Queen Amina’s descendant wants action on rape, gender violence

The Sarauniyar Zazzau, Suleja Emirate and a great, great, granddaughter of the renowned Queen Amina of Zaria, Dr. Ramatu Hassan, has called for justice for victims of rape and other gender-based violence (GBV).

She made the call on Friday in Abuja at the end of project learning and dissemination meeting on Women-Led Integrated Protection Action Against Gender-Based Violence (WIPE-GBV) project.

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The event was organised by the ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), British High Commission, Nigeria.

According to her, it was unfortunate that even parents contribute to the menace by either being perpetrators or to not allowing victims of GBV get justice for wrongs inflicted on them.

“I am commending ActionAid for taking the lead in eradicating GBV across the country. I wish this project be extended to accommodate many other girls and women experiencing GBV whose voices had not been heard.

“There were cases including one years ago of a two-year-old girl, whose father was a policeman and after attending to her case twice. She got better but with a defective eye, and after the furore we tried to raise, she was brought for a follow-up on only two occasions and we never saw them again,” Hassan said.

Ending GBV

Welcoming participants at the event, the Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi, urged unity of Nigerian women to end GBV in the country.

She lamented the pace at which GBV cases were withdrawn from the court, hence the need for stakeholders to rise to tackle GBV in the country.

She also expressed worry over the silence culture of women toward GBV cases, saying the society is not protecting its citizens.

“On Dec. 8, 2020, ActionAid Nigeria in partnership with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officially launched a five-month project targeted toward protecting the rights of women and girls from GBV exacerbated by COVID-19 in Edo, Niger and Adamawa states.

“The implementation of this project gave us better insight into the unique context of addressing violence against women and girls amidst pandemic, especially in conflict settings. We have been able to get to the communities and bring out a lot of cases on GGBV. It is an overwhelming episode this time because of the increase in violence occasion by COVID-19.

“There is a lot of mobilisation in some of those communities and more cases are being held while some of the cases are being done. What is of concern to us is the culture of silence. The society is not protecting its citizens because we are not very happy that some cases were withdrawn from court,” Obi said.

She also urged women to rise up ahead of the 2023 General Election to contest and take positions and use their offices to completely eradicate GBV in the country.

Also, the conflict adviser, FCDO, Sophie Stevens, said that the programme within the five-months of its launch had benefited 1,133 with protection support services for survivors of violence in the country.

Calling for justice

While calling for justice for victims of rape and other forms of GBV especially against women and girlchild in the country, she said that it is unacceptable that girls as little as few months old are raped and there was not justice for them and against perpetrators of the crime.

Also, the Special Assistant to the Speaker, House of Representative on Gender Equality and Social Development, Fatima Kakuri, said there were huge gaps in services that survivors needed.

According to her, relevant authorities are hindered by low capacity in addressing the issues for example, lack of evidence, interest and knowledge of how to handle these cases.

She said, “Corruption and demands for bribes in events that survivors are disadvantaged, discrimination and social norms that transfer blame the survivor rather than the perpetrator, resulting in settlements outside of court. This is owing to the lack of capacity and skills in handling the issue.

“The Speaker of the House of Representatives in his obligation to deliver institutionalisation of coping strategies and Access to Justice for survivors of Victims of GBV had convened an advocacy meeting with the Conference of State Speakers.

“This is to advocate the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, and we are happy to note that the outcomes since that engagement has been the additional domestication in nine other states.”

On her part, the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, said that the ministry was working to ensure total elimination of GBV in the country.

Tallen, represented by a Director in the ministry, Mr. Femi Alaka, stressed the need for the sustenance of such programmes, saying that the ministry had established the inter-ministerial committee to address issues around GBV, which would be inaugurated soon.