The African Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) and Dominicans for Justice and Peace (DJP) have lamented increasing rate of spousal murders and abuse of domestic servants, saying that addressing hunger and poverty could check the trend.
At a four-day stakeholders’ engagement in Enugu, they insisted that ensuring quick justice to the victims by meting out appropriate punishment to the perpetrators would mitigate the issue.
The groups urged governments at the various levels to address hunger, poverty and quicken cases of abuses in courts to contain the trend.
The engagement with the theme: “Violence in homes: Tackling the rising incidence of spousal murders and abuse of domestic servants”, had in audience representatives of various religious congregations of sisters, Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), Catholic Women Organisation (CWO), Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON) and other non-profit organisations.
Quoting media reports, the groups stated that no fewer than 49 spousal murders were committed in the last one year, adding that of the number, thirty-five were committed by husbands and 14 by wives.
“The actual number is much higher, since many, especially those in the rural areas go unreported, and some die from the injuries they sustained after time lapse from the violent attacks. Far higher and in the hundreds, are the number of spouses beaten to near death or receiving long lasting physical and psychological injuries from violent attacks,” they noted.
Their position was contained in a communiqué released at the end of their meeting and signed by Rev Fredrick Ifeanyi Obananya, Promoter for Peace and Justice, Dominican Province of Nigeria & Ghana and Sr. Eucharia Madueke, Coordinator of Women Project Africa Faith & Justice Network.
The groups also asked communities to tackle practices that impinge on the rights and dignity of children such as the dispossession of women of their heritage, and confiscation of their properties once their husbands die, denying them and their children of their rights in the community.
“We heard of numerous incidences of sexual abuse of children by adults including their fathers. We ask that mechanisms be put in place to address such issues, bring justice to the victims and appropriate punishment to the perpetrators”, they said.
They decried the practice of forcing a girl to leave the home in search of money for the family, or to get married, adding that “this has mostly provided grounds of domestic violence. Faith and community leaders need to work together to ensure the welfare of the victims.”
The groups stated that poverty should not be an excuse to force a child into domestic servitude, or marriage, adding that Community leaders should serve as role models, calling out persons in the community who engage in violence and abuse in the families, especially house-helps who are often children from poor homes, or orphans.
They called on all faith communities to sensitize their members and charge them to address the ugly trend through structured sessions and collective reflection.
