By Olimatou Coker
Mrs Fatou Kinteh, the Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare Minister, has disclosed that in the previous 12 months alone, 251 Gender-Based Violence cases have been reported in the country.
Citing a report by the Network Against Gender Based-Violence, Minister Kinteh said most of these cases were reported at one-stop centers in the country at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said out of the staggering figure, 240 are females, which represents about 95 percent of the overall victims of GBV. “Out of the 11 male victims, eight are children or victims of sexual abuse,” the minister stated.
Hon. Kinteh made these remarks during a forum on integrated in-country advocacy and capacity building of multiple stakeholders on the implementation of ECOWAS IHL, TIP, GBV, and child rights texts in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic held at Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Center.
She said within the same period, more than 500 children from the neighboring countries were re-integrated with their families.
“The root causes of economic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic are mainly due to low income, unemployment and the high demand from households or families particularly in a situation where the women depend on their husbands for everything,” she stated
According to her, most of the recorded cases of sexual violence are associated mainly with the refusal of household heads in meeting their responsibilities.
She further highlighted that during the initial days of the pandemic in 2020, her ministry with the Office of the First Lady provided sanitary materials to different markets, health facilities, the Bakoteh shelter for children, and the juvenile prison in collaboration with their development partners such as UNICEF and UNFPA.
“We have made significant strides in supporting vulnerable households to reduce the negative effects of Covid-19 on their lives and livelihoods. We supported 1000 households with children age 0-5 with foodstuff such as rice, oil, and a 3-month cash transfer of 1000 per month in four regions of the country namely, WCR, NBR, URR, and CRR.”
