WRAHP meets with stakeholders on amplifying voices of women in Ebonyi

From Chinedu Nwafor, Abakaliki

Women’s Rights and Health (WRAHP) has organized a Consultative meeting with key stakeholders working on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) response in Ebonyi State.

The meeting took place, on Thursday, at Blossom Height Unique Hotel, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.

The State Program Manager, Mr Francis Umah, in his remarks, said the objectives of the meeting were to “share with stakeholders in Ebonyi state the experiences of  a one year project implementation on “Amplifying the voices of women and girls with Disabilities against SGBV” and to make  recommendations on the way forward;  elicit stakeholders’ contributions and commitments towards addressing the challenge of SGBV against women and girls with Disabilities.”

He said the World Health Organization (WHO’s) report on Disability 2011, revealed that up to 25 million Nigerians are living with at least one disability and more than 50% are females.

Explaining further, Mr Umah said: “In Nigeria, due to widespread discrimination, extensive rights violations, neglect and stigmatization, women and girls living with disabilities are at 3 times greater risks of suffering physical, sexual and economic abuse compared to women and girls without disabilities. 

“This risk is further exacerbated by lack of information and limited capacity of women living with disabilities to assert their sexual and reproductive rights, report rights infringements/violations and demand a more inclusive justice system that caters to their unique needs.

“Barriers affecting women and girls with disabilities from accessing justice. Lack of access to information and limited capacity of WGDs to assert their rights, report violations and demand a more inclusive justice system that caters for their unique needs.

“Insufficient knowledge and understanding of the rights of people with disability and response by service providers. Many WGDs are scared of reporting perpetrators who are mostly care givers and close relatives for fear of stigmatization and discrimination.

“Difficulty in accessing relevant offices for SGBV response for women and girls with mobility impairment. Most WGDs do not have the financial capacity to demand for their rights due to lack of support structures to empower them financially.”

Mr Umah went further to explain that within one year implementation of the project in Ebonyi State, WRAHP had achieved the following:18 key influencers of public opinion and stakeholders in Ebonyi State engaged via advocacy meeting to support the rights of women and girls with Disabilities. These comprised representatives from; (government Ministries and Agencies, international development partners, civil society organizations and networks including persons living with disabilities, Security/Law Enforcement Agencies including Nigeria Police Force, the media, health care providers etc).

“40 women and girls with Disabilities in Ebonyi State empowered with knowledge and skills to be effective advocates in addressing issues of sexual and gender-based violence affecting their peers in private, public and political spheres. 

“549 women and girls with disabilities were sensitized by the trained advocates through peer-to-peer physical sessions to be aware of and exercise their rights against SGBV and all forms of rights violations. 

“4 survivors were provided psychosocial counselling support services. An arrest of one perpetrator was carried out. 6 media houses engaged in coverage that demonstrates accurate and holistic understanding of sexual and gender-based violence affecting women and girls with Disabilities from a human rights perspective.”

“Production and distribution of the following: 2500 copies of Policy Briefs on Protecting women and girls with Disabilities against sexual and gender-based violence; 2500 copies of the Simplified Edition of The Ebonyi State Violence against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law; 3000 copies of Fact Sheet on Violence against women and girls with Disabilities. This was to further engage more populations to advocate on issues of SGBV affecting women’s and girls and with disabilities.”

Mr Umah also called for domestication of the National Disability Act by Ebonyi State, and the establishment of Persons with Disabilities Commission with designated desk officers to champion issues of SGBV affecting women and girls with disabilities.

Other recommendations made by WRAHP, according to Mr Umah, include: “livelihood empowerment for women and girls with disabilities survivours of SGBV to promote financial independent and scholarship programs for their children and sustained comprehensive sexuality education program that addresses holistically the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls with Disabilities. Such a program will also aim to empower them with knowledge and skills to be aware of and exercise their rights to bodily integrity and autonomy. 

“Inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Ebonyi State SGBV response strategies and coordinating mechanism.Programming on SGBV for women and girls with disabilities should be inclusive involving all clusters (e.g., hearing impaired, vision impaired, physically challenged, dwarf etc). No cluster should be excluded.Working with clusters of women and girls with disabilities should be highly promoted as this helps to strengthen their group coherence, solidarity, associative strength and capacity to work together to address a common health and development issue that affect them.”

Our Correspondent reports that the project was implemented by Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), in partnership with women and girls with Disabilities and funding support from the African Women Development Fund (AWDF), Ghana.