From Ibrahim Kaulahi, Gusau
Zamfara State Government through the ministry of health in collaboration with world bank has sensitized stakeholders a duel meetings concurrently held at Karma hotel Gusau, on how best Gender-based GVB could be tackled as well as Rapid Response Team on diseases as enshrined in the international human rights law and principles of gender equality.
This was disclosed by the Social Safeguard Officer (coPREP) World Bank, UNICEF Child Protection/VC Forcal Person, DDChild/OVC Desk Officer, Farida Abdurrazak Tigana of the Zamfara State ministry for women and children at the meeting for the review of Covid 19 Preparedness and Response Project(CopRep) World Bank supported in collaboration with Zamfara State Ministry of Health.
The Safeguard Officer, while presenting a paper, said nearly three in ten Nigerian women have ever experienced physical violence since age 15, while 6.9% experienced physical violence in the past previous years in Zamfara State, adding that, sexual violence prevalence in population was 2.7% and emotional violence was 19.7%.
“Also, Spousal violence is also high, with one in 274 ever-married women reporting that they have ever experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence by their husband/partner (NDHS, 2018).Gender based violence against women have been acknowledged as the most prevalent human rights violation in the world.
“It has been estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse leading to health consequences, including forced and unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, traumatic fistula, sexually transmitted infections including HIV and even death (UNFPA, 2020).Gender-based violence (GBV) is a life-threatening issue that impacts health and violates International human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity.
All actors must be aware of the risks of gender-based violence and must collectively act to ensure a comprehensive response to prevent and mitigate these risks as quickly as possible. Failure to act against gender-based violence represents a failure by humanitarian actors to meet their responsibilities for promoting and protecting the rights of the populations they serve.
Tigana further described sexual harassment as unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature, including unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. It can occur in the workplace, learning environment, or other settings, and can include actions such as making employment or advancement dependent on sexual favors, physical acts of sexual assault, and unwanted sexual advances.
“It is important to note that sexual harassment is unlawful and violates civil rights laws. If you experience sexual harassment, you should report it to the authorities at your workplace or school, and you may also file a complaint with the appropriate state or federal agency, such as FMWSD. Human right commission’s, SMWSD,CSOs and relevant MDAs”, she added.
Earlier, the State Coordinator, Dr. Yusuf Abubakar, called for the communities, traditional and religious leaders across the 14 local government councils of the state, to ensure the implementation of the action plan they have developed for the social safeguard activities for the gender rationalism and on the other hand, the other meeting which concurrently held, was to prepare for rapid response to diseases across the state by the surveillance team.