United Nations Women and WARDC demand protection of Rights and Elimination of Gender-based violence

The United Nation (UN) Women and Women Advocates and Research Documentation Centre (WARDC) have called for an end to all forms of violence against women and girls in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

They also harped on the need to advance campaigns on Sexual Gender Base Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual Health and Reproduction Right (SRHR) to address the issue of violence against women and the girl-child.

This was the thrust at a focus group meeting organised by WARDC in Lagos for Lagos West, Lagos East and Lagos Central senatorial districts on advancing strategies to address the protection of women’s rights. The event also witnessed the implementation the UN Women Spotlight initiative, a global initiative of the European Union and UN with WARDC as partner to end all forms of violence against women and girls. This is in line with the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The focus group meeting, however, stressed on the need to seek improvement in the capacity of CSOs and NGOs, and educate them on the power of collective action to find out how women can work together to achieve a common goal.

According to the Executive Director of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, there is need for more enlightenment on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in Nigeria. She also said that women deserve the rights to the integrity of their body and there is little focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the country; hence we should intensify campaigns on these issues.

​Source: Guardian