Day Kaduna women rose against gender based violence
The forum which was organised by Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), witnessed a large turnout of women and girls of all ages in a show of solidarity to see to the submission and the actual passage of the bill into law by the Kaduna State House of Assembly.A factsheet on the draft bill […]
The forum which was organised by Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), witnessed a large turnout of women and girls of all ages in a show of solidarity to see to the submission and the actual passage of the bill into law by the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
A factsheet on the draft bill which was made available to Daily Trust reads in parts, “The Bill seeks to eliminate or reduce to a minimum the occurrence of gender based violence in the Nigerian society especially in homes, public spaces or even in conflict situations. It therefore protects the rights of Nigerians against violence especially violence against women.
“It aims at addressing the gaps in current laws on violence in private and public spaces. Specifically, it is aimed at responding to old and emerging forms of violence in particular, gender based violence. The Bill is laid in seven parts including its schedules while it has about 318provisions in 51 major sections. It is a product of an inclusive and consultative process and presents a harmonized legislation that incorporates nine other Bills presented before the National Assembly of Nigeria from 1999-2008.”
However, giving a back ground on how the journey to attain such bill started, the Project Director/ Secretary General, WRAPA, Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi said Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999 provided the context for renewed vigor around the demand for legal framework and mechanisms.
“In May 2002, the Legislative Advocacy Coalition on Violence Against Women (LACVAW) with the support from the International Human Rights Law Group, now LAWGROUP, articulated and submitted to the National Assembly a bill titled the Violence Against Woman (Probation) Bill, 2003but the bill was not passed during the legislative session.
She said: “In 2008, concerned about the consistent failure to realize a legislative framework, to addressing the increasing prevalence of violence in Nigeria and with support from DFID, the coalition coordinated by WRAPA and International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria; undertook an audit of Bills submitted to the National Assembly to extract and harmonize those that particularly bear relevance to the issues of violence against women.
Mahdi said human rights is not the business of women alone but that all human beings. “It is the business of institutions, the business of government, of families that human rights are observed and I need to also make it clear that when we talk of human rights, it is not something abstract or something in the air, human rights is about how me and you live, how I accord you dignity.
“We have agreed as a nation that we must live in justice, our second stanza speaks to that, our religion speaks to it and our humanity demands it, so on that basis, the fact that the government has taken a role to work with CSOs,” she stressed.
In her keynote address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Kaduna state who was represented by Hajiya Aisha Mohammed said : “We all know that violence against women rate has taken an alarming dimension because we read on the pages of newspapers every day the violence being done to women, it is also on record, that out of every 10 women, 3 suffer gender based violence every day, all over the world.”
She said there are laws in Kaduna state but they do not address the crime as far as women are concerned, “because the punishment of rape is just a few years in prison or a fine involving a paltry amount of money, and the perpetrator is allowed to go, but the damage done on the woman lasts a life time . That is why we need a law that will protect the future generation,” she said.