The Osun State Coordinator of Amnesty International, Nigeria Supporters Group, has said the country remains far from achieving justice for women and girls due to systematic failures.
He made this remark at a community outreach marking International Women’s Day (IWD) in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Speaking at the outreach held in the Aba-Gboro community in Ile-Ife on Saturday, the Osun State coordinator, Joshua Oyebode, highlighted the challenges in achieving legal justice for women.
“On a daily basis, we hear about cases of rape and domestic violence. But at the end of the day, we discover that it is very difficult for victims to obtain legal justice.
“We have a wide gamut of laws in Nigeria that deal with the protection of women’s rights. But there is a wide gulf between these laws and their implementation,” he said.
Oyebode added that addressing violations of women’s rights requires the involvement of all members of society.
“To fix the challenge of implementing the laws enacted to protect women’s rights, everyone must be engaged. Part of the solution is having community-level engagements like this where people are informed of their rights.
“That is why we are here to sensitise the women of Aba-Gboro community on their rights and how to seek redress when violations occur,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, HRM Oba Tajudeen Adetunji, the Olowaa of Elefon in Ile-Ife, urged community members to refrain from mistreating women.
“I do not advise any man to hurt his wife or mistreat women in my kingdom. If a woman does anything wrong, the man should report the matter to me. Culturally, men should not beat their wives,” the monarch said.
Appreciating Amnesty International, Nigeria, for organising the outreach, a resident of Aba-Gboro Elefon, Onabanjo Ganiyat, said the programme had enlightened participants on how to respond to violations of women’s rights.
“Whenever the rights of a woman are violated, we will take steps to report to the authorities.
“With the contacts provided by Amnesty International, cases of women’s rights violations will be duly reported,” she said.
