Be bold to report abusers to the police—CHRAJ

Wa, January 28, GNA – Mr. Alhassan A. Rauf, the Jirapa Municipal Director of the Commission
on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), in the Upper West Region, has called
for victims of sexual and gender-based violence to be bold to report to the police.
They should not keep any such abuse to themselves and silently suffer but seek justice.
He was speaking at a forum organized by the Africa Centre for Human Rights and Sustainable
Development (AfCHuRSD), a non-governmental Organisation (NGO) for students of the Wa
School for the Deaf and Dumb and the Wa School for the Blind to educate them on issues of
sexual and gender-based violence in schools.
Mr. Rauf said despite the existence of state institutions and laws to protect women and
children many of them continued to suffer all forms of in the communities and suffering in
silence.
That needed to change through increased public education to help victims of sexual and
gender-based violence to report to the appropriate state institutions to get the offenders
punished.
“Despite the existence of these constitutionally mandated institutions in the regions, which are
required to seek social justice for victims many are languishing in silence because of the fear
of being tagged as litigants by community members.”
Madam Janet Kpan, the Upper West Regional Girls Education Officer, called on school
authorities to make the school environment safe and conducive for quality teaching and
learning for students.
She appealed to teachers to consider themselves as role models and instill discipline and
patriotism in their students.