Empowerment of Northern Women Initiative (EENWI), has expressed readiness to partner with Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), in tackling the scourge of gender-based violence, especially violence against women and girls in Kano state.
The Director, Empowerment of Northern Women Initiative (EENWI), Hajia Lami Bako Yakasai stated this today Friday, when the CITAD Gender project team paid an advocacy visit to her organisation.
Lami Yakasai, said that ignorance remains one of the major reasons behind the escalating rate of gender-based violence, especially violence directed at women and girls in society.
She added that GBV is the most pervasive, yet least visible human rights violation in the world, which includes physical, sexual, mental or economic harm inflicted on a person because of socially ascribed power imbalances between males and females.
According to her, EENWI has been doing its best to unravel a lot of GBV cases, among other offenses and also help victims of the incident overcome their predicament.
On his remarks, Admin and Research Assistant of the CITAD, Buhari Abba, said the visit was to officially introduce the project to the EENWI to seek commitment and support in preventing gender based violence in the state.
He added that violence against women and girls is evil confronting all communities in Kano today. “We admit that it happens in our homes, institutions, places of work and even in religious organizations.”
Buhari Abba, suggested that young women and girls particularly in the rural areas are more vulnerable to gender-based violence due to ignorance and harmful cultures, saying all hands should be on deck to address the menace.
He also explained that culture of silence by survivors and their families impedes success in eliminating SGBV and harmful practices in the state.
“The culture of silence is one of the things that has continued to endanger violence against women and young girls. The culture makes it difficult for the tools that the government has put in place to actually work. If people refuse to speak out against it when it happens, there is nothing government can do about it.
Mr. Abba further that violence and harmful practices endanger the lives of women and girls, hence the need for all states of the federation to domesticate laws and implement them to serve as deterrent and eliminate it in totality.