Participants at a training workshop in Bolgatanga have identified forced marriage, widowhood rites and Female Genital Mutilation as prominent in the Bawku West District and the key dynamics for domestic violence. The workshop organised by the Gender and Development office of the Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO) on Thursday also unsealed rape, defilement and child labour as practices that violates women and children's rights in the district. The participants who made the observation at Gbantongo a farming community in the district appealed to ADDRO and other non-governmental organisations operating in the area to intensify public education against domestic violence. The workshop was aimed at strengthening the capacity of the participants that comprised opinion leaders, members of the community and mediation teams to combat issues that bother on human right violations. Mr Stephen Samari, Gender and Development Officer of ADDRO said the workshop also examined HIV/ AIDS as a public health issue that has been precipitated by acts of violence against women and children in the district. He said ADDRO organised the mediation teams in some selected communities to among other things educate people against human rights abuse and to bring families together to resolve disputes. Topics treated at the workshop included; "causes and effects of HIV/ AIDS", "violence against women", "child abuse" and the "law on domestic violence". Source: GNA