The coalition of women groups across Oyo State has called for death penalty as the punishment for perpetrators of sexual violence against women and girls in the state.
This is just as the groups raised the alarm of increasing rate of sexual violence against women and girls.
The Coalition of Women NGOs and Networks, which is basically for gender based violence and child protection preventive advocacy in the state made the call while addressing journalists in Ibadan, the state capital.
The President of AWON, Mrs. Grace Oluwatoye, together with other leaders of the over 14 coalition of networks, asked the state government to make death penalty the punishment for perpetrators of sexual violence against women and girls.
She stated that there was urgent need for the state government to come up with decisive action towards putting an end to the cases of sexual violence against girls and women in the state.
Oluwatoye said, “Enough should be enough of cases of sexual violence against girls and women in Oyo State and Nigeria in general .
“We call on government to hold perpetrators accountable and to ensure that victims are able to seek legal redress and get justice. We call for death penalty as the punishment for perpetrators of this terrible act.
“Domestic violence has sharply increased since the COVID -19 outbreak. Violence, particularly intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence against girls and women increases risk of physical and mental health problems including HIV acquisition and other infections.
“AWON and all other participating networks have watched in horror the latest surge in the cases of sexual abuse in the country and in Oyo State in particular. Barakat Bello, 18 of IAR&T, Ibadan , Vera Omozuwa,22 student of University of Benin. We have therefore come together as concerned women in the state to call on the state government to take decisive action on the cases of rape in the state.
“Our daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers must be free to exercise their human rights without fear and this is what we are pleading with government of Oyo State to ensure that prompt action is taken to stop the incidence of sexual abuse in the state.”
She said further: “We are deeply touched and worried that there has been low response or non-conviction of rape cases and other gender based violence cases in the state and we want Oyo State government to come up with a decisive action on this.
“We are calling for the immediate enactment of Violence Against Women Act and VAPP Act of 201 to combat gender based violence.
“We implore government to create a platform and support CBOs to provide ongoing education on gender based violence prevention for state owned media houses to work towards ensuring that every citizen is free to exercise their human rights as listed.”
