Organisations urged to establish codes of ethics to combat sexual harassment

Mrs Yamfoah Amua-Sekyi, a Legal Practitioner, has urged organisations to be tough on issues of sexual harassments at workplaces to weed the canker out of the Ghanaian society. 

She, therefore, proposed that organisations prepare strong codes of ethics and conducts for staff, to deter potential offenders from carrying out their motives.

She said such codes of ethics and conducts must be strictly enforced, adding that, regardless of an employee’s stature within the organisation, should they be found guilty of sexually harassing a colleague or staff member there should be immediate consequences.

“There should be a clear zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment in organisations,” she said.

Mrs Amua-Sekyi was speaking at a workshop on the topic: ” Sexual Harassment, Abuse and the Laws on it, Ghana’s Perspective,” organised for some 36 religious leaders and individuals from across some regions, in Accra.

The purpose of the workshop was to, among other things, equip them with the requisite knowledge to be change agents by disseminating such information to their peers and society.

It was organised by the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+ Ghana), a non-governmental organisation.

Section 3(2) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2007, (Act 732) states that “any found of this, is liable on summary conviction to a fine not more than 500 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or both.”

Mrs Amua-Sekyi expressed concern about the interference by the public, especially opinion leaders in abuse cases, stressing that such interferences prevented the laws from working.

She, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to allow the State to handle such cases, bring perpetrators to book to serve as deterrent to others.

“We do have a lot of laws in Ghana. When you go into the Domestic Violence Act, you will see that it talks about harassement, it talks about all kinds of abuse, not just sexual abuse but physical abuse, economic abuse, all kinds of abuse, then we come to sexual abuse and their laws, and so if you run foul of the law, the law will work. And if the Police do their work as it is which they do, if we the citizens don’t go interfering because mostly that is what happen.

“When something happens, you will the same citizens going in to interfere with the work of the Police. But, if we leave the Police to do their work, we will find out that all the laws that we find in other jurisdictions we have in this country, and it works very well,” she started.

Mrs Amua-Sekyi who is also the Director of Public Education at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) urged victims of such abuses not to hesitate to report these cases to the Commission for appropriate measures to be taken against the culprit.

Mrs Paulina Louisa Essel, a Licenced Counsellor, said mental health remained a major health concern in the country.

Speaking on the topic: “Mental Health: Addressing it in Our Current State,” she said mental health, despite being one of the most spoken about health condition in recent times, there was still lack of awareness as to when a person should seek assistance.

“One of the problems people face when it comes to seeking help for mental health is that they do not know when to seek help. The lack of awareness is so prominent that most people do not even understand the difference between mental health and mental illness,” she said.

Mrs Essel, therefore, advised individuals with such issues to “work closely with a doctor or psychologist who can help them identify their needs and provide them with suitable treatment.”

Mrs Mercy Acquah-Hayford, National Coordinator for INERELA+ Ghana, advised survivors of any form of abuse, especially sexual abused not to allow such cases to be addressed at home, rather they must allow the law to take its course to serve as deterrent.