As Nigeria joins the international community to mark the 2023 United Nations #16DaysActivism to end violence against women and girls, the Minister of Women Affairs, Barrister Uju Kennedy Ohanenye has assured survivors of gender and sexual based violence of justice within 48 hours.
She said a law was being finalized to establish mobile courts to prosecute perpetrators of sexual and gender based violence across Nigeria. She enthused that the law had been endorsed by the Nigeria Governors Forum.
The Minister disclosed that the initiative would require robust funding to succeed in the quest to drastically address the threat posed by sexual and gender based violence.
This year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has the theme; Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls.
The Women Affairs Minister therefore called for sponsorship of the anti-SGBV mobile courts to enable them kick off the implementation of the initiative.
Subsequently, the Minister warned that in cases of violence against the girl child, both parents and molesters would be held accountable.
She argued that since it is the duty of a parent to look after their children, it is not only a child molester that will be brought before the law; negligent parents would also be made to answer questions for their roles.
However, for cases that happen within the premises of a school, the Minister said both the mother and teacher of the survivor will be sued by the ministry.
On some practices in communities, wherein the breasts of young girls are ironed as a way of keeping the eyes of perpetrators of sexual violence from them, Barrister Ohaneye called for a stop to such practices.
At the event, the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Matthias Schmale said violence against women and girls remains one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations in the world.
He said despite many countries passing laws to combat violence against women, weak enforcement and discriminatory social norms remain significant problems.
The Explainer gathered that globally, an estimated 736 million women – almost one in three – have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life.
According to the UN official violence negatively affects women’s physical, mental health and well-being at all stages of their life, impacting their professional development and economic empowerment.
This situation, he noted impedes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and cost the world an estimated US$1.5trillion according to figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said: “We have evidence of what works in preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls.
What works is to invest in transforming social norms, addressing unequal gender power relations, strengthening essential services for survivors, and enabling safer environments.”
