Liana
Guru
Joined: 30 Nov 2004
{Posts: 352 }
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 Posted: Sat 04 Jun 2005 07:09 Post subject: Lives of Nigerian Women |
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Whew! Thank God I live here...
Nigeria: Unheard Voices documents the lives of Nigerian women in Lagos State who have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in the family.
On a daily basis, Nigerian women are beaten, raped and even murdered by members of their family for supposed transgressions, which can range from not having meals ready on time to visiting family members without their husband’s permission," said Stephane Mikala, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. "Tragically, husbands, partners and fathers are responsible for most of the violence against these women -- and the government has a duty to protect them."
One particularly horrific form of violence is the use of acid which is thrown at the woman with the sole purpose of disfiguring her permanently or worse death. The violence affects all sections of the community, old, young, urban, rural and from all socio-economic groups.
Domestic violence in Nigeria and like many African and other global communities is seen as a private affair. Family members including wives, sisters, mothers collude in the violence by ignoring it and insisting that there is no choice for the woman but to put up and shut up. The lack of external support networks for victims of domestic abuse make it additionally difficult for women to move away from violence in their homes and neither the state nor federal law provides protection.
It is not just wives, partners and daughters that are victims of violence. Female domestic workers are highly vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse by their male employers often with the complicity of the "madam" of the house. For this group obtaining justice is even more difficult as they are uneducated, isolated from their own families, often very young girls and children from very poor rural families. In fact I would say there is no protection on any level for these young girls.
The kind of violence taking place in Nigeria is hardly different from elsewhere but what is different and important is how Nigerian women are dealing with the violence. In Lagos state there are a number of Access to justice initiatives providing free legal aid to victims of violence in the family.
Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Project Alert and LEDAP. Additionally, the International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA) represents victims of violence against women and violence in the family by offering legal services free of charge. The Citizen’s Mediation Centre was set up in 1999 by the Lagos State ministry of justice to provide poor people with a mechanism for settling disputes including physical abuse by husbands and parents. There is one shelter for victims of violence in Lagos state provided by Project Alert on Violence Against Women. The center offers a safe place for women as well as counsellings, group support and advocacy.
Nevertheless none of these projects or initiatives can be of much use unless victims of violence can access the services and there is a high profile awareness and educational campaign to alert women and the society as to what is available in terms of support and legal redress and that gender violence is no longer acceptable. |
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