Tag: Spotlight Initiative

The Cross River State Ministry of Justice, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has held an interactive engagement with stakeholders to improve response service delivery on violence against children, women and girls.

The 2-day event which came under the auspices of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, took place between 25th and 26th September, 2023, at Marian Hotel, Calabar, and had participants drawn from sectors such as justice, health, law enforcement and welfare service.

Speaking at the conclusion of the 2 days engagement, Mrs Florence Agbiji, Director General, Center for Citizens Right and Office of the Public Defender in the Ministry of Justice, said the forum provided stakeholders the opportunity to look at the performances of various sectors in ending violence against children, women and girls and as well as gender based violence.

According to her, “all the stakeholders have been open to share their challenges, good practices and make commitment to do better. We have also gotten to a point where we will do advocacy visit to top officers of these agencies like the Nigeria Police, the Chief Judge and others, just to be able to get a commitment for us to function as a justice delivery response sector.”

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Also speaking, Mr Victor Atuchukwu, a Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Field Office, Enugu, said the event was aimed at improving service delivery for survivors of violence, multi-sectoral response and also to identify gaps in care and response protocol.

Atuchukwu added that the engagement was equally to improve on inter agency collaboration, stating that “it is a good thing to have all these different bodies come together just for one goal – to see that no child, no girl, no woman is left behind in all the services they desire, especially justice.”

On his part, Mr Kebe Ikpi, Cross River State Coordinator of the Child Protection Network (CPN) and facilitator at the event, thanked the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF for creating the opportunity for judges, magistrates, social workers and civil society organizations in the child protection space to have their memory refreshed on issues around child protection, basic principles of child protection, case management and the position of the law on it.

Ikpi, however, frowned at the way and manner in which the Nigeria Police handle child protection cases, lamenting that “they demand for money before they file cases in court, making it look like it is the court that is requesting for this payment. But we know it is not true. This meeting has opened our eyes. The magistrates and judges in whose courts they appear, made it very clear that there is no such demand or request on their side.”

“It means that these policemen are corruptly enriching themselves at the expense of people who already are suffering from a certain type of violence that we ought to protect. We cannot continue like this. Something has to be done. I’m calling on the Commissioner of Police, the Inspector General of Police to do something about it to ensure that policemen do not give the Force a bad name, and the cases that come to the police are treated appropriately so that people are not discouraged from going to report cases,” he said.

The facilitator further charged police authorities to do away with any bottleneck that would impede the reporting of cases, stressing that one of the goals of the End Violence Campaign is to encourage people to report cases of violence against children, women and girls and gender based violence in all forms.

“Whatever that can be done to ensure that illegal collections on the side of the police, especially at the point where matters are being filed in court, is stopped. It will be highly appreciated and will be seen as a contribution to the End Violence Campaign,” Ikpi appealed.

Akamkpa, one of the local government areas in Cross River State where the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative is being implemented, has received the Violence Against Children (VAC), Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) sensitization campaign with excitement, this is according to Williams Okoi Arikpo, representative of Spotlight Initiative.

Arikpo, who spoke with our correspondent at the end of a 2-day Community Dialogue and Rally in Akamkpa, said Spotlight Initiative was happy to be part of the campaign to end violence against children, women and girls, noting that the local government area has a very high rate of Sexual and Gender Based Violence.

Giving details of the two days event, Arikpo said “The first day we had a dialogue with key stakeholders. We had the representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN),
community members, the members of the Child Protection Network, we had traditional rulers, we had religious leaders, women leaders, youth leaders. We had adolescents, vigilantes and market women at this very important dialogue where we asked to know why people are not speaking up.

“The session was very engaging and interactive as the people spoke freely. The participants were very happy. They gave their views, shared experiences, opinions and recommendations about what can be done to end violence against children, violence against women and gender based violence. They also went further to make recommendations about the things that should be done to help people speak up because the culture of silence is a major problem.

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“As we know Akamkpa has a very high rate of violence against children. The problem is that people do not speak up.
There’s been lot of incidences of violence against children over time in Akamkpa and it is important that this kind of awareness and advocacy and dialogue is carried out. The people in Akamkpa are so willing to take ownership of the process. They are inviting us to schools. In fact, we heard children telling us to come to their schools. Pastors are asking us to come to their churches. Even the market women are not left out. They are inviting us to their markets. The traditional rulers are also inviting us to come to their traditional rulers council meeting. Everybody wants us to come to their natural groups and share these experiences and it was exciting.

“Some had already started creating awareness on their own from past meetings. I think it’s quite encouraging to have that dialogue and to see what the people are doing in Akamkpa.

“On the second day was the rally and we hit the streets of Akamkpa – major roads, minor roads, market places. The campaign was massive. The people were so eager to hear, to learn and know what we were doing. Participants at the rally were available to give clarification to sensitize people. We had placards, stickers, banners, fliers and materials that we shared to the people. It was beautiful and colourful, as well as educative.

“The Christian Association of Nigeria has promised to mobilize its members for us to do sensitization. We had a community leader in Awi who said he wants us to specially do a rally in Awi because of the high prevalence of violence against children. The people are eager.”

In an effort to encourage people to speak-up against Violence Against Children (VAC), Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) in their various communities, the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative has taken its sensitization campaign to Obanliku local government area of Cross River State.

Just like in other local government areas it visited, Spotlight Initiative held community dialogue with stakeholders and service providers in Obanliku and as well as a road show to draw attention to the abnormal behaviour manifested in SGBV.

The two days events took place between 18th and 19th September, 2023 in Sankwala, the local government headquarters.

Obanliku is one of the local government areas in Cross River State where the Spotlight Initiative programme is being implemented. The initiative is working towards ending Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), and Violence Against Children (VAC).

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Stakeholders and services providers gathered on the 18th of September, 2023 at the LGA headquarters, Sankwala for a Dialogue on ending VAC and VAWG.

Speaking at the commencement of the dialogue, the Cross River State Coordinator, Child Protection Network (CPN), Kebe Ikpi, informed participants that the dialogue was put together by the Cross River State Ministry of Justice (MOJ) with funding from UNICEF.

Kebe explained that the event was meant to create awareness on ending violence against children, women and girls, and also to sensitize them on the various types of violence and their effects, as well as to create awareness on child protection service providers in the LGA, where people can report cases of child abuse and SGBV in the communities.

Speaking further, the CPN State Coordinator explained that the age of a person is a determining factor, and not their body size, especially when dealing with who is a child or not. He affirmed that people can suffer from physical, emotional and sexual abuses, neglect and exploitation.

Mr Vincent Atukanre, the Community Mobilization Officer for Obanliku, led the discussion by highlighting some basic child protection terms and also allowed participants to share their thoughts on what they understand by violence, child, among others.

He encouraged all participants to go back to their various communities and sensitize their people, stressing that there was need to break the culture of silence and report cases of VAC and VAWG known to them.

On his part, Mr Obusu Peter, the Social Welfare officer for Obanliku spoke on factors that hinder access to services for survivors. He advised parents not to abandon or neglect their responsibilities to their Children and whoever is seen doing that should be reported to the Social Welfare Officer. He shared phone numbers of The Police Gender Unit and other relevant service providers.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Atukanre Theresa who spoke on the medical needs of survivors, stated that rape survivors need to access medical services immediately or within 72 hours, including Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), so as to preserve evidence for prosecution and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

She concluded by encouraging participants to speak up when they hear or witness an abuse. According to her, this is the only way to stop the perpetrators from further harming other people.

A rally was held on the second day to round off the sensitization campaign in the local government area.

The European Union-United Nations Spotlight Initiative driven by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has held community dialogue and road show in Odukpani local government area of Cross River State to raise awareness on the need to speak – up against Violence Against Children (VAC), Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Gender Based Violence (GVB).

The two days events took place between the 20th and 21st September, 2023, and had community stakeholders and members as well as some service providers in Odukpani local government area converged at the Pavilion of the Council Secretariat for a dialogue session on the need to speak-up against Violence Against Children (VAC), and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

Participants of the meeting comprised of adolescent boys and girls, adult males and adult females who are keen about making change in their respective communities.

Speaking at the event, the Public Relations Officer of Child Protection Network (CPN), Cross River State, Asari Nakanda, said the dialogue was to create awareness on violence against children, women and girls, their types and effects, as well as awareness on child protection service providers in the LGA.

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She also said that the dialogue would enable participants identify and address factors hindering reportage of child abuse and SGBV in the communities.

Addressing a session on child abuse, its types and effects, Mrs. Grace Effiom, a CPN member in Odukpani, emphasized on the various types of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect) and then gave opportunities to the participants to mention the various types that are prevalent in their communities.

Some of the types of abuse mentioned were child labor, specifically as it relates to physical and sexual abuse of children, pornography and rape. Through the session, many participants stated the role of dressing in the occurrence of rape. Responding on this, one of the adolescent boys mentioned that dresses girls wear make them prone to rape, as they will seem attractive to the opposite sex which will instigate rape. This brought up heated argument among participants as some gave reasons why dressing should not be used to justify rape.

Concluding on the argument, the CPN State PRO, explained rape and its various forms as well as the root causes of rape of which she emphasized on the power relation between the perpetrators and the survivor. She also stated incidents where babies, full dressed women as well as older women were raped.

Mrs. Effiom continued the session by enumerating the various effects of child abuse of which she mentioned poor mental health, injuries, death etc. She ended her session by stating that perpetrators of all types of abuse are liable to punishments depending on the abuse as inscribed in the Child Rights Law 2023 of Cross River State.

On his part, the CPN Coordinator for Odukpani LGA, Apostle Leonard Ekpenyong, who facilitated discussions on the various factors hindering access to child protection service providers in the LGAs, elicited response from participants who mentioned the lack of knowledge of the existence of the service providers, accessibility to service providers as challenges negating effective reporting of SGBV in the LGA.

Responding, the Clan Head of Odukpani Qua, His Highness, Ntoe Sylvanus Eyamba, stated clearly that the traditional leaders have no powers to try cases of sexual abuse. He referenced cases of sexual abuse he had handled alongside the CPN Coordinator in the LGA and their outcomes.

The monarch stated that traditional leaders could mediate on issues of child labor, neglect, physical abuse if they are not very serious but that rape was not in the purview of traditional leaders to handle. He, therefore, encouraged community members to report such cases to the palace when they occur and then it will be referred to the Police which will then be followed up by the Palace.

The event was wrapped up with a road show on the 21st September, where participants took the route from the Council Secretariat into the villages up to the Calabar Highway with several stops at the NYSC roundabout, the market square and the Primary Health Care Centre.

They distributed fliers and explained the various messages to create awareness on child abuse, violence against women and girls and also encouraged community members to report such cases whether suspected or actual cases.