Institute efficient gender based justice delivery system to end poverty & increase shared prosperity- Sandie Okoro

The World Bank Group Senior Vice President and General Counsel Sandie Okoro has urged state actors to enhance the collective effort at mitigating gender based violence at all levels of society in order to realise the full potential of gender equity on economic growth and development.
	
Madam Okoro who was on a mission tour in the country to assess the impact of World Bank Funded projects said this when she engaged professionals, Civil Society and advocacy groups as well as some female lawyers at a round table discussion on gender based violence and law reforms. 

It is estimated that about three out of five women suffer constant and aggravated levels of domestic and gender based violence.
 
Even though the situation is not immediately telling of men, research shows that the statistics of gender violence against men is close to that for women. 

One area of gender violence which is currently gathering interest is in the area of psychological abuse.  It is observed that most people are unable to realise this and so do not readily report these cases. 

A lecturer in Psychology at the Methodist University and the National Coordinator for the coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation, Adolf Awuku Bekoe advocated a multilevel approach to tackling the phenomenon.
 
Meanwhile the Director of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Owusuwaah Kyeremeh called for proper retooling and funding for the Department to effectively render Justice for victims.

Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Sandie Okoro said without effective policies and justice delivery systems on gender based violence the objective of ending poverty and increasing shared prosperity cannot be achieved. 

Madam Okoro is expected to continue her mission tour in Liberia where she hopes to meet the Chief Justice and gender advocacy groups to discuss the legal framework for addressing gender based violence in that country.

STORY BY: Nana Agyeman-Prempeh

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