As the 2021 Children’s Day is celebrated Thursday, a Bauchi-based women Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), ‘High Level Women Advocates (HILWA) has declared that it is ready to fight rampant issues of the rape of underaged children as well as other gender-based violence in Bauchi state.
The NGO also encouraged victims of such violence and their parents to be courageous in coming out publicly so that NGOs can come to their aid in all ways possible.
Speaking with journalists at Chartwell Hotel in Bauchi, the venue of a special program to celebrate Children’s Day, a member of HILWA, Barrister Hauwa Jibrin expressed the determination of the members to ensure that the rights of the child were respected no matter what.
During the seminar for schools children organized by HILWA in conjunction with Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and supported by the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) as part of activities marking this year’s Children’s Day celebration, HILWA declared that the era of keeping quiet has gone.
Hauwa JIBRIN also said that the NGO is more concerned about rape cases especially the ones involving underaged girls, saying that they would take serious actions including court actions against perpetrators of such heinous acts.
She asked parents to cooperate by not concealing such cases and allowing the prosecution of rapists to serve as deterrence to others.
According to her, some victims and their families feel shy to expose the acts, pointing out that only when the matter is reported to the appropriate authorities that the menace could be addressed.
According to her, “they should be able to speak it out. If they speak, we will be able to tell the government. There were a lot of rape cases and they all affected the children. We are telling the girls, if they are abused, they should not be shy. They should come out boldly to tell us. Hiding it will not solve the problem. If they tell us, we will be able to fight for their rights.”
On the purpose of the seminar, she said that “going to the stadium to participate in the march past is only ceremonial which does not bring out any benefits to the children but here, they will be engaged in brainstorming so that they can come out with solutions to some of the problems facing them.”
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