Global Hope for Women and Children Foundation (GLOHWOC), an NGO, has organised a two-day training for members of rapid response team in Kwara on better ways of handling sexual violence in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was held in Ilorin on Monday with support from Actionaid and Global Affairs Canada.
It was attended by 18 representatives from the state Ministries of Women Affairs and Justice; Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA); National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ); National Orientation Agency (NOA) as well as NGOs, Civil Society and Community Based Organisations.
Ms Angela Okoye, who spoke on “Understanding Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse”, stressed the need to make sexual violence unattractive to the would-be perpetrators.
Okoye urged the trainees to sensitize the vulnerable population to always report cases of sexual violence in order to get justice and serve as deterrent to others.
According to her, fear of stigmatisation is discouraging victims of sexual molestation, abuse, exploitation or the like from reporting to appropriate quarters for a redress.
She advised parents to always proactively watch out for red flags and sign of sexual abuse in their children.
The resource person, however, called for a functional criminal justice in the state and country at large, to encourage victims to break their silence.
She urged Kwara to emulate Lagos and Ekiti states by setting up sexual offender register as a way of curbing the societal menace.
Speaking with NAN, Christy Abayomi-Oluwole, Executive Director of GLOHWOC, said the training was organised to equip the team with necessary skills and competencies needed for management of gender and sexual based abuse relating to women, children and other vulnerable population.
“The essence of the training is to ensure that these service providers, who are the next point of call to the vulnerable population, have what it takes to deliver and support the vulnerable population.
“Because if they are not properly equipped with necessary skills and competencies, when cases get to them, these cases may go bad.
“So, we don’t want injustice for women, girls, the vulnerable population and the society at large.
“We want justice, especially when it relates to sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse and that is why this team is brought here for the next two days to get all what it takes to be able to handle cases that come to their desks,” she said.
Abayomi-Oluwole said aside rape, the NGO was also looking at issues of domestic violence, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation and anything that has to do with sexual and gender based violence.
The Executive Director stated that the NGO had also trained gender and sexual based violence referral coordinators across the 16 local government areas of Kwara to handle cases locally.
