Nigeria: PIND Provides Update on VAWG

The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) has reported more than 600 incidents of violence affecting women and girls in the Niger Delta between January 2020 and September 2021.

In its Niger Delta Weekly Update for November 21–27 2021, PIND noted new and emerging trends of violence against women and girls (VAWG), including sexual violation of children, illegal breeding and selling of babies, targeted killing of women and girls to harvest their vital organs for trafficking and ritual purposes.

PIND noted that VAWG degrades womankind, diminishes respect for human life and weakens moral standards in society.

‘In July 2020, for instance, a three-year-old girl was reportedly raped by a 23-year-old man in Akpata community, Ondo State. Separately, in July 2020, the police reportedly arrested three pregnant teenagers, three babies and their mothers, and a couple who bought two babies from an illegal maternity home in Rumuolumeni community, Rivers State’ , the PIND report read.

‘In March 2021, a 39-year-old woman was reportedly abducted from her farm and killed by suspected human body part dealers in Obiaruku town, Delta State. Her vital organs and other body parts were allegedly harvested’.

A recent study commissioned by Nigeria’s Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that 28 percent of women aged between 25 and 29 have experienced some form of physical violence since age 15.

The study also showed that the level of exposure to the risk of violence for women varied based on marital status, with 44 percent of divorced, separated or widowed women abused.

Also, data from the Fund for Peace shows that VAWG is closely correlated with general criminality, including gang and cult violence, in the Niger Delta.

PIND noted that the prevalence of VAWG and proliferation of ‘baby factories’ – where young women are kept and made to produce babies for sale in the Niger Delta is alarming.

‘The prevalence of new forms of VAWG is seemingly driven by increasing demand for babies for illegal adoption and ritual purposes, and the emergence of a new generation of cyber criminals (Yahoo Boys) who use sexual violation and human body parts for occult rituals to achieve success in their cyber scams’, it said.

PIND also reported that awareness and reportage of VAWG in the Niger Delta region was low.

PIND called for multi-stakeholder engagement, including programmes, to raise public awareness of the nature, new dimensions and prevalence of VAWG.

In addition, PIND recommended the development of appropriate preventive and punitive measures to curb the emerging new trends of VAWG in the area.

Source: PIND

Photo source: UN Women

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