The Head of Public Affairs Unit of the Volta Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Mrs. Effia Tenge has began a campaign to encourage Ghanaian children who suffer sexual abuses to muster courage and speak up in a bid to combat the increasing cases of defilement in the region as the festive season approaches.
The campaign which is on the theme: Empowering the Young Against Defilement is mainly targeted at school children and aimed at enlightening the children on the baits used by sexual predators to lure their victims and how to react under such circumstances.
The Volta region in 2019 recorded a total of 105 reported cases of defilement.
In 2020, the figure shot up to an alarming 230 cases but dropped to 108 cases for the year 2021.
Despite the reduction, the situation is still considered threatening and dangerous by stakeholders in the region.
It is in line with this that the command has began the campaign to educate children and to also encourage them to be bold and speak up anytime they become victims of such barbaric acts, especially from relatives and families friends.
The campaign being led by the Volta Regional PRO, DSP Effia Tenge, made its first engagement at the Treasures Christian School in Ho.
“It is a campaign we are rolling in almost all the schools, especially at this time that the children will be going on vacation because Christmas is around the corner. We also know that when they are on vacation, that is when people go on holidays, other people come to visit them and so these are the times that we want to capture and arm them with the necessary weapons they need.”
“Children are vulnerable, but if the child knows this is an abuse and is able to speak anytime they face such threats, we would be on the path to fighting and reducing the incidents on defilement in our society,” DSP Effia Tenge told the media after the first engagement.
She, however, bemoaned the continous resort to traditional ways of settling defilement cases at home describing it as myopic, while noting that the best way to change the narrative is to empower and encourage the victims to speak up.
She said, “People are not so enthused -like in some parts, it is culture, if I have done it, it should be settled at home. It is not something that should go to the tables of the police and all that; it is myopic. But we must begin to change this mindset, the children must not be allowed to grow with this mentality. We need to encourage the children who are abused to speak up, otherwise, it becomes a norm, a normal for them and they grow with this mentality.”
“The things we are teaching them are practicable and also include the things the predators use to deceive them so that when they are able to detect the early signs they can report or speak up to prevent them from being assaulted,” she added.
The campaign is expected to target the youth and parents in the next phase in ensuring a wholistic combat approach to the menace.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/103.5fm/Faisel Abdul-Iddrisu
