparts in the region.

"A lot of family members notably mothers, sisters and children are daily subjected to very degrading experiences, including sexual harassment and mental torture; denying them their basic human rights and liberties and we must do something to stop these acts," he added. Mr Asante noted that physical violence against children made them go through traumas that negatively affect their intellectual and emotional development, leaving them with deranged personalities."

He suggested the involvement of more police personnel in the activities of WAJU to assist in preventing inhuman treatment against women and juveniles in the country.

In another interview, Madam Abiba Amadu, Principal Nursing Officer at the Regional Health Services, said adolescents suffered from organ damages, chronic pains, early pregnancies and pelvic inflammatory diseases, which could result in partial or permanent disability and infertility.

She said the impact of violence on women and adolescents reproductive health had resulted in low birth weight, miscarriage, maternal death, suicide and substance abuse among the adolescents. Madam Amadu said:" For instance, the impact of rape has caused depression, fear, anxiety, low-self esteem, post-traumatic stress disorder, unwanted pregnancy, abortion and HIV/AIDS among the adolescents".

She noted that dissemination of information on the rights of women and adolescents has been effective only in the cities and urban areas, and not at the grassroots level where some traditional and customary laws infringed on the rights of the people.