Inerela+ Ghana, a non-governmental organisation has held a capacity-building workshop for media personnel on the reportage of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
The one-day training held in Accra was to educate the media on the SGBV Law as well as how journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting, and interpreting information on GSBV.
Licensed Counselor at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Paulina Louisa Essel said, “The media should use their pen to save ‘lives’ and secure the mental health of survivors” since they serve as a conduit between the public and the government.
In her presentation, she stated that numerous factors contribute to GSBV, saying ignorance, societal factors, and even anger can lead one into abusing the other. “Note that one’s emotional and psychological effects like anxiety, anger, depression, and disassociation should be considered” she added.
Ms. Essel urged the media to make sure they win the trust of GSBV survivors before engaging them in a discussion.
She further urged the media not to name GSBV survivors or victims and desist from describing them in ways that they can be easily identified.
ACP Jones Blantari spoke on how religious and traditional leaders approach the GSBV issues.
He said, most pastors are at fault adding that the pastors rather create the problem of stigma because they tend to reveal the results of would-be couples where it should not be done.
“So the counseling tends to be an avenue for spreading stigma and discrimination”, he added.
He thus called for the sensitization of religious leaders on what counseling means and its ethics.
By Hudda Bala Abdul Manan