Dr Chioma Emukah, the vice Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, Owerri and Chairman Human Rights Committee says all hands must be on desk to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and human rights violation globally.
She stated this in her lecture on the commemoration of the International Human Rights Day in Owerri, the Imo State capital, weekend.
According to her, “gender based violence encompasses a wide range of human rights violations including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, early marriages and forced marriages, political violence, trafficking of women and girls, harmful widowhood practices and female genital mutilation.
She added that any one of the abuses could leave deep emotional scars, damage the health of women and girls, cause permanent disability and in most instances, result in death.
While calling on everyone to assume the role of human rights activist and report cases of abuse to the appropriate authorities, Dr Emukah hailed the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma “for being among the very few first governors in Nigeria that domesticated Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015, now Law No 8 of Imo State 2021, VAPP LAW.”
She equally commended the Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice T. Chukwuemeka-Chikeka for her sound judgments, forthrightness and speedy dispensation of cases pending in courts especially violence cases against women and girls.
“She has done a lot to make sure that the VAPP Law is put into practice, and the recent establishment of Small Claims Court was also an effort to ensure justice for all”, Emukah hinted while also appealing for the establishment of gender based violence court in the state.
