The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Gender-based violence

  • Foundation sensitises pupils to gender-based violence, others

    Foundation sensitises pupils to gender-based violence, others

    DOHS Cares for Vulnerable Women and Children Foundation has established ‘Club Therapy’ in three public secondary schools to mark 2023 International Day of the Girl-Child.

    They are Bola Ige Millennium Senior Secondary School, Expressway Senior Secondary School and Reservation Senior Secondary School.

    Pupils were sensitised on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Menstrual Health Hygiene, Mental Health and Wellness Initiatives.

    Founder, Ololade Ajayi, described ‘Club Therapy’ as a bibliotherapy club, which uses literature to address societal ills and dismantle stereotypes. The club comprises pupils and counsellors, who will be fostered on human rights advocacy, and supplied with materials to talk about GBV, mental health and menstrual health hygiene.

    Read Also: ‘Gender-based violence a transnational crime that requires joint responses’

    The pupils hailed their membership of a club, which solves these issues, especially by dispelling myths about mental health and menstruation, as well as educating others about gender-based violence.

    A pupil at Reservation High School, Umeano Peace, said her takeaway from the sensitisation was the knowledge that abusers should be blamed to encourage survivors to speak up against abuse.

    Members of ‘Club Therapy’ are expected to come up with a project at the end of the session to determine the club’s impact, which will be replicated across other schools.

  • ‘Gender-based violence a transnational crime that requires joint responses’

    ‘Gender-based violence a transnational crime that requires joint responses’

    Gender-based violence (GBV) is a transnational crime that requires collective action to tackle, a board member of Attorney General Alliance Africa Programme, Markus Green, has said.

    He stressed its far-reaching consequences and the need to raise boys with values that prevent them from becoming perpetrators.

    Green spoke at a two-day workshop organised by the Edo State Ministry of Justice in collaboration with AGA-Africa, held at the John Oyegun Training Centre in GRA, Benin City.

    Its theme was: “Equipping agents of change in building a future free from gender-based violence.”

    Green said: “GBV is a very, very, very serious issue. It’s worldwide. And I’m so happy to see so many men in the audience because guess what? It is perpetrated mostly by men. We have the power to change it.”

    He added: “Joint responses to transnational crime by and with African nations require establishing and building cooperative relationships with key players throughout the African continent as well as sharing information, experience, skills technology and strategies.

    “Given the cross-border nature of crimes, no single country can address the challenge of global crime alone.

    Read Also: REVEALED: Why victims of gender-based violence choose to suffer in silence

    “Rather, it is essential that the law enforcement institutions and stakeholders in the public and private sectors cooperate internationally.

    “It is in this context that AGA-Africa seeks to contribute to the reduction, prevention and elimination of transnational crime.

    “We believe that through these means, relationships can be developed, capacity can be built, significant and impactful exchanges can take place.”

    Green said the primary function of AGA-Africa is to provide a forum for legal officers to cultivate knowledge, cooperate on issues of legal concerns and coordinate actions which improve the quality of legal services available to different institutions, promote the rule of law and international cooperation.

    The wife of Edo State Governor, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, called on stakeholders to unite against GBV.

    Mrs Obaseki, who chairs the Edo Gender-Based Violence Management Committee, highlighted significant strides made in combating GBV in the state.

    These include the passage of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, the anti-GBV committee, the Sexual Assault Referral Centre equipped with a shelter for women, and free medical and legal services for victims.

    Calling for unity in the bid to end the problem, Mrs. Obaseki said: “Let’s all take this battle against GBV seriously. When people are abused, they cannot attain their God-given destinies.

    “It happens every day. People are like walking corpses who just cannot function anymore as a result of abuse. Their lives are destroyed forever.”

    Edo Attorney-General, Oluwole Uzzi, underscored the alarming prevalence of GBV and urged investigators, prosecutors, judges and support staff, to come together and address it.

    He said: “You can hardly open the newspapers or go online without reading about one form of GBV or the other. It has risen to intolerable levels.”

    Benin Branch Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nosa Edo-Osagie, said GBV is a global problem that needs all hands on deck to tackle.

    Also at the event were a Partner at Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors Mrs Ebelechukwu Enedah, who is the AGA-Africa Country Coordinator, and Edo Solicitor-General, Prof. Faith Osadolor, among others.

  • Abusive ‘protection’

    Abusive ‘protection’

    • Ironing the breasts of young girls to shield them from rape is as awful as rape

    Gender-based violence continues to confound humans who understand the dire implications of limiting the rights of girls and women to freedom. Besides physical, financial, emotional, verbal, spiritual and a myriad of other forms of abuses, sexual abuse of girls and women seems to be the most lethal and widespread globally. However, while laws and regulations are adopted to check and punish perpetrators by most countries, some others, especially the least developed nations, tend to have no enduring and effective measures to protect victims.

    In what seems a paradoxical and lethal idea of protecting girls from the horrors of rape by male adults in Pygba Sama, Kpaduma II and other communities in Apo area of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, many girls are made to go through the horrors of what is  euphemistically christened, ‘breast ironing’ in a bid to suppress their feminine features, thereby concealing them from lascivious men who could prey on their innocence.

    This system of  ‘breast flattening,’ reports indicate, is centuries old and widespread, and so are the pains and trauma suffered by victims. The system involves ‘ironing’ the breasts, massaging and pounding down the early signs of breast-sprouting through the use of hard or heated objects in order for the breasts to disappear or delay their development. The United Nations concluded that ‘breast ironing’ affects about 3.8million women around the world and is one of the most under-reported act of gender-based violence in the world.

    The tools used in perpetrating the heinous practice range from grinding stone, cast iron, coconut shell, heated calabash, hammer or spatula that has been heated for a long time over a scotching coal. Other options include wrapping the breasts with belts or clothes. The horrible impact is evident from the tools used. For such a sensitive part of the female anatomy as the breasts, the effects are mortifyingly debilitating. These include immediate pains, abscess, painful pus that develops under the skin, cysts, fluid-filled lumps, , breast milk discharge, different shapes and sizes of breasts, complete disappearance of breasts, itching and constant burning sensations amongst many other effects. The ultimate effect is the psychological impact on victims that could last a lifetime if they survive the side effects. Victims develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) that lasts a lifetime.

    Read Also: RHOAbuja: Tutupie opens up on abusive relationship

    The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Article 6, provides: “States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to life. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.” Article 19 states: “Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social an educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical, or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse while in the care of parent (s), legal guardian (s) or any other person who has the care of the child.” In Nigeria, all the harmful practices come under the Violence Against  Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act. The punishment ranges from prison terms to fines, or both.

    We are disappointed that despite the fact that Nigeria is signatory to UN treaties and Conventions and a beneficiary of the interventions of its various agencies, not many of their recommendations are upheld in the country. Violence against women is  so diverse and widespread that urgent action must be taken to educate, legislate against and prosecute offenders.  The various government agencies in charge of education and gender issues must be more active to protect young  girls who are always at risk, with all the socio-religious practices that have zero positive effects on humanity.

    The idea of violently suppressing the natural development of the female with attendant grievous side effects, just so the men do not find them ‘rapeworthy,’ is  a travesty. Why should the innocent female suffer for punishable sins of adult men?  Why are girls and women always victimized for the atrocities of adult men? Shouldn’t men rather be held to account, or at least educated on the dangers of paedophilic actions and rape?

    Acts of gender -based violence must be controlled through deft legislative actions and offenders prosecuted and punished appropriately. Harvey Einstein, the entertainment mogul, Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, the iconic musician, have all been jailed in the United States  for sexual offences. It is not too difficult to protect the female from male predatory behavior. It is the determination that matters. Governments at all levels must work hard at protecting the future generation guaranteed by a healthy female population.