The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has decried the continued perpetration of violence against women in Ghana and has called on civil society groups to help end the canker.

CHRI said despite the significant contribution of women to social and economic progress of the nation, women continue to suffer widespread defilement, rape, assaults, and spousal killing.

A statement signed by Paul Teiko Tagoe, Project Officer of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Africa Office in Accra, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said on Thursday.

It said the perpetration of violence against women continues to manifest in different shades whether rich or poor, employed or unemployed, married or single.

The statement cited Donkorkrom, a community in the Asutifi North District of the Brong Ahafo Region that has, until recently, abolished an age-long custom which forbids women and girls in the community from giving birth or menstruating on its ‘sacred’ land.

It said for over five decades, affected women and girls in that community had to endure the pain and inconveniences of flouting the taboo, by performing traditional rituals or sacrifices to clean the land.

The statement said CHRI condemns such negative traditional practices like Female Genital Mutilation, isolating and encamping of women purported to be witches, outrageous bride price that encourages men to see women as ‘property’, forced marriages and adultery rites that shame women in public for committing adultery.

It said “these customs invariably compromise the dignity of women and have negative consequences on their quest for progression and equality in a democratic society.”

The statement said despite the enactment of Domestic Violence Act 2007(Act 732), incidents of domestic violence are still serious and pervasive issues in Ghana.

It said spousal killing is the worst form of Domestic Violence in Ghana, with women forming a majority of victims.

The statement said “a release by the Human Rights Advocacy Centre in 2012 identifies an alarming rate of two spousal murders taking place every month, from January 2010 to July 2012.”

“It is rather sad to note that, there has not been any institutional intervention to address spousal murders and to protect women in volatile relationships,” it said.

Though CHRI recognises religion, custom and traditions of all citizens as a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 26(1) of the 1992 Constitution, negative cultural practices that subject women and girls to inhuman and degrading treatments should be abolished, the statement said.