The federal and state governments have recently been called upon to establish sexual and domestic violence centers to cater for victims.
This call was contained in a communiqué made available in Abuja, at the end of a workshop on understanding sexual, sexuality related violence and developing ethical protocols for dealing with them, organised by a non-governmental organization (NGO), Global Rights.
The communiqué released at end of the workshop observed that cases of sexual and domestic violence were on the increase in the country.
Global Rights decried the paucity of data on sexual violence in the country and also lamented that law enforcement institutions were not doing enough to stem the tide of sexual and domestic violence which, they said, were often treated as “family matter.”
Participants recommended having a reliable database of sexual and domestic violence offenders, calling on institutions to work with civil societies to develop a reliable database.
They called for a coordinated multi-disciplinary approach for treatment of victims of sexual and domestic violence, especially children and other vulnerable persons.
The participants recommended confidential counselling for victims of sexual and domestic violence, adding that stakeholders needed to develop response referral, communication and service protocols to address cases of sexual and domestic violence
