The Brong-Ahafo Regional Office of ActionAid Ghana, has celebrated the Community-Based Anti-Violent Team (COMBAT), with a forum at Abesim, near Sunyani.

The forum on the theme: “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Elimination of Gender-based Violence is Possible and Imperative,” was part of the celebration of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, and ActionAid’s 25th anniversary commemoration of operating in Ghana since 1990.

It was attended by female students from selected Senior High Schools, Heads of Departments, Assembly Women and the Media, from the Sunyani Municipality, as well as traditional rulers and COMBAT members from the Tain, Banda and the Asutifi North and South Districts.

The objective of the COMBAT Day was to showcase achievements and challenges of the COMBATs, and advocate for the adoption of that model by government to help reduce violence, especially against women and children in the region.

Speaking at the forum, Ms Christina Amarchey, Brong-Ahafo Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid, expressed regret that gender-based violence was a menace in the world.

Ms Amarchey cited the World Health Organization's estimate that women between the ages of 15-44 were more at risk of domestic violence and rape than cancer, malaria, war and car accidents.

The “UN Women also adds that national studies indicate about 70 per cent of women experience one form of sexual or physical violence from an intimate partner, with an estimated 38 per cent of murders of women carried out by a partner,” she added.

Ms Amarchey noted that gender-based violence was common in the Brong-Ahafo Region, adding that according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, about 27 per cent of women in Ghana had faced sexual abuse in their lifetime.

It manifested in various forms in Brong-Ahafo, she said, and cited that the case of assault and battery had been pervasive in homes, especially at the rural level.

Ms Amarchey said the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service had reported that in 2009, the region recorded 1, 028 cases, while the rate was 1,278, 1,040 and 1,257 in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.

She lamented that rural women faced violence from their partners, with many suffering in silence for fear of reporting husbands which might result in public ridicule or withdrawal of maintenance duties of the husbands towards the children.

Ms Amarchey bemoaned that “in many hard -to-reach and rural communities where there is no police presence and particularly the service of DOVVSU, the situation is worse”.

She stated ActionAid’s interventions to curb domestic violence, implemented with its non-governmental organization partners had therefore led to the formation of the COMBATs.

They are “to educate residents and support victims of violence to seek redress from law enforcement institutions” and also “to provide solidarity with affected persons of violence so that such victims can speak up and insist on having their rights respected”, Ms Amarchey said.

She disclosed that ActionAid started using the COMBAT module in 2005, and was now being used in over 200 partner communities in six regions in Ghana, adding however, that in Brong-Ahafo it was started in 2010, with 40 branches in the four districts at the moment.

During comments and contributions, some of the COMBAT members and beneficiaries of their activities from the four districts told the forum about the enhancements in their lives through sensitization on women empowerment and education among ActionAid’s initiatives and interventions in their communities.