CONTEXTUAL CHALLENGES AND EXISTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SURVIVORS OF VAWG DURING COVID – 19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Research indicates that violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in Nigeria today. It remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it. Reports also indicate that these violence was on the increase during the COVID-19 lockdown. Women reported that they or women they know either experienced or were subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner or non-partner. Lockdown was necessary to reduce the community spread of the Corona
virus disease, but it also had serious psychological and socially disruptive consequences such as a surge in the cases of gender-based violence. This paper therefore attempts to understand the gender-based violence concept as an aspect of the COVID-19 lockdown, review the pattern of abuse, and the resultant psychological and social issues. It also attempts to create awareness
by initiating a discourse urging for change in the response towards the victims of gender-based violence. The paper also examines the forms and prevalence of violence against women, the factors responsible for the increase in the violence against women during the COVID 19 pandemic, the legal consequences and implications of these acts of violence and the various
strategies for managing such violence bearing in mind the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP) and the need for States to adopt and enact similar law. The paper proceeded to proffer appropriate recommendations by stating that while pervasive, gender-based violence is not inevitable, it can and must be prevented.