The French Embassy through its Ambassador, lent its voice to the campaign against Gender-based violence in a breakfast debate with the theme ‘Is Gender-based Violence Still an Exclusively Female Problem?’ held in Wuse, Abuja.
The breakfast debate was part of events organised by the French Embassy in collaboration with the French Institute and Alliance Francaise Lagos in honour of the 16 days of activism declared by the United Nations.
In her welcome address, the Ambassador of France to Nigeria, Mrs Blatmann Emmanuelle revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), estimates the global cost of violence against women at 1.5 trillion dollars.
According to her, there are a lot of government policies that need to be implemented in other to permanently nip gender-based violence in the bud.
“Gender-based violence (GBV) is not an exclusively female problem. It affects individuals of all sexes. Women and girls are often disproportionately affected by Gender Based Violence. Men and boys can also be victims. The IMF estimates the global cost of violence against women public, private and social at $1.5 trillion.
Adding that: “A lot still needs to be done in ending this scourge. It takes education, cultural change, but also political will from the highest level. There are a lot of laws both in France and Nigeria but what is lacking is the political will to implement these laws. The fight against gender-based violence is a general fight.”
One of the panellists; Lawyer and Human Activist, Mrs Mba-Chibueze Ezzine believes the bane of gender-based violence, is poverty.
She said: “The major cause of gender-based violence is poverty. The bulk of women in Nigeria are fully dependent and this has to a large extent resulted in violence. If the government, corporate bodies, and religious institutions can empower these women there will be a drastic reduction of the menace of gender-based violence in Nigeria and also, globally.”
Also, Chinonso Eze, a teacher in attendance, lauded the Institute’s initiative in creating a platform to address gender-based violence and further charged men to desist from being enablers of gender-based violence in any form.
“This conversation is very nuanced and timely. Kudos to the French Embassy and the French Institute. Gender-based violence is economic, physical, social, verbal and above all, lethal.
“Men are perceived to be the enablers of gender-based and that is factual. I urge men to stand up and be very intentional with stamping out gender-based violence. If men are on the side of women in this struggle, we will record significant change.” He said.
