Domestic Violence bill needs extensive public debate

Accra, Dec. 18, GNA- Mr Kwaku Ansa-Asare, Director of Ghana Law School on Thursday called for extensive public debate and education on the domestic violence bill before it should be passed into law. Mr Ansah-Asare who chaired a seminar on domestic violence in Accra said "to address concerns raised we need to take into consideration our way of life, custom, tradition, religious beliefs and the temperature of public opinion.

"It seems to me that some human rights and feminine gender activists were impatient to get the bill passed, and a bill of this nature should not be rushed into law because such an intimate issue affecting almost every family should not be determined by the wholesale of importation of a foreign model".

He said the resort to police of matters pertaining to inter-spousal sexual intercourse would no doubt do considerable violence to most marriages for which the bill sought to harmonise. It was, therefore, important to define violence with great care otherwise homes and families were going to be destabilised if minor irritations could be defined and treated as violence, he added. The seminar was organised by the National Council on Women and Development to sensitise women on the bill and to find ways of approaching violence against women.

He said the way bills were rushed to parliament was not the best available option for the country, adding, marital rape, sexual harassment and the penalties spelt out on perpetrators should be well explained.

"It is not everything that the law can handle". He said some of these issues could be handled amicably outside the courts as several marital disputes resolutions exist to address them. Queen mothers, chiefs, counsellors and the Department of Social Welfare were all in the position to solve some marital problems, he added.

Depending on the issue at hand some Judges would sometimes advise victims to settle the matter out of court.

He said total elimination was not possible but the issue could be curbed and there were instances that aggressors of violence were women and asked, "how then do we deal with the problem of women not to abuse their house-helps?"

Ms Nana Oye Lithur, a Legal practitioner emphasised that the bill was proposed by the government to address certain issues that were not captured in the criminal code.

She said the issues concerned were Ghanaian and not foreign as there were practical examples of such cases for a proof. Mrs Gifty Alema-Mensah, Executive Director, Excell Foundation said both women and men needed to understand each other, be open and have respect for each other in order to build a good relationship so as to aviod violence.

She also urged men to discard the notion that paying bride price meant that women were their properties and therefore could be treated anyhow. She suggested, a man-to-man education to enhance marital relationships.

Miss Atawa Akyea, Greater Accra regional Director of NCWD said as implementers the organisation would make the necessary changes if need