Federation of women lawyers secures 15 GBV convictions in 3 months

The International Federation of Women Lawyers in  Cross River , has secured 15 Gender-Based Violence (GBV) related convictions in the last three months.

Mrs Ann Awah, Chairperson of FIDA, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Wednesday.

”Awareness on GBV  is on the increase and people are coming out without shame or fear of stigmatisation to talk about the issue.

“We have many other cases going on right now in the court. We are handling the case of a five-year- old who was defiled, the perpetrator has been taken into custody and the child will be taken for medical examination within the next 72 hours.

“Sometimes, you see some parents of victims coming to tell you that the matter should be settled out of court for fear of victimisation, stigmatisation or the fact that they have been given money by the perpetrator but that is wrong.

“Once FIDA comes into a case, we follow it to the end without compromise and we do not accept any form of out-of-court settlement because the survivor, probably a child has been maimed and will be traumatised for life whether he is a boy or a girl,” she said.

Awah called on Nigerians to speak out against GBV so that perpetrators can be exposed and shamed.

NAN reports that the new data from  the  UN said one in three women, around 736 million, are subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence from a non-partner, a number that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade.

The UN said violence starts in one in four young women (aged 15-24 years) who have been in a relationship will have already experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they reach their mid-twenties.

Violence against women, the world body said,  is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their families, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.