Health
DR Offiong Enang, the Executive Director of Gender and Development Action (GADA),
says feeling sympathetic toward Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors is not enough, as action must be taken
to tackle the menace.
Enang who made the assertion during a three-day training of gender desk officers in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in Cross River, organised by the Coalition for the Promotion of Gender Justice (CPGJ), said Nigerians needed to take action.
The executive director, who is one of the resource persons at the training, said “service providers in the fight against GBV cannot change things except they change themselves from being just sympathetic.
“Data shows that three out of every 10 girls in Nigeria at age 15 have already been abused, so, if we don’t have empathy to respond and just feel sympathetic, the story of GBV will not change.
“If perpetrators see that people are doing nothing other than just feeling sympathetic, they will continue but when people respond by carrying out activities, they would be afraid.”
She, therefore, stressed the need for government to stop paying lip service to the issue of GBV, adding that foreign donor agencies had been doing a lot to tackle the menace.
She said “government agencies, Civil Society Organisations and Nigerians must make noise with facts and vote resources for this fight; we need to stop behaving as if GBV
is for other people when it is everywhere around us.”
On her part, Mrs Victoria Emah-Emah, the Executive Director, Neighborhood Carewell Foundation, said that for the GBV fight to be effective, proper case management and referrals are required.
Emah-Emah said case management should be survivor-centred, adding that “all they need is just to let survivors understand they have the right to get justice.”
While urging NGOs and CSOs to carry out proper referral of cases, she said “different persons and groups have different competencies; no one can provide all the services required by a survivor.
“Different groups and persons should partner to ensure effective care for survivors; from psychosocial to medical, legal, protective and all other support required.”
She commended the police for improved performance on gender issues, noting that every division in the state now has a gender desk with trained officers to handle GBV cases.
Earlier, the Coordinator of CPGJ, Mr William Arikpo, said the training became necessary to equip desk officers with skills and knowledge to handle, refer and mobilise resources to handle cases.
(NAN)
A.I
Tags: Dr Offiong Enang Gender and Development Action Mr William Arikpo Mrs Victoria Emah-Emah Neighborhood Carewell Foundation
