An advocate against Gender-Based Violence, who is also the Director of Mediation in the Oyo State Ministry of Justice, Dupe Awosemusi, has stated that over 30 per cent of Nigerian women experience some form of SGBV, attributing the high incidence of Sexual and Gender-Based violence in Nigeria to factors such as socio-cultural, economic and legal factors which are aided by deep-rooted beliefs that reinforce male dominance.
Awosemusi made this assertion while delivering a paper titled, ‘Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria: Pushing the Frontiers’ at the University of Lagos Gender Conference 2024, adding that patriarchal norms, socioeconomic factors like poverty, unemployment and limited access to resources that heighten vulnerability, lack of education and awareness, cultural silence around SGBV perpetuates cycles of abuse as well as weak legal systems: that allow limited enforcement of laws, corruption and stigma which discourage reporting and accountability form part of the reasons why SGBV is on the rise in Nigeria..
According to her, globally, the World Health Organisation estimates one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence, over 30 per cent of Nigerian women experience some form of SGBV and nearly 25 per cent of girls aged 15-19 report experiencing violence.
She added that the COVID-19 pandemic also impacted greatly on SDGBV as cases increased during the pandemic due to lockdowns and economic stressors.
Highlighting the forms of violence, she listed domestic violence which can be physical, verbal or emotional abuse within households, rape and sexual assault; unwanted sexual acts, including marital rape, harmful traditional practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriages or harmful widowhood practices and widow inheritance, trafficking of women and children for exploitation as well as economic abuse; withholding resources, financial manipulation.
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She stated that victims often face psychological trauma, physical injuries, and even death, emphasising that taboos around discussing sexual violence, victim-blaming, cultural norms that resist shifts in gender roles, and weak institutional support lead to insufficient funding and training for SGBV response services, slow adoption of gender-sensitive policies within organizations and low reporting rates as a result to fear of stigma, retaliation and distrust in authorities discourage reporting and contribute to high figures of the incidence.
On how to curb the trend of abuse, she e called for the strengthening of the implementation of the VAPP Act and Child Rights Act nationwide as a means of reducing numbers, developing and disseminating policies that are gender-based friendly, creating units for instruction on and actions against sexual assault/harassment, regular capacity building and other gender activities, review of some laws to accommodate emerging trends, institutional support for SGBV survivors and developing and disseminating IEC materials by MDAs in English and local languages.
She further called for government and policymakers to be more committed to enforcing laws and creating a supportive environment for survivors and urged community and religious leaders to use their influence to engender attitudes that promote positive cultural shifts.
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