A CIVIL Society Organisation (CSO) Women’s Situation Room Nigeria, on Wednesday inaugurated an early warning and response centre in preventing and responding to violence against women in elections.
Prof Joy Onyesoh, National Coordinator, Women’s Situation Room Nigeria made this known at the launch of the Centre in Abuja.
According to Onyesoh, over the years and from past observation of elections, the group identified that elections is a conflict trigger which hinders participation of women in the electoral process.
She said that Women’s Situation Room Nigeria (WSRN) is a women civil society led initiative seeking to increase women’s substantive participation in political process and conflict prevention in accordance with UNSCR 1325.
“Nigeria has over the past years struggled to prevent the incidence of election related violence against women (VAWE).
“From past observation of general and staggered elections, WSRN identified that violence against women in election is a challenge and impedes the ability of Nigeria to conduct free, fair, and inclusive elections.
“The published report from our analysis of the 2019 party primaries also identified the forms of violence experienced by women in politics.
“The more efforts are made to overcome this threat to democracy, the more hydra-headed it grows.”
Onyesoh said election related violence in Nigeria could be grouped into pre-election, election, and post-election violence.
She therefore, said that early warning and early response (EWAR) is considered one of the pillars of operational conflict prevention practiced by international organisations, research institutes and NGOs.
She said that it has advanced the knowledge of conflicts and the strategies to address them which forms the basis to why the centre is being launched.
The National Coordinator said that WSRN was created with the understanding of the gendered and dynamic nature of violence and the fact that elections were conflict triggers in most African countries.
Onyesoh said it therefore became imperative that women developed a mechanism to counter this pattern.
She said the goal of WSRN is to ensure that all elections in Nigeria are peaceful and women and youth play a substantive role in sustaining and building peace in communities, state and national levels.
She said drawing from lessons learnt from the 2019 presidential elections, the 2021 Anambra state elections and the just concluded Ekiti and Osun election of 2022, WSRN saw the need for urgent interventions.
She said that early situational analysis of violence against women would help to define the nature and extent of the problem in the local context and map the perceptions and experiences of key stakeholders in relation to the problem.
Onyesoh said that existing strategies and activities would be identified to address the problem.
“It is on this note the WSRN is having the launch of its early warning and response centre (EWAR).
“It is worthy of note that the WSRN had 2021 piloted the first EWAR centre during the Anambra gubernatorial elections.
“This centre served as a preventive framework and response to issues of VAW in the electoral cycle in the state.”
Onyesoh said that given the upcoming general elections in 2023, the organisation officially inaugurated the Early Warning and Response Centre in FCT.
This, she said was as a preventive framework through data gathering and analysis, early warnings, response, and reporting with support from UN WOMEN and the Government of Canada.
She called on all stakeholders to collaborate with the WSRN and support the process through information and data sharing, partnership, responses among others. (NAN)
