And How serious Is Lagos State in tackling all forms of violence against women and girls?
It
is the duty of the government to protect the lives and property of its
citizenry, and that includes the lives of all women and girls and vulnerable
groups in that society.
When
a government truly values its citizenry it enacts laws and policies that
creates an enabling environment. So one would have thought it shouldn’t matter
if society is patriarchal
It
also remains a well-known fact that our society and individual relationships continues
to be patriarchal consisting of a male-dominated power structure and
this has been the reason behind sustained cultural beliefs and the treatment of
women and girls as subordinates in society and inferior to men and boys.
It is the reason why till date despite proven facts that
women make up the numbers and are foot soldiers of political parties, their numbers
as elected representatives is disproportionate to their equity. It is the
reason why the gender equality and opportunities bill- with the intended
benefit a proposed law and like many other treaties and bills before it, should
stamp right in the heart of society -women and girls rights as legitimate human
rights too, but instead it continues to receive resistance from the over
numbered men that make up the
legislative houses of senate and representatives and might I say the story isn’t
different at the state levels where only a handful has passed the domestic
violence law often due to combined pressure of necessity.
.
It would then seem that the pockets of sub national governments, aided
by the massive interventions and funds of international non-government
organization and donor agencies, including an unrelenting civil society and
women groups have forced the issue of domestic violence to the front burner
more than other inequalities women and girls keep facing in our society of today.
Violence against
women and girls is a crime against humanity which all too often continues to be
hidden in our society. But we most fight on to see it eradicated. We must not
tolerate a society where many women still suffer in silence from crimes that
wreck their lives and their relationships, neither must we ignore the cost
impact of VAWG, on the larger society. The cost to individuals is immeasurable,
but the costs of violence and abuse to the economy must be calculated in light
of our commonwealth.
What are these
impact you might ask, they vary but some of includes the experience of abuse from the psychological, emotional and
physical consequences, which often leads to multiple disadvantages, including
murder, homelessness, poverty, prostitution and mental health problems to
mention a few.
With little or no
centrally generated statistical record of the domestic abuses and sexual
violence of girls and women nor publicly assessable statistics of prosecution
of VAWG offences in Lagos state it will be safe to say, as a society there is a
slow paradigm shift in the deeply rooted social norms, attitudes and behaviors,
indicative of a whole lot that still has to be put in place
But my question to
the government and all stakeholders of domestic violence in the state would be
“are we clear on the overall outcomes we want to achieve and if so by when? And
then how and by who needs to do what? A vague answer won’t do but a vivid
answer such as what % of reduction in the prevalence of all forms of violence
against women and girls, matched by increases in reporting, police referrals,
prosecution and convictions do we want to achieve? Our goal must be clear cut.
To really tackle domestic violence or better still all forms
of violence against women and girls in Lagos state more needs to be done in
interpreting and implementing the state law denouncing all forms of violence.
The implementation of such law is life impacting. It has to
have a long term vision and strategy marched with every ounce of naira in funding
to effectively combat this menace! But before that violence against women and
girls in the state must be properly 1ST UNDERSTOOD AND THE RIGHT
STRATEGY, PUT IN PLACE
Here I put together some guidelines the Lagos State
government or any other government needs to adopt.
A Stakeholders mapping and
baseline survey:
A collaborative, cross-government approach to tackling this violence and
abuse is essential as well as
identifying practitioners in the state and garnish the wealth of expertise,
knowledge and resources that already exist in coming up with a long term
strategy and a consensus statement
of expectation, practices and guidelines for tackling VAWG in the state.
That way tackling VAWG then becomes a social
action and business of all. However we
must have in mind that these terrible crimes are disproportionately gendered
which is why any framework within a violence against women and girls strategy must
benefit all victims of these crimes.
A baseline survey must be conducted to gather data and
statistics for an in depth state analysis of the issue. And yet again the existing
stakeholders will be available to provide secondary data from years of data
compiled on the fieldwork.
Initiating a centralized and registered
body of all stakeholders, practitioners, local
partners and agencies to augment state to local government efforts. This
includes the government devolving responsibility for
DV local service provision, mandatory
data collation and practice of standardized guidance of DV in the state to existing
women’s groups, NGOs already providing the services well but suffering from
funds constraints. There should be up scaling not replicating of low quality
service rendering points across the state.
An overall strategic plan in combating all
forms of violence against women and girls must then be developed, through a
number of roundtables with cross government services, practitioners and representatives
of the women sector who are critical stakeholders. It is essential they are the
think tanks for the government on this issue; listened to and adhering to what
they proffer because they are the ones that know what is needed having been the
frontline service providers to the victims and survivors. Without the
acknowledgment of these expertise and ownership to lead in a robust overall
strategy, no plan solely by government and agencies is sustainable nor
achievable. Let’s put round pegs in round holes, if we really mean business.
And yes this plan
will be robust and ambitious but it will also be encompassing of all that is
possible within a society to drive the transformation in the delivery of VAWG
services, whereby making prevention and early intervention the embedded
approach, and of course it will be broken down into manageable pillars but enough
to permeate the culture of ending violence against women and girls as ‘everyone’s
business’ across agencies, services and the wider public.
The strategic plan can be broken down
into these 9 Pillars
Pillar 1. The Prevention Pillar
Whereby changing attitudes in society, ie.
preventing violence and abuse by educating, informing and challenging from
early on our youths about healthy relationships, abuse and consent beliefs is
targeted at
A.
Supporting a culture change to family problems by putting in place
troubled Families intervention programs.
B.
Improving on prevention i.e. State training to work with the police to
improve their responses to these crimes, Protection Order systems, to allow
authorities in contact with victims to take control before harm of domestic
violence, sexual violence is done.
C. Setting up a 24hrs state functioning
domestic violence helplines
D. Setting up a domestic violence offenders register, and a mandatory check
in key positions
E.
Drive an overall reduction in prevalence of VAWG crimes and
reduced rates of re-offending by possibly
rehabilitating mild offenders with coercive and anger behavior patterns.
Pillar 2. Early Intervention Pillar
This clearly state
what streamlined support service consists of and will be provided as a standard
to all vulnerable victims wherever they are in Lagos State
This
include state wide support services to
identify and deal with the earliest signs of abuse, stop violence before it
happens, prevent abusive
Central
Referral system from a wide range of entry points, faith based inclusive.
Specialist support such as therapy
/counselling from becoming entrenched and perpetrators from moving from one
victim to the next.
More
importantly, it will provide victims and their families with support before a crisis
point is reached
.
Pillar 3. Overall Service Funding Pillar
The multi-faceted
and complex nature of VAWG means that it cannot be addressed alone by government
or by any one agency or other agencies such as health, housing and skills
acquisition, criminal justice and civil legal services. It requires the
commissioning of local services by practitioners, NGOs, CSOs and women’s group
state wide and adequately funded and supported to deliver the needed
interventions on VAWG locally.
ie. Having local crisis centers
Pillar
4. Prosecutions /Criminal Justice Pillar.
The quick and timely prosecution of perpetrators regardless of class and
creed will send a strong message to the public on government zero tolerance
stance to VAWG. So the continued overhaul of the criminal justice system is
crucial to winning on the campaign. So an overall
Sensitive criminal
justice system is required.
Quick turnaround
for domestic violence related cases
Introduction and
strong application of flexible laws ie. Restraining and protective orders
Criminalizing
Domestic violence acts
Criminalizing the
breaking of restraining and protective orders
Promoting and
admitting modern technology to offer greater protections to victims and admittance
of adequate evidence and proof.
Pillar 5. Data Pillar.
Driving data
collection and data systems all through the overall strategy.
Periodic
/quarterly releases of state collated domestic violence data analytics to all
stakeholders and public domain
Exploring and
developing of technology for the use of tracking and offering greater
protections to victims and gathering VAWG evidence.
Pillar 6. Service Transformation Fund Pillar
This is to enable all
commissioned services and providers have access to the best examples of local
practice, as local areas are best placed to understand local needs and given
the devolved power and responsibility for meeting those needs accordingly.
Providing local services
with updated, modern technology, data capturing tools and relevant information needed to provide an
integrated, effective, whole family approach service to addressing and stopping
violence and abuse.
To encourage new
approaches and best practices.
Establish and
embed the best ways locally suitable to help victims, and their families, and prevent
perpetrators from re-offending.
Lagos State
for example must have a blueprint on what effective service
provision should look like and institutionalized as standard of best practice
in its new health centers launched recently.
This standard must be the yardstick for all local providers to imitate, setting
out core expectations, but giving them the freedom to respond to meet local
needs.
Pillar 7. Monitoring and Evaluation Pillar:
Open Data and data
analytics has become an essential evidence gathering essential for planning in
today’s world, so
Investing in a centralized
VAWG data capturing systems across the state
Training all
practitioners on such centralized program
Funding all center’s
with the intranet version of the centralized data collecting systems.
A mandatory review
period to ensure the quality of service and value for money of provision of core
services for victims, alongside meeting the broader needs remains engrained.
Pillar 8: Knowledge Hub/Capacity Building Pillar
Continuous
evaluation of emerging models of tackling VAWG especially which support earlier
intervention and coherent pathways of victim support
Adaptation to and
sharing of best practices in VAWG data, tools and information disruptions
Periodic state
meeting of the VAWG registered body
State training and
capacity building
Reward Incentives such
as awards to best services and stakeholders in the industry to motivate others
is crucial.
State wide localized
but synchronized celebration of 16 days of activism against gender violence.
Pillar 9: Legislative Pillar
the vested role on the House committee
on women affairs should build on existing oversight functions and arrangements
to reflect on monitoring judiciously the multi-agency nature of VAWG provision
in the state will encouraging renewed
advocacy in better gender legislative instrument by advocacy groups including the GEOB bill presently at the state house of assembly while
the Ministry of women affairs and poverty alleviation (WAPA) monitor the
Inter-Ministerial partnerships side by side
the Ministry of Justice.
The Call for Gender Responsive Budgeting and Budget Tracking in Lagos State.
Going by the
popular saying that “If it’s not budgeted
for, it doesn’t get done”, so can the state domestic violence strategic
framework gather dust and not see the light of implementation if proactive
lobbying is not put in place to see it become cross cutting budget line items
of the ministries, department and agencies core to the VAWG framework
implementation like justice, WAPA and housing to mention a few. The call
circular seasons and annual budget consultative forum is critical to all
stakeholders of the state and more so the passing of the budget and annual
budget tracking. This then leaves us with the need to understand gender
responsive budgeting towards seeing the goal achieved.
An example of
gender responsive budgeting , where it has worked is the UK’s tampon tax
advocacy where by a direct percentage derived from the governments taxes on all
tampons and other feminine hygiene
products sold is linked as an additional budget in the budget as the women’s
budget for more information go here
Since a woman
right from the time of puberty will for the next 30 years thereafter have a period once a month and have
need for other feminine products which
are necessities and not a luxury ,yet women and girls are taxed for, it
is only fair that such funding follow women’s needs like service to their benefits and the provision of a robust domestic violence
prevention and intervention service in all society until the day all forms of
violence against women and girls becomes a thing of the past is an essential
for women and girls.
In summary Lagos
State will be seen as fully enlisted to tackle all forms of violence against
women and girls when it puts in place a VAWG strategy of
short, middle and long term so that by year 2037 in Lagos State there
·
There is a significant reduction in the number of VAWG
victims, achieved by challenging the deep-rooted social norms, attitudes and behaviors
that discriminate against and limit women and girls, and by educating,
informing and challenging young people about healthy relationships, abuse and
consent
·
All services make early intervention and prevention a
priority, identifying women and girls in need before a crisis occurs, and
intervening to make sure they get the help they need for themselves and for
their children;
·
Women and girls will be able to access the support they
need, when they need it, helped by the information they need to make an
informed choice; a family crisis intervention center and support scheme will be
incorporated across board.
·
Specialist support, including accommodation-based support,
will be available for the most vulnerable victims, and those with complex needs
will be able to access the services they need;
·
Services in local areas will work across boundaries in
strong partnerships to assess and meet local need, and ensure that services can
spot the signs of abuse in all family members and intervene early;
·
Women will be able to disclose experiences of violence and
abuse across all public services, including hospitals and community health
centers. Trained staff in these safe spaces will help people access specialist
support whether as victims or as perpetrators;
·
Elected representatives in the Lagos state house of assembly
will show the leadership, political will and senior accountability necessary to
achieve the necessary change, and will champion efforts to tackle these crimes;
·
Everyone in a local area will be able to hold their elected
leaders to accountable through clear data on how local need is being met;
·
There will be a lower level of offending through an improved
criminal justice response and a greater focus on changing the behavior of
perpetrators through a combination of disruption and support; and
·
A stronger evidence base of what works, and victim safety,
will be embedded into all interventions to protect victims of VAWG.
Abimbola Junaid is a portfolio manager -policy expert on governance and gender- anti campaigner on gender responsive budgeting and anti corruption in Africa. A serial net worker and media consultant. she is in twitter as @a4arise,@vorafrica. Her other blog is https://vorafrica.blogspot.co.uk/
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