By Justina Auta
The Federal Government has called for support from development partners to acquire forensic machines and expand the scope of test and evidence gathering to address rape and other forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, made the call in Abuja on Friday at a joint news conference to launch activities to commemorate the 2022 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence and Harmful Traditional Practices.
Tallen explained that the establishment of more forensic laboratories across the country would guarantee access to reliable information and evidence to prosecute reported cases of rape, sexual and GBV.
She said “want to appeal to our development partners to support the acquisition of more forensic machines to make it easy to carry out test on rape cases in the country, as the existing ones are only accessible in Adamawa and Lagos states.
“We are talking with the minister of state for budget to ensure that we have it in the budget so that we can have at least one forensic lab in each geo-political zone and from there we will move down to states.”
Ms Beatrice Eyong, the UN-Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said “GBV is not only a violation of human rights, but a critical threat to the economic development and GDP growth of the country.
“Gender-Based Violence has the capacity of reducing the gross domestic products, which means there is a detrimental relationship between GBV and economic growth.”
Eyong further said that the theme of this year’s activism campaign — “UNiTE! Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls” called for coordinated actions from government, CSOs and the UN systems to share knowledge and innovations to end GBV.
Similarly, Ms Samuela Isopi, European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, decried the prevailing cases of GBV, especially in cyber spaces, stressing the need for more strategies to prevent and address it.
Ms Ulla Mueller, the Resident Representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Nigeria, reiterated the Fund’s commitment toward advancing the cause of women and ending all forms of violence and harmful practices against them.
Mr Danladi Plang, the National Programme Manager, Rule of Law and Anti- Corruption (RoLAC), while commending government and other stakeholders for the progress in addressing GBV, called for more measures to end the menace.
Highlights of the event include commitments by representatives of the diplomatic community to address GBV and a candle light possession in honour of women, girls, boys and men that lost their lives as a result of violence.
