Mr Emmanuel C. Horlotu, the Northern Regional Coordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service has advised parents to stop withdrawing reported cases on sexual violence and allow the law to take its full course.
He said most of the victims of sex violence did not get the needed justice, because their cases were not always allowed to get to court, after enough evidence had been gathered against the perpetrators for prosecution.
He said this at a forum on Thursday organised by ActionAid Ghana in collaboration with Young Urban Women Movement as part of the activities of the 16 Days Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign under the theme: 'End Gender-Based Violence in the World of Work'.
The forum was attended by the Labour Department, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), DOVVSU, Trades Union Congress (TUC), members of Tailors and Hairdressers Associations and other stakeholders.
Mr Horlotu said often times cases reported to DOVSSU got withdrawn by the victims or parents, due to the interference of religious and traditional leaders, family members or the receiving of money as compensation from the perpetrators, making it difficult to get justice for the victims.
He said less than 12 per cent of the victims of sexual abuses reported their cases to DOVVSU and out of this percentage, about 73 per cent of it were defilement and 27 per cent rape, as recorded by the office this year.
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