A coalition of nongovernment organisations has called for the establishment of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) in every state of the nation which should be backed with a coordinated, sustainably-funded support system.
The Executive Director, TechHerNG, Chioma Agwuegbo, who made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at a news conference, said that the group advocated for the declaration of a state of emergency on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.
According to her, the coalition launched a nationwide campaign to advocate for systemic change on SGBV and also held protests in Abuja and Lagos.
“These protests complemented the ongoing online campaign, #StateofEmergencyGBV, calling on citizens to demand that their legislators and state governments take holistic steps to protect citizens from all forms of violence, particularly sexual and gender-based violence.
“These activities also complemented efforts by legislators and the Governors’ Wives Forum pushing for the declaration of a State of Emergency on SGBV where some demands were made,” she said.
Also, the CEO of Connected Development (CODE), Mr. Hamzat Lawal, one of the conveners of the coalition, said that the group demanded for the domestication of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act of 2015 and the Child Rights Act of 2003 in all states of the federation.
Lawal stressed the need for the criminalisation and prompt state-led prosecution of SGBV cases within a reasonable time, regardless of requests or interference by the victim’s family or interested parties.
According to him, this is included in the demand for specialised courts for sexual offences which would be the best way forward in each state.
“There should also be the imposition of public disciplinary measures against officials of the Nigerian Police Force and state prosecutors that mishandle cases of SGBV,” Lawal said.
On her part, Ms. Bukky Williams, another co-convener of the coalition, said that there was need to domesticate the VAPP Act (2015) which was an improvement on the penal and criminal code in relation to domestic and gender-based violence.
She said that the Act applied to violence in private and public spaces and also expands definitions of violence to include acts against men and boys, and also provides protection for victims and survivors of violence and punishment for offenders.
