Community Stakeholders Pledge Full Cooperation with SPARC, others on SGBV Cases
Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Stakeholders in Enugwu-Agidi community in Anambra State have pledged full cooperation with the state government and other relevant authorities including civil society organizations in the fight against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
The pledge was made during a sensitization engagement organized by the State Ministry of Justice under the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC II) Programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
Speaking at the event, the Coordinator of the Service Providers and Accountability Resource Committee (SPARC) of the Ministry of Justice, Rachael Yohanna, said the engagement was designed to enlist community heads as frontline actors in curbing sexual violence.
“The idea is to help us fight sexual gender based violence. Now we are selecting heads of communities. The project is all about the sex offenders register,” Yohanna said.
She disclosed that Anambra alone has over 200 entries in the National Sexual Offenders Register (SOR) and explained how the system works to deter perpetrators.
“The national SOR has both front end and back end where names of defaulters are entered. The front end carries the name of convicted individuals such that a Google search will bring out the individual’s details, preventing him or her from traveling,” she stated.
Yohanna noted that the register is part of a broader strategy to ensure accountability beyond arrests, stressing that most offenders are known to their victims.
“Majority of the perpetrators are uncles, aunties, brothers, fathers. The agenda of the SOR is to disgrace the perpetrators because society can no longer rely on mere arrests,” she said.
Also speaking, Ugochi Freeman warned community leaders against settling SGBV cases at the village level, describing such offences as crimes against the state.
“Community leadership has no right to handle sexual offences or settlements. It is a state case. It is a case against the State. These things are now a problem to the government and government wants to curb it. It takes the grace of God for a child that is lured into sex early to come out of the practice,” she added.
She urged the stakeholders to step down the message in their communities and promote proper parenting to reduce incidents of abuse.
“I charge you to step-down the message and enlighten community members. Inculcate the right family values in your children and youths, because adequate parenting will go a long way to cutting down sexual violence in society. CSOs are ready to act as backup to anybody that reports any rape case to the relevant authorities,” Freeman assured.
Community representatives at the engagement pledged to act on the directives and end the culture of silence and cover-ups surrounding Sexual and Gender-Based Violence cases.
They stated that they would help spread awareness so that members of the community would understand the consequences of sexual offences.
The stakeholders described the sensitization as timely and promised a new approach to handling cases, noting that the community abhors SGBV, especially cases involving fathers abusing their children.
They also stated that future cases would be reported to the appropriate committee and handed over to the police, and that they would no longer settle such matters locally or stop at the police level.
Other stakeholders raised concerns about factors fueling SGBV, including indecent dressing and drug abuse. They called on community leaders to stop shielding relatives involved in sexual offences and urged that the programme collaborate with relevant agencies to address substance abuse.
In his remarks, Vice President General of Enugwu-Agidi community, Comrade Emeka Ementa, urged participants to take the message to their villages and educate others to abstain from practices that put them in danger.
He commended the SPARC team for choosing the community for the intervention and reassured that new approach would be taken to tackle such menace in the community.
