Shahadatu Nima Abubakari, Northern Regional President, Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations (GFD), has cautioned opinion leaders against shielding individuals who sexually abuse persons with disability (PwDs).
She expressed concern that some community leaders defended perpetrators, often family members, without considering the vulnerability and emotional trauma of the victims.
She said: "Most of the rape and defilement cases involving our members are often preferred to be settled at the family level because of opinion leaders' interference.
This is a clear abuse of their rights, and it further emboldens the perpetrators to continue to abuse them." Abubakari gave the caution at a stakeholders' meeting in Tamale aimed at strengthening the capacity of law enforcement agencies in the Northern Region to handle Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases effectively.
