Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is widespread. It is a serious violation of human rights and has severe physical emotional and social consequences on the victims. However, prosecuting SGBV offenders can be challenging due to the private nature of evidence.
This, coupled with gender bias and discrimination, which fuels myths around such violence, shapes the criminal justice response to these crimes.
Many victims therefore never report or have been filtered out of the criminal justice system, resulting in low charge and conviction rates.
These concerns are the rationale for a series of training initiated by the Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to update the knowledge and expertise of its investigators in handling SGBV cases.
Training
Yesterday, 50 DOVVSU Investigators from the Accra and Tema regions began a three-week training on SGBV Case Docket Management to build their capacity for quality investigation and timely prosecution of SGBV cases.
They will be taken through topics in Crime Scene Management, Techniques in investigations, building and labelling of SGBV exhibits, interview and interrogation techniques, among others.
The main objectives of the training are to enable all investigators to be abreast of the current trends and also improve the way of investigating SGBV cases.
This training will also highlight the lapses and other challenges put across by the general public during their encounter with the investigators of the unit.
The investigators in a group picture after the opening of the training programme. With them are COP, Mr. Isaac Ken Yeboah, (4th left), Dr Agnes Ntibanyurwa (3rd right) and Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh (2nd right), former Director, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.
Other regions
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police, Mr Issac Ken Yeboah, who opened the programme, said the training would be extended to other regions.
He noted that SGBV was both human rights and criminal issue, which was detrimental to the health and well-being of the victims and in some cases had led to the death of some of them.
“The training is very important to the Criminal Investigations Department and the Ghana Police Service as a whole as it is important that the DOVVSU investigators position themselves in a manner that will enable them to professionally handle cases,” Mr Yeboah stated.
Protect victims
In her remarks, the Deputy Representative of UNFPA, Ghana, Dr Agnes Ntibanyurwa, indicated that the goals of prosecuting SGBV cases were to protect the victims while holding perpetrators accountable for their actions. It is also to communicate a strong message to the community that such abuse will not be tolerated.
However, due to a number of evidentiary challenges, the police investigation may be substandard, victims may be uncooperative and withdraw their complaint.
More often the process of bringing a complainant into the criminal justice system can be a difficult and traumatising experience for many victims for different reasons, she added.
Dr Ntibanyurwa reiterated that prosecution of SGBV requires some level of skills for effective justice delivery to the victims and restated the UNFPA’s commitment to partner the Ghana Police Service through DOVVSU to eliminate SGBV to protect and empower women and girls.
By Rosemary Ardayfio