CSO launches 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence
Acts Alliance Forum Nigeria, a civil society organization, initiated 16 Days of Activism yesterday as part of its initiatives to address violence against women.
The hashtag “16 Days of Activism: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls” was utilized to highlight the 16 days of activism that will focus on eradicating gender-based violence in 2022.
The programme’s supporters asserted that their primary objectives were to eliminate violence against women and girls and to mitigate harmful traditions such as child marriage and female genital cutting.
Dr. Evans Onyemara, General Secretary of the Christian Aids Council of Nigeria, stated that sexual and gender-based violence not only threatens the safety, dignity, overall health, and human rights of those affected but also impacts the community’s health, socioeconomic stability, and sense of security.
Onyemara noted that as armed conflict, humanitarian challenges, and natural calamities increase, gender-based violence is becoming alarmingly more prevalent in Nigeria.
“The detrimental practices of child marriage and female genital mutilation widespread throughout the nation, along with the trafficking of women, girls, and children have led to increased vulnerability, reflected in stigmatization and exclusion by families and communities.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and Nigeria’s October 2020 End-SARS crisis, he added, threatened the few successes achieved in this battle by unveiling the country’s deep-rooted structural disparities and worsening instances of various forms of violence against women and girls, further causing adverse political and economic repercussions.
He remarked, “There is a prevailing tendency to see women defenders consistently targeted with harassment, hate speech, discrimination, the spreading of personal or sensitive information, slander, and various forms of online violence to silence and penalize their public engagement in social media.”
He insists that there must be a cessation of gender-based violence, injustice, and inequality. “Thus, all Nigerian citizens and duty-bearers, alongside networks and organizations, must persist in the struggle for equity,” the statement emphasizes.
He asserted that breaking the link between religion and culture that confines women to the private realm, where violence is most likely to happen, is vital for accomplishing this aim.
