SDA women demands stronger laws to end all forms of violence against women

About 4,000 Seventh-Day Adventist women from 22 African countries have intensified a campaign to end all forms of violence and abuses against women.

The campaign dubbed ‘End it Now’ focused on ending abuse against housemaids who are subjected to torture and other inhumane conditions by their employers.

The women who are attending the West-Central Division women’s ministries congress of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church held in Kumasi were deployed to interact with the Ghanaian populace on the need to end violence and abuses meted out to women in the society.

Brochures with inscriptions which condemn abuses were also distributed to members of the public while placards with similar inscriptions were displayed to create more public awareness on the development.

Signatures have been collected on the subject and a request submitted to the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Women and Children Protection to enforce laws that help in ending violence and abuse against women not only in Ghana, but also West Africa.

Presenting the document to the Ministry for onward submission to Government, General Conference of the SDA Church, Mrs Heather-Dawn Small said the End it Now campaign targets to end a wide range of abuses including rape, child sexual abuse, institutional abuse where women and children are abused, abuse of the elderly and early child marriages.

She encouraged the women to intensify their sensitization on the End it Now campaign to get the populace understand the consequences of such abuses to the development of a healthy society.

Women’s Ministries Director of the SDA Church for the West-Central Africa Division, Mrs. Omobonike Adeola Sessou said state agencies mandated to end abuse in the society are being engaged as part of the End it Now campaign to get play active roles towards the fight.

“Adventist women from the 22 West African countries, we are presenting our request to the Government of Ghana that laws should be enacted to protect the rights of housemaids and other women”, she said

The women were deployed to the prisons and hospitals in Kumasi to pray, interact and donate items to patients and inmates at these facilities.

Other women also visited market places to interact with the traders and also carried out cleanup exercises at the market centers.

Receiving the petition on behalf of Government, Programs Officer at the Department of Gender under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Deborah Asamoah Antwi emphasized that the campaign was very important and will augment the efforts the Ministry was already making to fight against abuses and violence against women in the Ghanaian society.

She said the Ministry is currently embarking on a project dubbed ‘The He for She campaign’ where the men who are the perpetrators of such abuses are championing violence against women.

SDA women donate to KATH MBU

The women as part of the congress donated fifty (50) chairs and books to the Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

The donation was in fulfillment of a promise the SDA women made to authorities at the unit when they paid a visit to the facility and interacted management about the challenges there.

The chairs are to serve as comfortable seating place for women who come to the facility to deliver.

Authorities at the facility commended the Church for the gesture and appealed to other entities to support the unit.