Today, I was brought back to a moment in November when I was standing on the Radio Justice balcony. With daytime sky was overflowing with sunshine, and the traffic of trucks, motorbikes, and bicycles was passing, I stood out there asking the director of a local NGO for help.
A young girl had recently come to the station after being assaulted with a razor blade by her uncle, and I was looking for some guidance in the situation. I was briefed on the people I should talk to and places I should visit to help her.
“That’s why we need the domestic violence bill passed”, I was told, “if it was passed the government would be required to provide a shelter for her”.
I had not heard about the domestic violence bill at that point.
“It’s been before parliament for almost two years now, but they won’t pass it with the marital rape clause”.
Many of the MPs refused to recognize that a man could be charged for raping his wife, or that rape and wife were two words that could occupy the same sentence in a court room. Furthermore, I later came to find out that part of the delay in passing the bill was the insistence by it’s advocates that an article (Article 29) in the Criminal Code which permits the use of force in marriage be removed as law.
On Wednesday, February 21st, the long awaited, hard fought moment arrived, and the Domestic Violence Bill was finally passed.
Once it is signed by the President, the state will be required to put a number of measures in place to carry out the provisions and protections that the bill articulates. Shelters for victims of abuse, restraining orders against accused abusers, and regulation of the treatment of house help are among those provisions.
Unfortunately, Article 29 remains in the criminal code.
For me, hearing of this news brought me back to that balcony, hearing about this bill that so many were fighting to have established. When I left Tamale, that young girl that had been assaulted by her uncle, and had her life threatened had returned home. Initially, she went to stay at a friend’s house, but after a month, she had nowhere to stay.
If the accountable authorities follow through on their duties, she and others who find themselves in a position like hers will have somewhere to go and someone to help.
2 comments:
“It’s been before parliament for almost two years now, but they won’t pass it with the marital rape clause”.
To think that in this day and age, systems are still in place where this foolishness can happen!
Many of the MPs refused to recognize that a man could be charged for raping his wife, or that rape and wife were two words that could occupy the same sentence in a court room.
see comment above
On Wednesday, February 21st, the long awaited, hard fought moment arrived, and the Domestic Violence Bill was finally passed.
Now it's about waiting to see if the proper systems and provisions will be put in place to help young ladies like the one you've described. It is now March, have you heard of any progress being made in that direction? Actually, consitering the fact that the bill was sitting before parliament for 2 years I think I just answered my own question
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