The Initiative for Women and Girls Right Advancement (IWOGRA) has said that involving men and boys in the fight against rape will bring the concerns of women and girls to the front burner of interventions to end rape.
This was the discuss in a webinar organised by the group with the theme, The Role of Men in Ending Rape Culture with an all-men panelists to proffer strategies for addressing the alarming rate of sexual violence against women and girls.
According to the founder of the group, Nkechi Obiagbaoso-Udegbunam, there is need for men to contribute to the development of the society by championing the campaign against sexual violence.
“Men can play a positive role in preventing men’s violence against women and indeed, without men’s involvement, efforts to reduce and prevent violence against women will be achieved half way.”
One of the panelists and Professor of Medical Law and Ethics, Faculty of Law, University of Abuja, Uwakwe Abugu, said rape and other sexual offences are caused by patriarchy.
“Men seeing women as second class citizens and as sex objects. Low self esteem in boys, narcissist attitude and the feeling that women and girls are just there to satisfy their sexual needs,” he said.
For Lawyer and Security Expert, Fidelis Ogbobe, “the only thing that causes rape is the rapist himself. The issue of victim blaming to show that women and girls are the causes of what happened to them and are instrument of their violation cannot be justified in any sense of logic. To a large extent, the law enforcement agencies are supposed to be blamed for their inability to appreciate that whoever rapes a woman/girl rapes our nation.
He continued: “Our current laws have adequate punishment for sexual related offences but the problem we have is the issue of enforcement. Unfortunately, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act that largely provide against sexual violence is yet to be domesticated in many states while the Child Rights Act of 2006 is still struggling with domestication at states’ level.