Stakeholders decry absence of GBV court in Ebonyi

The Ebonyi Gender-based Violence (GBV) Task Force has lamented that the nonavailability of a special court for GBV cases poses challenges to efforts to give speedy justice to victims.

Faith Nwanchor, the Ebonyi coordinator of the task force, made this known on Sunday during a quarterly GBV stakeholder coordinator’s meeting held in Abakaliki, the state capital.

The meeting was organised and funded by the USAID-Integrated Health Programme (USAID-IHP) in collaboration with the state GBV task force.

Ms Nwanchor, also a focal person on gender in the state ministry of Justice, stated that there was a need to install the court as provided in the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPP).

According to her, since inception, effective awareness of the dangers of GBV and the encouragement for survivors to speak out have improved.

She also identified the lack of mobility as a challenge limiting prompt responses to the matters.

“Our greatest challenge is the lack of speedy dispensation of justice. We hope that the GBV court, when set up, will deal with gender-based issues,” Ms Nwanchor said.

Augustine Onwe, the Gender Social Inclusion and Community Engagement Advisor, IHP-USAID, said the programme provides technical support to address all issues of GBV in the state.

Mr Onwe added that the IHP programme also aims to eliminate maternal newborn, child mortality and mobility in the state.

“The idea of the meeting with the critical stakeholders was to find an avenue to continue to make our work better for the society,” Mr Onwe said.

Florence Egwu, Focal Personal at One-stop Centre, National Obstetric Fistula Centre, said physical, economic, emotional and sexual violence were major challenges facing the people.

She urged the stakeholders to always enlighten people on the danger and consequences associated with the trend.

Bertha Offor, the head, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP) in Ebonyi, recommended empowerment and building skills of survivors to improve their livelihoods.

(NAN)