Official Calls for Concerted Efforts to Tackle Rape, Abduction

ADDIS ABABA, July 22 (ENA) – Head of the Women's Affairs Section with the rank of minister in the Office of the Prime Minister has urged all concerned bodies to work hand-in-gloves in the fight against rape and abduction.

Tadelech Haile-Michael said pertinent governmental and non-governmental organizations, law enforcement bodies, intellectuals, prominent personalities and civic societies had a great deal to contribute in combating the social vices.

Tadelech made the remark here yesterday at the opening of the third annual national workshop on rape and abduction organized by the Ethiopian Psychologists' Association (EPA).

She said psychologists in particular had shouldered the responsibility of preventing the prevalence of rape and abduction through raising public awareness on their negative impacts and providing counseling services for the victims of the social malice.

According to Tadelech, the government was exerting utmost efforts to ensure women's rights of equality.

She said the adoption of the National Women's Affairs Policy and the new Family Law are testimony to the government's determination to give an end to women discrimination.

EPA President, Dr. Habtamu Wondiumu, said on his part the magnitude of sexual abuse and kidnapping was becoming more pronounced particularly in the rural parts of the country.

He said EPA, in collaboration with other actors working in the field, was devising counseling strategies with a view to easing the plight of victims of abduction and sexual violence.

Some 170 participants drawn from various pertinent governmental and non-governmental organizations are attending the two day long workshop.

The workshop would discuss, among others, the nature and characteristics of rape and abduction, the available services for the victims as well as the role of concerned bodies in curbing the social problems.