Sexual Assault Awareness Month …A call to action

Her mother noticed she was not bubbly as she used to when she returned from school on Friday afternoon.

Dzidzor kept to herself through­out the rest of the day and refused to have lunch or dinner with the family.

Before her mother went to bed, she went to see her daughter in her room only to see her soaked in her own tears and could not get out as she tried to help her out of bed.

Dzidzor’s mother called for help to lift her 13-year old daughter out of bed. And as her oldest son run into the room, Dzidzor passed out.

As they lifted her from the bed, they noticed she was soaked in blood.

Earlier on her way home, Dzidzor was ambushed and defiled by two of her seniors in school who had been making advances at her for the past four months.

Dzidzor’s story mirrors the plight victims of sexual assault go through and the need for parents, teachers, and non-governmental organisations to tackle the issue and its associat­ed challenges heads on.

Globally the month of April is celebrated as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM).

This year, the campaign would be marked on the theme ‘Together we act, united we change,’ and high­lights the importance of working together to address and prevent sexual abuse, assault, and harass­ment.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month is an opportunity to listen to and honour survivors in our community and show those impacted by sexual violence that they are not alone.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic or otherwise directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), one in seven aged between 15-49 have experience sexual violence at some point in their lives according to the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS).

The report states that six per cent of women aged 15 and 49 experi­enced sexual violence within 12 months preceding the survey.

This finding is an indication of prevalence of human right abuse in the country which requires stringent measures to address.

It also mentioned that sexual vio­lence can be experienced by every woman aged 15-49 years irrespec­tive of one’s marital status; the proportions however, vary across different categories.

Over 53 per cent of women and over 29 per cent of men reported experiencing sexual violence (Chen, et al., 2023).

Sexual assault or violence im­pacts everyone and anyone can be a victim of sexual violence. People who commit such atrocities exist in communities.

Sexual violence is an umbrel­la term that includes any type of unwanted sexual contact including sexual abuse, assault, harassment, unwanted sexual contact or touch­ing, exploitation and trafficking, ex­posing one’s genitals or naked body to other without consent, noncon­sensual image sharing or coercion, words and actions of sexual nature against a person’s will and without their consent.

Sexual assault or violence can stem out of privilege and power, tolerance of abuse, unsatisfied sex­ual desires, patriarchal norms and corruption.

Everyone in each community, whether at the workplace, school, deserves to live in safe and support­ive environments where they are treated with respect.

In tackling assault or violence, education is the first step to action. In education, empowering various communities to be part of the solu­tion is key.

The Ghanaian Times newspaper reported that the Civic Education Officer of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mrs Phebemary Makafui Adodo-Samani, has proposed the adoption of April as Sexual Violence Awareness Month in Ghana.

This according to her would help educate the public, especially chil­dren, about the devastating effects of sexual violence and promote a culture of consent.

“As the world observes April as Sexual Violence Awareness Month, I will urge Ghana to also adopt this international event as a nation­al awareness campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence and abuse just like we do in Octo­ber to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and it working positively,” she said.

Mrs Adodo-Samani made the call at a seminar organised by the Accra Technical University in partnership with “I Believe Global” in Accra last Friday to mark the International Women’s Day.

In March 2018, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore says it was committed to tackling all forms of sexual misconduct and sexual violence.

According to her, it continuously strives to tackle sexual exploita­tion and abuse and to improve the safety of the people, especially in settings where the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse rises.

She said UNICEF’s goal was always to be zero victims of sexual exploitation and abuse but said it was harder to address an unreport­ed case than a reported case.

Ms Fore said it takes measures to protect those who report, to assist victims, to address the individual accountability of perpetrators, and to learn from mistakes.

“We have enhanced our inves­tigation process to ensure that reports of sexual misconduct can be promptly investigated, even if the victim does not file a formal com­plaint,” she said.

By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu