Khadijah Aliyu
Intimidation, lack of protection, silence, stigmatization, and inadequate legal framework have been identified as some of the challenges in reporting sexual harassment in Nigeria .
These were part of issues discussed during a Two-day Residential Training for the Media aimed at addressing sexual harassment in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria, organized by Alliances for Africa (AFA).
They emphasized that the media encountered obstacles in reporting due to international, regional and national laws that have not been domesticated across states in Nigeria.
The participants noted that families of survivors of sexual harassment often refuse to report cases for fear of stigmatization.
Some of the participants who spoke to paradigm News, the managing editor of leadership newspapers Raliat Ahmed-Yusuf Aa d Hussaina Yakubu Muhammad from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) described the workshop as apt saying that it will go a long way in providing knowledge about legal frameworks and relevant issues related to sexual harassment in Nigeria.
Earlier in her remarks, the project manager of Alliances for Africa (AFA), Blessing Duru, urged the media to find spaces within their work line to fight sexual Harassment.
She described the legal framework as a major catalyst assisting the media to have a clear understanding of gender and sexual-based violence.
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“We need ideas and encouragement in what to do next it is idea-driven not activity-based based”
The project manager explained that the baseline assessment carried out across 12 tertiary institutions in the country revealed alarming facts about sexual harassment.
“We engaged relevant stakeholders across the 12 states as the menace is so deep the cartel is huge”
In her presentation titled: Understanding sexual harassment as gender-based violence, “ Digital and gender rights advocate Mojirayo Oluwatoyin Ogunlana identified physical, verbal, psychological, sexual and socio-economic as types of sexual and gender-based violence SGBV.
She maintained that sexual harassment is any form of unsolicited and unwanted sexual attention.
“Sexual harassment is a form of sexual violence, an act which would be considered a sexual offence under the violence against persons prohibition 2015”
The gender rights advocate stressed that sexual harassment takes place in different environments, such as workplaces, walkways, public spaces, schools and online.
“It includes rape assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent, sexual comments, jokes or taunting physical behavior online sexual harassment”
Mojirayo noted that some of the legal frameworks on sexual harassment in Nigeria include the 1999 constitution as amended, the Child Rights Act 2003 and laws, the criminal code and the VAPP Act 2015, among others.
Some of the regional and international laws identified included the MOPUTO declaration and CEDAW.
The event, tagged: A two-day capacity building training for the media on understanding national and legal frameworks to address sexual harassment in Tertiary institutions in Nigeria,” witnessed a large turnout of journalists from print broadcast and the new media.
