Commitee on Legislative Instrument for Domestic Violence Act Inaugurated in Accra
The overarching problem is the absence of an enabling legislation or regulation to facilitate implementation of the law. To address this problem, a Working Committee on the Legislative Instrument (LI) was officially inaugurated in Accra, Ghana on 15th June 2011. The Committee, which was jointly inaugurated by the Ministers of Justice and Women and Children's Affairs, is milestone for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.
According to the Act, the Legislative Instrument is a regulation by the Executive (Minister of Justice on the advice of the Minister for Women and Children's Affairs) that outlines the necessary forms that will facilitate implementation of the Act such as protection order forms; it also prescribes the kind of training that police and court officials must have; provides for education and counselling of victims and perpetrators; shelter including how such a facility will be managed; enhancement of social welfare services; modalities for free medical treatment for victims of violence as well as the modalities of financial assistance to victims.
The Committee comprises civil society organizations including WiLDAF Ghana, The Ark Foundation and Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE) which have been at the forefront of the fight to stop domestic violence. Other members of the Committee are service providers including the Department of Social Welfare, Judicial Service, Domestic Violence Victim Support and Ministry of Health.
The Working Committee is primarily tasked to develop a model regulation for the Attorney General's Office which will in turn formulate the substantive legislative instrument. To ensure efficiency, there are three sub-committees namely Legal, Advocacy & Training and Psycho-social to provide deeper analysis and guidance to the Working Committee.