United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says there have been improvements in the handling of gender-based violence (GBV) in South-West states.
The Officer-in-Charge, Lagos Liaison Office, UNFPA, Dr Esther Somefun, stated this on Tuesday while leading a survey in Ibadan on Gaps in Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Traditional Practices across three states in the zone in which Oyo State is one.
She said: “the survey disaggregates on issues surrounding GBV which we believe will not only increase our knowledge, but will also ensure that whatever programmes we do are evidence-based and make GBV to be at zero level.”
Somefun, who is also the State Programme Officer, Global Affairs Canada Project, said that there had been improvement in the incidence of GBV through the use of various parameters, such as Anti-Gender Based Laws within the zone.
“We started from two to three states having Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAP) Law. Now, within a period of three years, all the six states in the South-West now have the law.
“Not only that we have the laws, we now have management or technical working group across the states addressing issues of gender-based violence.
“In terms of response, survivors now get access to justice. Cases of survivors are better handled and they get speedy trials.
“Also, the response time of law enforcement agencies has improved and survivors, who need rehabilitation, are able to get it, with the Survivors’ Trust Funds helping in their rehabilitation.
“Survivors are able to access non-discriminatory, non-judgmental and quality service to be able to handle any complication that arising from being violated,” she said.
According to her, more people are speaking out and speaking up, unlike what obtained in the past where the culture of silence reigned.
Somefun noted that women were now better empowered to report the issues they were going through.
Some of the participants, including Alhaja Suura Oyero and Mr Samuel Okewole, said that a number of issues fuelled gender-based violence, all of which were rooted in culture, tradition and wrong religious beliefs.
“I am most touched by the issue of female genital mutilation, which permeates the life of a girl-child from infancy till adulthood.
“If she survives and eventually becomes a wife, such a girl may not be able to perform as effectively as one whose genital was not mutilated.
“As a result, the husband will be very unhappy with her, while both of them will not be able to tell the world the reason for the hate, which can also spread to the children.
“The husband’s family members, who may not know the cause of their quarrel, will take side, and the woman is in for hell in her marital home,” Oyero said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants for the survey included: leaders of civil society organisations, religious leaders, academia and the media.