Group organises 2 days workshop, book presentation on GBV in C/River, A/Ibom

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16 October 2019

Participants at the 2-days partnership workshop organised by Project Alert 

Project Alert on Violence against Women a civil society organisation whose core mission aims at a well-informed society, where there is zero-tolerance for all forms of violence against women and young girls with support from Open Society Institute for West Africa (Osiwa) is currently organising a two-day partnership workshop and book presentation in Calabar NEGROIDHAVEN can say authoritatively. 
According to Executive Director of Project Alert Mrs Josephine Effah-Chukwuma Gender-Based Violence, GBV is a worldwide challenge acknowledged as a prevalent aspect of human rights abuses. According to her, ‘it is one of the most prevalent forms of human rights abuses, affecting one in three women globally.’ 
Continuing, Effah-Chukwuma disclosed that ‘According to the 2012 Gender in Nigeria Report, 1 out of every 5 Nigerian women and girls aged 15-24 years has been a victim of one form of violence or the other. It knows no social, economic, religious, ethnic or geographical boundaries. In Nigeria, the vulnerability of women and girls to different forms of GBV especially domestic and sexual violence is well documented. 

‘Women and young girls are more at risk of violence from people they know, love and trust. While a lot advocacy efforts have over the years helped in breaking the silence that used to surround it, there is still a normalisation of GBV acts against women and girls under the guise of culture, tradition and religion; while victims are continually blamed for acts of violence against them including women’, she said. 
The book presented at the first day of the occasion titled ‘Gender-Based Violence & Women with Disabilities : a Study of Cross River & Akwa Ibom States’ was conducted by Project Alert discovered that most women and girls with disabilities in the two states under review are actually younger being within an age bracket that is deemed to be socially and economically active. The research also observed that a majority of the women with disabilities are singles who are divorced and widowed. 
According to the publication which was authored by Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Aniefiok Sunday Ukommi and Glory Eteng Bassey it was noted that ‘90% of women with disabilities have either been abused or experienced violence’, which implies that women and girls with disabilities are quite vulnerable and in need of intervention to ‘promote and protect their rights’. 
The Partnership workshop continues today.