Stakeholders have stressed the need for the judiciary to accelerate justice for victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), while soliciting women inclusion in policy making of the country.
This was said at a two-day Legal Workshop for Community Women Leaders of Alimosho Local Government Area, organised by Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP) in collaboration with Canada Funds for Local Initiatives (CFLI).
The legal workshop aimed at engaging women in the fight against the prevalence of SGBV in the communities by building community resilience and implementing strategies to curtail its effect on victims and the community.
Programme Manager, WRAHP, Francis Umoh noted the importance of empowering women mentally and financially to address GBV issues and their prevalence.
Umoh stated that women need to be strengthened to overcome the bane of marginalisation, which necessitates gender inequality.
“At the end of this training, we should have come up with practical and active plans to solve this problem eating deep into our society,” he said.
Executive Director, Women for Peace and Gender Equality Initiative, Dr. Mojisola Akinsanya identified gender inequality, systemic discrimination and unequal power relations as root causes of SGBV.
Highlighting mediation as an approach to building community resilience, Akinsanya urged participants to lead engagements and processes to prevent SGBV, encourage survivor-centred measures to create succour for victims and to implement the ‘do no harm’ approach.
She noted that state governments have been functionally involved in prosecuting violators and sought the establishment of a specialised SGBV court to fast-track reported cases.
She canvassed policy reforms to encourage women inclusion in decision making processes.
Participant and community member, Dumiminu Marquel said: “I find this really important because it has enlightened us on how to deal and curb the spate of SGBV and in turn empower others with the skill garnered from this workshop.”
