Stakeholders Seek Urgent Action, Preventive Measures To Curb Sexual Violence

Stakeholders at an online media briefing tagged ”Campaign Against Sexual Violence in Nigeria have called for increased preventive and curative measures to end sexual violence.

Addressing the media, a representative of the African Women Development Fund, a technical expert, Christy Asala, while presenting a recent survey on sexual violence against women expressed great concern about recurring incidences. READ ALSO; Stakeholders Call For Implementation Of National Guidelines On Self-care

Asala while highlighting the KASA survey, said the survey revealed Enugu, Nasarawa, and Kaduna, having 49 percent of women and girls under 40 years sexually abused.

”Approximately one-third (33%) of women aged 15-49 in Nigeria have endured physical or sexual violence, according to the NDHS 2018 report.”

According to her, ”Recent years have seen a surge in reported cases of sexual violence within the country, affecting people of all generations, from the elderly to the young.”

She expressed worry that young women and girls, especially those living with some form of disability, or another are
particularly vulnerable, and suffer enduring physical and psychological consequences.

Christy Asala said urgent action was imperative to raise awareness, institute preventive measures, and establish
effective response mechanisms to curb sexual violence.

”Sexual violence encompasses unwanted completed sex acts, for example, rape, attempted non-consensual sex acts unwanted completed or attempted sex, and abusive sexual contact.”

On his part, the Cognito Project, Research Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Charles Jang, noted that bottlenecks in the procedures of reporting sexual violence are major challenges in curbing the menace.

The survey was implemented by the White Ribbon Alliance of Kenya in Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.