KAIPTC goes ‘Orange’ to commemorate global campaign and to sensitise staff on Gender-Based Violence
9thDecember 2019: It was a ‘sea of orange’ at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre on Thursday, 5thDecember, as Staff were adorned in orange T-shirts to mark the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign led by the Women, Peace and Security Institute (WPSI).
WPSI organized an inter-departmental debate that day to sensitise staff on Gender Based Violence (GBV), and to correct misconceptions and misunderstanding of same, especially rape. The debate was one of several activities held by WPSI locally to mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign that is held annually from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to 10 December, Human Rights Day.
Arguing against the motion – “In some circumstances, rape is explainable and/or acceptable,” staff fromOffice of the Commandant (OOC)/the Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (PPMED) and the Training Department battled it out with the opposing team from the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research (FAAR) and the Administration Department, who argued for the motion.
Some of the misconceptions the debate corrected were that;
- Rape can never be justified under any circumstances
- The victim should never be blamed act.
- The first step to changing the culture of silence on GBV and to breaking the cycle of abuse is to speak up
The debate brought to the fore the prevalence of GBV in all spaces – the workplace, homes, communities, and the need for continuous public awareness and knowledge of the phenomena.
The Commandant commended WPSI for the internal campaign and urged staff to actively educate their networks on GBV and be advocates against it. The Legal Officer of the Centre, Ms. Rachel McCarthy and the Senior Audit Officer, Mrs. Gloria Boateng, shared information on Ghana’s legal frameworks and KAIPTC’s sexual Harassment Policy respectively. The latter was a refresher, following a Centre-wide sensitisation drive on sexual harassment held in 2018.
The options on seeking redress for victims were shared by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Razak Osman, who walked staff through the processes available at the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.
For further information, please contact the Corporate Affairs Unit of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) on +233302-718200 ext 1104/1203 or +233 550 303030. You can find the KAIPTC on Facebook and twitter as: @Kaiptcgh. You can further find out more about the KAIPTC on our website: www.kaiptc.org.
About the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre:
The Ghana Ministry of Defence (MoD) established the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in 1998 and commissioned it in 2004. The purpose was to build upon and share Ghana’s five decades of internationally acclaimed experience and competence in peace operations with other states in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region and the rest of Africa. This was in recognition of the need for training military, police and civilian men and women to meet the changing demands of multidimensional peace operations. The Centre is one of the three (3) Peacekeeping Training Centres of Excellence mandated by the ECOWAS to offer training in peacekeeping and peace support operations (PSO) in Africa.
The Centre delivers training courses in three thematic areas; Peace Support Operations, Conflict Management and Peace and Security Studies and also runs Masters and PhD programmes in same. The KAIPTC has a world-class research department that undertakes research in the thematic areas in Peace and Security. Located in Accra, Ghana, the KAIPTC is an internationally recognised institution and has to date trained and tutored over 21, 496 participants and students since its inception.
KAIPTC is a gender-sensitive organisation and committed to gender equality. Following the launch of its gender policy in 2014, the Centre has mainstreamed gender into its policies and programmes, and integrates same in its focal areas, namely training, research and postgraduate education. The Centre has developed a Sexual Harassment policy and fully oriented employees on same. It has also provided a Nursing and Childcare Centre and instituted a paternity leave policy, all with the aim to create a conducive work environment at KAIPTC.