STAMP OUT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (FGM/RAPE/DSV)

The statistic of Child Abuse is negatively soaring in Nigeria. If conviction rate of child abuse offenders in Nigeria is anything to go by, most of the offenders in these cases could have gone scot-free. The vulnerability of children in Nigeria seems to make them easy targets for sexual offenders. This might be controversial but Nigeria is a country where it is extremely easy to molest or abuse a child, because of issues such as no supervision at home, poor parenting, not to mention the situation where you see little children walking to school by themselves, sometimes in bushy areas.

Rape is a widespread problem in Nigeria coupled with the culture of silence surrounding it. Besides the violation and stigma, it also exposes women to the risk of poor reproductive health as a result of infection with STDs and HIV/AIDS. The victims, almost always women, tend not to report instances of rape because they are afraid of being blamed for having behaved in ways that invite rapists.

Rape is a very widespread problem in Nigeria but there is a culture of silence surrounding it. The victims, almost always women, tend not to report instances of rape. They are afraid of being blamed to have ‘seemingly’ behaved in ways that invite rapists.

Though these are not common in Nigeria, we have heard cases or read reports of male raping other male (rape of boys or male-inmates raping other male-inmates) but in oddity, there are constant cases of ‘women raping men’ in the Western Countries – but can such really happen in Nigeria?

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the most extreme manifestations of the disempowerment of girls and women. It is a deep-rooted social practice that is carried out because, in practising communities, it is believed to be essential for marriage and ‘proper’ womanhood. It is carried out because it is believed to be in a girl’s best interests: uncut girls cannot marry and would be condemned to a life of stigma and discrimination. Even where there is awareness of the problems caused by FGM, the practice is continued because of the link to girls’ and women’s acceptability in society and to their marriageability.

SIRP is an acronym for Society for the Improvement of Rural People (SIRP), an NGO based in Nigeria that is pragmatically committed to ending FGM in Nigeria. It was set up in response to the urgent need for philanthropic support to address the various issues confronting vulnerable persons (women, children, disabled persons and youth) especially in rural areas of the country.

It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) in the countries where the practice is concentrated, but as pressure grows to end the horror of FGM, it is becoming clear that the last word may lie with ‘men’ or ‘potential husbands’. However, majority of men are in denial or silent to the menace of this practice that has too often gone under the name of "female circumcision", which makes it sound as innocuous as what is done to baby boys, but its actual purpose has been stated as "the control of women's libido".

On October 9, 2012, on her way home from taking exams, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, was shot in the head by two masked gunmen, belonging to the Taliban, an extremist Islamic group. They were trying to stop her from disseminating her belief that girls everywhere have a right to education. She recovered, and within four months, she fearlessly returned to her activism. She revealed that despite the attempted assassination, she doesn't fear the Taliban. She doesn't even fear dying, she says, as long as the movement for education equality lives on.

Q. My Girlfriend Was Raped By My Friend... What Should I Do? I have a roommate who knew my babe and the fact that we have been dating for over four years. There's this day she came visiting but didn't meet me but my guy, knowing I wouldn’t return that day, asked her to keep him company and then, gave her a spiced-drink. She was tipsy and weakly fought him off before he raped her twice – she just told me this after it happened over a year ago.

Unquestionably, FGM is a Human Rights Violation as it violates a number of human rights of women and girls. It is the removal of healthy sexual organs without medical necessity and is usually performed on adolescents and girls, often with harmful physical and psychological consequences. FGM violates the rights to non-discrimination, health, and bodily integrity. Additionally, FGM sometimes threatens the lives of girls and women, thereby violating their human rights to life, liberty, and security of the person.