Oxfam Ghana, an independent organisation working to end injustice and poverty, is calling for a review of the county’s Domestic Violence Act.
At the launch of a research project aimed at empowering women to end sexual and gender-based violence, Country Director for Oxfam Ghana, Tijani Hamza, said perpetrators of this crime must be given stiffer punishment to deter them from committing it again.
“Punishments are supposed to deter people. So you can give a punishment that is three years incarceration or four years incarceration.”
“But if over a long period of time, you realised the deterrent means of punishment is not yielding any results, then you appeal for a harsher form of punishment, so it can yield the desired results.”
“We should also label people. In some countries, I think there are processes where we also name and shame,” Mr. Hamza added.
The 2020 Human Rights Report put together by the United States of America cited rape and domestic serious problems in Ghana.
The report faulted authorities for not enforcing existing laws on rape and domestic violence.
These findings, captured under section six of the 2020 Human Rights Report, centre on discrimination, societal abuses, and trafficking.
The report added that, a few of the cases in which police identified and arrested suspects for rape or domestic abuse did not result in any conviction due to witness unavailability, inadequate training on investigatory techniques and police prosecutor case mismanagement.
