It said this during the NGO’s feedback session with change agents in Plateau, held in Jos on Saturday.
According to the NGO, gender violence denies women and vulnerable persons the ability to fully exercise their basic human rights in the society.
Its Country Director, Mrs Bukola Onyishi, in a remark, said that the intervention was to strengthen the change agents and their abilities to create opportunities for actions.
Onyishi, therefore, noted that it could inspire sustainable shift in both policy and practice.
The change agents include the International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA), National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), among others.
“Gender-based violence especially against women has continued to deprive women of opportunities in the society and also denies them of exercising their basic human rights.
“The deprivation of women resulting from violence should be of central concern to governments and to societies at large as an intrinsic human rights issue.
“The generalised tolerance of gender-based violence, apathy and lack of political will toward the passage and implementation of gender-responsive laws in the society reinforce the impunity surrounding acts of violence against women,” she said.
Onyishi said that diverse forms of violence were evident at the levels of the family, community and state.
According to her, domestic violence, which typically occurs when a man beats his female partner, is the most prevalent form of gender-based violence occurring predominantly in domestic spaces.
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She said exposure to domestic violence had been linked with a multitude of adverse physical health outcomes, including acute injuries, chronic pain, gastrointestinal illness, gynecological problems, depression, and substance abuse.
Onyishi said there was need to strongly strengthen the skills of coalitions of women organisations and vulnerable persons’ platforms to demand accountability and enhance coordination on Violence Against Women amd Sexual-Based Violence.
She added that the Beijing Platform of Action and various United Nations Security Council resolutions provided universally-accepted benchmarks that include recognition of women’s right to sexual and reproductive health.
Others, Onyishi also said, were the right to be free from gender-based violence and equal rights for women.
Mrs Mary Yaro, of the NCWS, in a remark stated that strategic advocacy had helped reduce cases of sexual and gender-based violence at the community level.
Yaro said that the women had also achieved success on land inheritance issues, seeing parents sharing such equally between their sons and daughters also drastically reducing child marriages.
She urged relevant law enforcement agencies to be involved and ensure that women and children were protected, adding that continuous team work would reduce child trafficking with the help of community surveillance. (NAN)
