A group of women under the umbrella of Abuja Moms has expressed concerns over the rising cases of rape and child molestation in Nigeria, calling on parents to speak up when such incidents occur for the child to get justice.
The women in their numbers staged a ‘Walk Against Child Molestation‘ across the streets of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The protest walk took off from Millennium Park at 8 a.m., where they walked around the city to sensitise parents to the dangers of keeping silent when their children are molested, under the guise of avoiding stigmatisation.
They demanded an end to such heinous acts carried out against children by those who are most often relatives or close people to the parents of the victims.
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions: “Say no to child molestation,” “Shatter the silence, report molesters,” “Uphold the Child Rights Act always,” “See something, say something,” among others.
The founder of the Abuja Moms Empowerment Foundation, Happiness Ani, lamented that when mothers report the child molestation issue to the police, they are usually encouraged to drop it to settle at home.
According to her, there were rising cases of child molestation because parents did not speak up when it occurred.
She said, “This is our annual walk against child molestation. I was molested at age 10, and I know the trauma that I had to deal with. It took me over 20 years before I was able to speak out about it.
“We are trying to let the world know that these crimes do happen, and it is important that children are protected.
“I feel that every year, if we have the opportunity to educate women, mothers, and fathers on the dangers that some children go through, most times when we do this, we have people who call to say my child was molested. How do we get help?
“So, we are always saying to them, don’t drop it. My mother was convinced not to press charges against my aunt’s husband because people would consider me a disvirtuous child. I imagined the trauma that I went through, even though there was no penetration. I feel that people who get penetrated will pass through the worst trauma that I have gone through,” she said.
She disclosed that for the number of years that the Foundation has been carrying out the sensitization and employment programmes, it has taken up a lot of cases, some of which are ongoing in courts.
Ani disclosed that the Abuja MOMS, with more than 48,000 members on its platform, has a legal team that is always on hand to support women and men who go through such circumstances pro bono, saying the Foundation had recently secured a judgement where the suspect was sentenced to jail.
She noted that parents were not really to blame for the rampant cases of child molestation, saying paedophiles are people who are sick that parents sometimes trust, “like a brother, nephew, neighbour, or sister, because a paedophile can be a woman too.”.
She, however, advised parents to keep an eye on everybody and not think that because somebody is your sibling, it could not happen.
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