By Henry Ibya, Makurdi
A week long advocacy programme organised by Concerned Women International Development Initiative, CWIDI to seek collaboration with the police to fight against cases of Gender Based Violence, GBV, gender inequality and to ensure access to justice for the vulnerable women most especially female sex workers in the society at the weekend ended in Makurdi the Benue State capital.
Making presentations at different police divisions under the Makurdi Area Command, senior programme officer CWIDI Becky Gbihi, said interaction with female sex workers has revealed that most women who suffer gender based violence such as rape and battering stay away from seeking justice, because of either fear of stigmatization or previous experiences with the police, adding that the advocacy was to seek collaboration with the police to ensure that vulnerable women most especially female sex workers.
She said CWIDI investigation has also revealed that several vulnerable women have been framed up and reported to law enforcement agents for stealing money and other things simply for calling off relationships as a result of violence, adding that a lot of such victims ended up not going to report to the police despite the trauma they were going through because of previous experiences where they had been turned down to go and settle because their cases referred to as boy and girlfriend issue.
Also speaking programme management specialists CWIDI Precious Ifan, lamented that many vulnerable women most especially female sex workers who suffer violence have cried out that they have not been given due attention when they go to the police to report GBV cases, explaining that as an organization concerned with issues affecting vulnerable women CWIDI has taken it as a responsibility to collaborate with the police to ensure access to justice and commended
