The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has called on Ghanaians to work together to curb all forms of violence, especially against women and children.

Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security on October 31, 2025, Dr Lartey said that an increase in reports of gender-based violence does not always mean that the problem is getting worse. Instead, it may reflect the growing public awareness of individual rights and are using the right channels to report cases.

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She explained that while research is needed to know the full extent of the problem, violence remains a major concern for the ministry and its partners.

“For every country to develop, there should be no violence or minimal violence that can be handled. The issue at stake now is that we have lots of it and people are living in ignorance, thinking that if they have a family, they can do with the family as they wish, but the situation is that there are laws that govern us as a people and for that reason, we operate within those laws. Nobody can go and give an excuse that because I was ignorant of the law, I acted this way,” she said.

Explaining why the ministry sometimes delays the release of statements on certain issues, she said they do so to protect victims and to prevent suspects from learning the next steps of investigations.

“You realise that the ministry does not arrest, but what we do is that we work with the relevant bodies to ensure that there's justice and fairness in the way some of these cases are handled. And so, the issues come to us and people expect sometimes for us to immediately come out and react, which is in place because everybody wants to be comforted to know what is happening.

“But sometimes giving out too much information at the early stages can also let the perpetrator know that this is what is likely to happen and so you realise that we issue the press statements or we issue statements cautiously, such that the victim is protected, the perpetrator is not aware of the next step, and also the other security agencies can also do their work,” the minister.

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The minister urged the public to support the fight against gender-based and sexual violence, stressing that it will take a collective effort to build a society free from abuse.



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