HELP DEAL WITH SEXUAL, GENDER VIOLENCE (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Jasmine Arku
The Ark Foundation Ghana, under its Church Anti-Violence Project has called on church leaders to help in dealing with sexual and gender based violence against women and children.
The call was made at a church leaders conference and a launch of a handbook for churches on responding to sexual and gender based violence.
The conference was to create a platform for pastors and church leaders to discuss issues of sexual and gender base violence within the church with particular emphasis on the role of the church in responding to the issue.
The head pastor of the Dzorwulu branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Ralph Langdon explained that, the church was a place for resolving such conflicts because in the church “all were equal children of God” and emphasised however that the church had contributed in worsening issues of sexual and gender based violence.
He added that the problem was due to the misinterpretation of the scriptures by some church leaders, creating the impression that women were supposed to serve man and to meet his needs.
He noted that more than fifty percent of women were experiencing violence from intimate partners and as at 2005 reported cases of wife battering had resulted in more injuries that required medical treatment than domestic, motor and robbery related accidents combined.
Pastor Langdon therefore advised that victims of sexual abuses should not be victimised again by the response they receive, rather they should be treated with purity and as persons in their own rights worthy of sincere relationships that were not of sexual nature.
He also encouraged them to report cases of criminality that could not be resolved in the church and provide an environment that was free of power imbalances which made abuses possible.
At the conference, a Handbook for Churches on Responding to Sexual and Gender Based Violence compiled by Ms Naa Atwei Victoria Wilson was launched.
The book would provide comprehensive information on issues of Gender Based Violence and Domestic Violence (GBV/DV) in relation to the church and would aid users to understand the causes, manifestations and effects of GBV/DV. It further exposes users to the processes that lead to effective and efficient response to GBV/DV cases arising within the church.
The Ark Foundation is a women’s human rights foundation that reaches out to gender based violence by giving them legal aid, counselling services, crises intervention and provides shelter for battered women and children.
The Ark Foundation Ghana, under its Church Anti-Violence Project has called on church leaders to help in dealing with sexual and gender based violence against women and children.
The call was made at a church leaders conference and a launch of a handbook for churches on responding to sexual and gender based violence.
The conference was to create a platform for pastors and church leaders to discuss issues of sexual and gender base violence within the church with particular emphasis on the role of the church in responding to the issue.
The head pastor of the Dzorwulu branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Ralph Langdon explained that, the church was a place for resolving such conflicts because in the church “all were equal children of God” and emphasised however that the church had contributed in worsening issues of sexual and gender based violence.
He added that the problem was due to the misinterpretation of the scriptures by some church leaders, creating the impression that women were supposed to serve man and to meet his needs.
He noted that more than fifty percent of women were experiencing violence from intimate partners and as at 2005 reported cases of wife battering had resulted in more injuries that required medical treatment than domestic, motor and robbery related accidents combined.
Pastor Langdon therefore advised that victims of sexual abuses should not be victimised again by the response they receive, rather they should be treated with purity and as persons in their own rights worthy of sincere relationships that were not of sexual nature.
He also encouraged them to report cases of criminality that could not be resolved in the church and provide an environment that was free of power imbalances which made abuses possible.
At the conference, a Handbook for Churches on Responding to Sexual and Gender Based Violence compiled by Ms Naa Atwei Victoria Wilson was launched.
The book would provide comprehensive information on issues of Gender Based Violence and Domestic Violence (GBV/DV) in relation to the church and would aid users to understand the causes, manifestations and effects of GBV/DV. It further exposes users to the processes that lead to effective and efficient response to GBV/DV cases arising within the church.
The Ark Foundation is a women’s human rights foundation that reaches out to gender based violence by giving them legal aid, counselling services, crises intervention and provides shelter for battered women and children.
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