Cases of sexual harassments remains high in Kano
By Bashir Bello, KANO
Centre for Information Technology and Development, CITAD, has said that sexual harassments ranks top among other Gender-Based Violence, GBV, cases in Kano State.
The Centre’s Gender Officer, Zainab Aminu stated this during its monthly GBV briefing after deploying an android app in August to track and monitor GBV incidences recorded in the state.
Aminu said comparison of reports the centre received through the app in the months of September and October shows that sexual harrasment remains highly reported case.
She, however, called on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, domesticate the Child Rights Act and VAPP Act in order to curb the menace in the state.
According to Aminu, “The cases highly reported is sexual harassment. The perpetrators are mostly male.
“In September, a number of sexual harassment cases reported stands at 18 while in October, eight cases were reported with 56% decline.
“Furthermore, sexual harassment still remains the case with highest number of perpetrations.
“For sexual abuse, we had 14 cases in September and four cases in October with 71% decline.
“Other cases like wife battering and social media GBV have no reported cases in October.
“Although there is a visible decline in reported cases of all forms of GBV, we still observe perpetration of GBV within the state.
“This shows that there is still need for actions to be taken in term of Gender Based Violence in the state in order to eliminate/curb it.
“Gender-based violence is a harmful act being inflicted at individuals based on their gender.
“It is a serious violation of human rights and a life-threatening health and protection issue.
“As part of its continuing effort to curb GBV in the society and to promote the wellbeing of women and girl child, including creating a safe and secure educational environment, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) with support from Ford Foundation has been implementing a project titled ‘Strengthening Citizens Response and Protection Against Gender Based Violence in Kano, Nigeria..
“The aim is to achieve a safe society for women and girls, free from gender violence and discrimination, bridge gender gap in girl-child education, allowing for the attainment of gender parity in educational accomplishments.
“We recommend that the Kano State Government and House of Assembly to domesticate the Child Rights Act and VAPP Act at the state level because if implemented, will contribute in curbing this (GBV) menace.
“Similarly, religious and traditional leaders both at state and local levels should continuously intensify efforts in creating awareness and to work with different authorities in curtailing the menace of GBV in the state.
“We also call on institutions of higher learning in the state to all develop and implement gender policy and create appropriate mechanisms for victims and others to reports such incidences to the authorities.
“Equally, the state government should not only adopt laws to protect women and girls, but also establish Referral Centers and Forensic Centers for victims.
“We also urged the media houses to continue to use their platforms in creating awareness against GBV and be reporting punishments done to perpetrators of GBV instead of focusing on the victims of GBV cases,” Aminu stated
Centre urges Kano State Govt. to domesticate Child Rights, VAPP Acts
has urged the Kano State Government to domesticate the Child Rights Act of 2003 and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 so as to tackle Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the state.
The centre made the call at a news conference in Kano to give feedback on its monthly online assessessment of cases of gender violence.
Miss Zainab Aminu, the Gender Project Programme Officer of CITAD, told newsmen that the implementation of the two acts was crucial to curtail the menace.
The CHILD RIGHTS ACT 2003 is an act to provide and protect the rights of Nigerian children; and other related matters.
Aminu explained that the centre had implemented a multi-approach mechanism, especially with the use of electronic platforms to track cases of gender violence.
She said “we use monitors also, in tertiary institutions in the state as well as embedded monitors within communities to track cases.
“The centre also collaborates with Shamrock on sharing of data from Helpio App for reporting of GBV cases.”
She added that the centre had also launched its own app called CITD GBV App and received 18 cases in October.
The officer also stressed that although there was a decline in the number of cases received in September 2021, there was need to intensify efforts toward creating awareness on the menace.
She appealed to religious and traditional leaders to work with authorities and advocate more on the menace.
CITAD had urged institutions of higher learning in the state to develop and implement gender policies and create mechanisms for victims to report incidences to authourities.
To the state government, the centre further appealed for the adoption of laws to protect women and girls and also establish referral centres for survivors.
It implored the media to continue to create awareness on GBV and stress punishments for perpetrators to serve as deterrant to others. (NAN)