The Nation Newspaper

Tag: gender-based

  • 818m women suffer gender based violence globally

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that about 818 million women are suffering from one form of violence and intimidation across the globe.

    Chairperson of the National Women Commission of the Congress, Comrade Mercy Okezie, disclosed this while speaking at the 2019 International Women’s Day celebration in Abuja.

    Okezie said gender based violence is costing the world billions of dollars in business opportunities, in terms of lost productivity, reputation and litigation, adding that in Nigeria, the just concluded NLC national delegate conference adopted a sexual harassment in the workplace policy.

    She said, “We hope to seize this opportunity to sensitise Nigerian women and popularise this policy. In spite of the earlier struggle, education and sensitisation put across to firmly bring gender issues to public eye and part of the political agenda, we notice determined backlash with discriminatory and misogynist populist movements challenging democratic societies; while discrimination and inequality continue to characterise our unions and places of work, relegating women to lower pay, low quality jobs and precarious working conditions.

    “This year’s theme provides a unified guide to sensitise and spur to action, plans and activities reinforcing the theme all year, and certainly not a one-off celebration that ends today. Everyone has a part to play, all the time, everyday and everywhere.

    “Let’s do anything humanly possible to enthrone a gender-balanced world, and zero tolerance to sexual harassment and assault, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and harmful traditional practices. Child marriage, slavery and servitude. It is time to unsettle, shake-up, and uproot the settled bias against women,” she said.

  • Group restrategises on gender-based violence

    Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), a non-profit organisation, is worried by the rising incidence of violence against women.

    Taking stock of its activities one yaer it was founded, the founder,   Dr. Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, said: “Since we opened our doors one year ago, we are delighted with the number of lives we have been able to impact through the services we provide. We have recorded over 360 beneficiaries who have either visited our centres or sought help through our 24/7 helplines.

    “However, we still have a long way to go as our objective is to reach out to every young girl or woman who has faced any form of sexual violence across all communities in Nigeria. Through the wonderful support from private organisations and well-meaning individuals, we have been able to achieve all these in our first year.”

    In the emerging year, the NGO hopes to do much more, “we call on all stakeholders and friends of WARIF to support our initiatives, to enable us expand and reach out to more women and girls who have been affected in one way or the other by acts of gender-based violence.  Our aim is to create a society free of rape and sexual abuse and empower all survivors to become fully recovered strong productive members of their communities. The potential of the girl-child is limitless, and we are working hard to ensure that each girl-child reaches and even surpasses this potential,”  she added.

    Dr DaSilva-Ibru recalled that since its inception last year, the foundation has fought to create a safe haven for survivors of rape and sexual violence by providing medical, emotional, psychological and social welfare support through the WARIF Centre.

    The organisation  has established itself as the front runners in the fight against gender-based violence in partnership with existing government and non-governmental agencies such as international organisations like the Washington DC Rape Crisis Centre in the United States and as an official member of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team. The organisation is also a strong advocate with its participation in   campaigns such as the Men for WARIF online campaign and recently joined in the celebration of the UN 16 Days Activism against Gender based Violence Campaign which began  last month, to show its solidarity towards the cause and to highlight the importance of tackling the challenges that young girls and women face in the society.

    Some of the initiatives by WARIF include: the WARIF Educational School Programme (WESP), which addresses child sexual abuse and rape in secondary schools across the country with the introduction of a curriculum to educate and change the existing mindset of children and parents towards this abuse and the WARIF Gate Keepers project which in partnership with the ACT Foundation, is an initiative established to address gender- based violence in the peri-rural communities of Nigeria. Five hundred Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) from selected Local Government Areas across Lagos State are being sensitised and trained on the   early recognition of the signs and the prevention of gender-based violence that occurs frequently in their communities.

    The initiative which involves educating pregnancy and childbirth care specialists in primary maternity care centres in rural areas, while also aiding the treatment and prevention of gender-based violence that occurs frequently in those communities.

     

  • NGO seeks end to domestic, gender-based violence

    Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse  (YIAVHA), an NGO, has called for an end to domestic and gender-based violence in the country.

    The Executive Director of YIAVHA, Mr Pwakim Choji, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Jos.

    He said the call became imperative as the world celebrate the International Women’s Day.

    Commemorated on March 8 annually, the 2017 International Women’s Day has
    “Wake Up Call For the Achievement of Justice” as its theme.

    According to Choji, no society will experience meaningful growth and development when women are subjected to gender-based violence.

    He said “lets not forget that women can’t achieve greatness when they are not bold in their approach toward self-liberation and engagement of any individual, group or institution that undermines their humanity.

    “Women must be strategic in speaking about their demands, rather than their plights. They have this capacity because of their number.

    “Our young girls must be brought up in a manner that they would be able to speak up for their rights from childhood to adulthood.

    “It is only when we have a society where women are free from violence that we can begin to get things right.”

    The director urged women to be bold, take their destiny in their hands and disallow any form of relegation in their respective societies.

    He also called on government at all levels to put in place policies and modalities that would safeguard the place of a woman today and future generation of women in society.

    “Our women should be bold to know that whatever a man can do, they too can do; this will make them to be more active in community development.

    “Women must be bold enough to negotiate certain rights in the society; they and other ally’s must speak against domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence.

    “These acts have continued to dehumanise women directly; these acts ultimately undermine the rights of all,” Choji said. (NAN)

  • Lagos approves 112 emergency lines for gender-based violence

    The Lagos State government has approved the use of 112 toll free emergency line to report cases of rape, defilement, domestic violence, child abuse, neglect maltreatment and other sexual assaults with an assurance that information provided will be passed across while the concerned agencies will be notified immediately.

    According to the government, the decision is in line with its quest to ensure that victims of Sexual and Gender Based Violence have a voice and concerned members of the public who wish to report acts of violence are able to do so with utmost confidentiality.

    Meanwhile, the State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) has concluded training for 190 officials of the State Emergency Command And Control Centre on how to receive reports of Sexual and Gender Based Violence incidents.

    DSVRT Coordinator Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi told journalists yesterday that the officials were trained on how to receive reports of Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

    She said aside the dissemination of the information to the appropriate agencies for action, callers would be informed of relevant steps to be taken, depending on the nature of the call.

    “They would also be given details, addresses and telephone numbers of the relevant agencies that would handle their issues; for cases of rape or defilement, they can report such to the Mirabel Centre or the Office of the Public Defender (OPD),” Vivour-Adeniyi said.

    She said necessary steps have been put in place to help victims of domestic violence get help and counselling as well as free legal services from the OPD.

    “The essence of this initiative is to encourage victims and members of the public to make use of the 112 toll free emergency lines to ensure access to justice irrespective of class and means,” she said.

  • Women Arise handled 2000 gender-based violence cases in two years, says activist

    As the world began this year’s 16-day activism against Gender-based Violence, President, Women Arise, Dr. Josephine Odumakin disclosed that her organization recorded 2, 000 of such cases between January 2013 and this month.

    It was at a seminar organised by the United States Public Affairs Department in collaboration with Acts Generation and Women Arise.

    Dr. Odumakin stated that of the about 12000 recorded cases since the inception of her organisation, only two was against men whose wives usually beat them.

    Noting that violence against women was a universal phenomenon, with no restriction on social or economic status, Odumakin said that such violence ranges from physical, sexual, psychological and economic.

    She stated that over 59 percent of women have at least once in their life time experienced physical violence; with up to 50 percent of sexual assaults committed against girls under 16 years.

    “Approximately 100 to 140 million girls and women in the world have experienced female genital mutilation with more than three million girls in Africa annually at risk of the practice.

    “In many regions of the world longstanding customs put considerable pressure on women to accept abuse. Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18; primarily in South Asia (31,3 million) and sub-Saharan African (14.1 million),” she said.

    Noting that women who marry early are more likely to be beaten or threatened, Odumakin said violence and abuse characterize married life for many of the child brides.

    She urged victims of violence to speak out as condoning the evil won’t help anyone.

    According to Odumakin, Education, contribution, support for victims are among actions that can be taken towards minimizing the trauma of affected persons.

    In her address, US Deputy Consular, Mrs. Dehab Ghebreab said the theme of this year’s celebration “from peace in the home to peace in the world: focus on the links of gender based violence and militarism”, was chosen in order to critically analyse some negative results emanating from issues of domestic abuse.

  • Ezekwesili, others decry gender-based violence

    Ezekwesili, others decry gender-based violence

    Former Education Minister Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili yesterday decried what she called the upsurge of violence against women especially in the North.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili, who spoke at the begining of a two-day roundtable with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the media and community gatekeepers, said the situation was scary.

    The roundtable was organised by Women Arise.

    Citing a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the former minister said that cases of wife battery were prevalent in the north and central regions with the Southwest, having the lowest rate.

    “In the UNFPA report, it was revealed that 50 per cent of violence against young persons in Nigeria is carried out against people who are below 15 years of age.

    “The statistics show that violence against women is most rampant in Northcentral while the Southwest including Lagos has the lowest cases,” Mrs. Ezekwesili said.

    She noted that the growing culture of violence in Nigeria is exacerbated by the patriarchal nature of the society, adding that “every stakeholder must work to support the education and empowerment of the girl-child for the menace to be addressed.”

    She said governments must enact laws that clearly define violence against women and prescribe punishment for offenders, just as women’s bargaining power must be increased by improving their economic opportunities.

    “There should be projects and facilities within government hospitals for support services and service providers will need to target women.

    “There should also be an increased share of women in the judiciary and police forces with the responsibility to address domestic violence.

    “Although the policy handle belongs to the government, it can only be effective if the society is willing. Everyone has a role to play including the family,” she said.

    President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin said gender-based violence compromises the health, dignity, security, and autonomy of victims.

    “It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, and harrassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices.

    “Any of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health and in some instances result in death,”Mrs Odumakin said.

    At the event were Director, Project Alert, Mrs. Josephine Effah-Chukwuma; Ford Foundations’s Innocent Chukwuma as well as gender right activists, Shade Bembatoum-Young, Titi Akosa, Laila St. Matthew-Daniel and Rhoda Robinson, among others.

    Effah-Chukwuma frowned at the non-passage of the Violence Against Persons Bill, which she described as the oldest in the National Assembly.

    She said for campaigns against gender- based violence to be successful, stakeholders must target schools, religious and faith based organisations, markets as well as ensure active male involvement in the programmes.

    However, Robinson blamed the lack of success in the fight against women abuse on lack of connection between solutions and the people who need them.