A non-profit organisation in Osun State under the auspices of the Community Advancement Initiative for Self-Reliance has taken its advocacy for full implementation of Violence Against Persons Prohibition and Administration of Criminal Justice Laws to Osun State Ministry of Justice.
The move is to ensure speedy justice for survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
CAI4SR Executive Director, Eni Ayeni led members of other civil society organisations to the Ministry where they were received by the Permanent Secretary, Adekemi Adejare Bello and the Administrator General and Public Trustee, Abiodun Badiora.
Ayeni explained that the advocacy visit to the ministry was part of efforts towards the activation of Violence Against Persons Prohibition and the Administration of the Criminal Justice Laws in Osun State so as to end SGBV in the state.
She appealed to the state Ministry of Justice to sets up Sexual Assault Referral Centre to resolve the issue of lack of evidence.
She noted that her organisation and Lawyers Alert are members of the SGBV Justice Network (SJN) Cluster under the USAID SCALE project advocating for the activation/implementation of VAPPL and ACJL in Bauchi, Benue, Enugu, Kaduna, Osun, and the FCT, towards speedy justice service delivery and resolution of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) cases.
According to her, “Community Advancement Initiative for Self Reliance (CAI4SR) is a Non-governmental and not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 but registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2014 to champion the course of women, children and persons with disabilities through innovative programmes to ensure protection of rights and attainment of full potentials of its target.
“CAI4SR’s primary target groups are women, children and persons with disabilities. CAI4SR adopts a human right perspective and approach to social and economic development. This rights-based approach to development positions CAI4SR to defend and promote the economic, social and cultural rights of women, children and persons with disabilities within the context of globalization. As an organization, CAI4SR is motivated by the belief in a World where human right is enjoyed by all. You can reach us via : www.cai4sr.org“, she stated.
She added that Lawyers Alert is also a Human Rights Organisation that promotes the rights of women and other vulnerable groups in Nigeria, prioritizing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of women, towards ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and other rights violations through Advocacy, Legal Literacy, Monitoring, and Documentation of rights violations, including the provision of free legal services and could reached via www.lawyeralertng.org .
While responding, Bello commended CAI4SR and other partners for their efforts in ensuring justice for survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. She assured that the Ministry would support the organisation to realise the objectives.
On the setting up of Sexual Assault Referral Centre in the state, she explained that the Ministry of Women Affairs has a role to play and tasked the NGO to involve the ministry pushing for the setting up of SARC in the state. She also added that the setting up of the center entails an interministarial approach and that the ministry of justice is ready to collaborate with other relevant ministries to facilitate the setting up of the SARCs in the state.
Bello said the Ministry of Justice remain committed to the cause of justice in the state and assured that VAPP Law would be used judiciously to deal with perpetrators of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Osun State.