Community Aid and Girl Child support Initiatives (Comaid_gcsi), an NGO, has called for prompt response to sexual and gender-based based violence cases in Mpape Community, a suburb in the Federal Capital Territory.
The group gave the call at a one-day stakeholders dialogue meeting organised to draw up strategies for engagement and means of breaking the culture of silence surrounding the menace.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event is tagged “The impact of Gender-based violence in the community”.
Ms Jemilat Abdul-azeez, Executive-Director, Community Aid and Girl Child Support Initiative, said the objective of the meeting was to help in the elimination of gender based violence in the community, through stakeholders engagement and effective advocacy.
She said that the meeting which was one of the UN Spotlight Initiative Project, was aimed at strengthening SGBV protection for women’s rights advocates and marginalised groups.
According to her, SGBV had become a current pandemic in the society, hence the need for adequate sensitisation and awareness on how to handle the challenge.
“The issue of gender-based violence affects hundreds of millions of people around the world.
“This has peculiar implications for people with marginalized racial, ethnic, class, indigenous, or disabled status.
“Violence against women and girls is among the most widespread and devastating human rights violations in the world, but much of it is often unreported due to norms and practices that further entrench gender inequality through the culture of impunity, public shaming, and forced silence.
“That is why we are engaging with the key stakeholders in this community to ensure that we create a gender desk, get cases reported and break the culture of silence in the community,”she said.
Mallam Abdulkareem Abdullazeez, a Muslim cleric, commended the organisation for the sensitisation and for enlightening the stakeholders on how to tackle the menace.
“This is a wake up call for us to get involved in ending sexual and gender-based based violence in our community breaking the culture among victims.
“We are ready to support the victims and make sure they get justice,” he said.
Also speaking, Pastor Raymond Afia, a clergy, called on victims of gender-based violence to be bold to speak out, adding that the church community would give victims the necessary support.
For her part, Mrs Edith Ugochukwu, Market Women Leader, urged women to report any form of domestic violence they face in their homes, so as to reduce the rate of unnecessary deaths in the country.
“So many women are dying in silence, some lose their lives because of this gender-based violence, which is not meant to be.
“As this NGO has enlightened us on what to do to reduce such cases, we are ready to take up the cases and make sure they get justice,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting had in attendance religious leaders, market women, youth groups, persons with disabilities, among others.