A CALL FOR ACTION
16 days of activism: the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
In solidarity with women worldwide, Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN) joins in commemoration of ‘16 days of activism: the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’’ Campaign in defense of women’s freedoms, choices and dignity
Around the world, thousands of women and girls are subjected to sexual violence injustices; the World Health Organization reports that approximately one in three women have experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and 7% have experienced it by someone other than a partner. It is arguably the world’s most pervasive human rights issue -- cutting across cultures, ethnicities, gender identities and sexual orientations, religions, and socio-economic status. The United Nations recognizes it as a human rights violation and explicitly addresses it in various international policies and frameworks, most notably the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality (SDG5), with target two of SDG5 specifically addressing violence against women: “Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation should be eliminated.”
In Nigeria, sexual assault is a growing issue. According to the United States National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, in Nigeria, 31.4% females adolescents of sexually active, respectively, have forced sex (rape) at their first sexual encounteri. Though Nigeria has the “2015 Violence against People’s Prohibition Act (VAPP Act),” which prohibits all forms of violence against persons in
public and private life. For example in Part I-Offences Section (1) ,a person who is convicted for an offence of rape, is liable to life imprisonment ii. The law is not enforced in all the States and cases of sexual assault remain pervasive.
At Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN) in Nigeria -responding to and supporting women who have faced these injustices is our raison d’etre. We work explicitly to provide women and girl survivors of sexual violence with the needed resources for physical and psychological well-being, including reproductive health care services, nutrition, education, and options to prevent unwanted pregnancy and means of livelihood.
From what GIWYN has seen over the last 10 years, we know that the immediate and long-term health outcomes to sexual violence are destructive to women and girls, no matter their age, and can include physical injury, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, gynecological complications, sexually transmitted infections (including HIV/AIDS), post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression.
“Most recently at GIWYN, we handled the cases of domestic violence, where girls in domestic work are constantly abused by their masters. GIWYN documented listened and documented these stories
These cases are unfortunately not uncommon. The patriarchal culture of Nigeria breeds and fuels unequal power structures between men and women that causes this kind of control by men over women and girls. As a result, women and girls do not report cases of sexual violence due to the fear of retribution, loss of livelihood and resources, and stigmatization, all as a result of patriarchy. It is a selfperpetuating cycle that furthers gender inequality
This unacceptably high prevalence of violence against women will end if there is a cultural reform, clear demonstration of political commitment (through the enforcement of the VAPP Act as well as SDG5, across all states in Nigeria), systematic and sustained action backed by adequate resources, strong, dedicated, and permanent institutional mechanisms to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. Moreover, GIWYN believes that the inclusion of grassroots civil society organizations need to be represented and active contributions to the enforcement of these laws, and leading national cultural reform. In this regard, formal justice and other government bodies should include the participation of women’s organizations, particularly groups that advocate for and work with survivors of violence (e.g. civilian review boards, public complaints commissions, and independent monitoring groups).
GIWYN is particularly concerned with women attaining the highest standard of life in a peaceful environment. To reinforce our commitment to end violence against women on the occasion of the United States’ Sexual Assault Awareness Month, GIWYN has organized counselling services for survivors of sexual violence, documented their stories to develop an advocacy tool for furthering gender equality culturally and to promote policy implementation. Survivors have also gained further resources through our reproductive health information from our Ms Rosy hotline–( Ms Rosy. +18555531550)
To learn more about the work that GIWYN go to our website : http://giwynn.org/
i https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862679/ ii http://lawnigeria.com/LawsoftheFederation/Violation-Against-Persons-%28Prohibition%29-Act %2C-2015.html
