As the world commemorates 16 days of activism against gender based violence, some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have charged the Nigerian government to create a deliberate policy of employing sign language interpreters as well as paying more attention to women and girls with disabilities.

The NGOs gave this charge during a Round-Table Discussion in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Friday, December 8, 2023, which was day 14 of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, with Faecare Foundations, Amaclare Connect Development Initiative, JonaPWD Rivers State chapter and Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta(PIND) in attendance.

The 16 Days of Activism, which is an annual global campaign to eliminate violence against women, starts on November 25 to December 10, the Human Rights Day.

The event also had stakeholders from different institutions such as Media, religious organizations, legal practitioners, amongst others, while the conversation at roundtable centred around how they respond and report gender based violence issues and strategies on how to improve the response and reporting systems.

Speaking, the immediate past Chairman of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities, Rivers State Chapter, Kie Obomanu emphasized the need to have sign language interpreters in various institutions.

“At this point in time, we would want to look at innovations. What do we do? What are those things we need to put in place in helping to eliminate this violence against women and girls with disabilities? It’s very important. We can strategize, bring up issues that can help us.”

“Three weeks ago I was called; a young lady who had hearing impairment was raped. How do you communicate with her? It’s a problem. How does she tell you she was raped and who raped her and where? You see there must be a policy by the government to employ sign language interpreters, a deliberate policy.”

“A couple of days back, I met with the Commissioner for Health and I told her that we do not have sign language interpreters in the hospitals in Rivers State. I was a witness to an incident that happened where a deaf person had an accident. How is he going to tell the doctor where or the kind of problem he has? So, she agreed with me. This is why in Nigeria we must bring out the best in leadership positions.”

Founder and Director of Faecare Foundation, Ndifreke Essien urged stakeholders involved in gender-based response to pay more attention to women and girls with disabilities.

“Key to our conversation is not just women but women and girls with disabilities. A lot of women and girls with disabilities have peculiarities that have come as a result of disability. They have been secluded, they have been verbally and psychologically abused; so, they don’t tend to want to speak out.”

“So, if you think that women and girls with disabilities or women are afraid to speak up when it comes to violence, you need to see what happens in our community.”

“There’s so much crowd, there’s the fear; imagine somebody has told you for the rest of your life that you are nothing and this happens to you, that boldness to come out and speak is really not there. So, we have to talk about issues of self-esteem, what defamation has done to them so, they can be able to seek for help”.

Essien admonished caregivers and intervention agencies to project positivity, avoid blame shaming and exude a posture of reinforcement when engaging with victims of abuse, noting the mental aspect of care and support for gender-based violence victims is critical to any anticipated success.

“So, if you engage a woman with disability who has gone through abuses, number one, you need to come with a positive attitude. You avoid blame shaming because she’s already feeling guilty and that’s because she’s already expecting or thinking that maybe because I am a woman with disability; that’s why it happened.”

On her part, a representative of Amaclare Connect and Development Initiative, Loretta Ahuokpeme said the aim of the engagement is to create a community that will strive against gender bases violence.

“The goal of this project is to create a resilient community in Rivers State that champions the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities in Rivers State, by empowering persons with disabilities, particularly, women as proactive leaders and advocates, while fostering economic empowerment, increasing public awareness building strong partnerships amongst stakeholders to eliminate gender based violence in Rivers state and of course by extension in Nigeria and globally.”