Abasi Ita, Calabar
Stakeholders in the quest to curtail the divergent modes of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in the society have called for a statutory policy document from the government to tackle the menace
Speaking at a one day step down training on sexual exploitation,abuse and harrassments held Calabar, the social justice crusaders said it is high time for legal enactment of crafted to deal with the situation.
In his opening remarks,the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health Dr Iwara Iwara said gender- based violence often results in health challenges for survivors,hence.the peculiar interest of the ministry in exploring viable solutions to the challenge.
Represented by the gender focal officer in the Ministry,Mrs Felicia Ayim,Dr Iwara sued for effective collaboration to tackle the prevailing challenges frontally in order to secure a bright future for women,girls and the vulunarable in the society.
In her presentation, Mercy Ejini elaborated on the various modes of sexual exploitations and harrassments noting that concrete measures need to be adopted to check the excesses of perpetuators.
On the existing legal provisions to curb GBV, Deborah Asuquo, from the International Federation of Women Lawyers advocated for drastic enlightenment campaign to acquaint the citizenry and the police with available laws needed to accelerate trail and guarantee conviction.
In his submission, William Arikpo sued for seamless reporting route to guarantee prompt response from intervention service to mitigate collateral demange
Participants at the training workshop drawn from civic society groups, religious and traditional institutions as well as youth groups were unanimous in their demands for state policy framework tailored towards addressing the prevailing challenge.