An International Non-Governmental Organisation, Westminister Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has called for the execution and implementation of Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law and break the culture of silence.
Country Director of WFD, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola, during a capacity strengthening Workshop on Gender-based Violence in Akure, Ondo state capital, emphasised on the need to strengthen the implementation of legislation to end violence against women and girls.
Olorunmola who called for the effective implementation of VAPP Act expressed concerns over the continuous violence against women and girls in Nigeria even in the face of domestication of Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, VAPP Act by state governments.
ALSO READ: Naturalised Danish citizen, Nigerian soldier tango over multi-million Naira property in Benin
He stressed the need for gender-based violence victims to speak out while calling on stakeholders to help people experiencing one form of gender-based violence or the other to speak out and get justice.
“Globally, we have the culture of silence, which has to be broken to encourage people to speak out. But we need to work together, bring our strength together, and bring the culture of silence so that people will have the confidence to come out and engage in the process.
“But the importance they need to be aware firstly of the existence of the law and you know that this Law is yearly so a lot is still being done to get people to know about it and use the process.
“So we have a lot of work to do to encourage people to know about the existence of the Law, to let the people know that the State Government has provided instruments in the form of Law to protect everyone.
“Whether you’re man or woman, young or old, you must speak out against all forms of violence and also let people understand the process of engaging it.”
He said the Foundation has been working closely with the Ondo State Agency Against Gender-Based Violence to train their staffs and other key stakeholders that are working together to implement the Law.
