The Lagos state government through the Ministry of justice, Lagos State Office of the Public Defender (OPD) and United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF) have pledged to end gender based violence in the state.
This was stated in Lagos when the state Solicitor- general and Permanent secretary Ministry of justice, Ms Titilayo Shitabey declared open a Three- Day Training Workshop for First Responders on Gender Based Violence, Responses and Case Management.
The Permanent secretary at the occassion said the training was apt at a time when all hands are on deck in the state to eliminate gender based violence. Because such violence was not only directed at the children, but society as a whole.
She then implored stakeholders to continue the conversation in order to end the menace, because cases are daily increasing and the training must also continue in order to deal with emotional and psychological trauma of victims.
According to a press statement by the Head, Public Affairs of OPD, Mamud Hassan, the Permanent Secretary urged participants to make maximum use of knowledge gained at the training and ensure that victims have seamless access to justice with strong signals to perpetuators that they would be made to account for their actions accordingly.
In his remarks, the UNICEF representative, Dennis Onoise said the Organisation was seriously concerned with rising cases of gender violence in the country, and the training was to improve first responders skills on issues of child violence, process and procedure to handle cases within the ambit of law.
The training was organised by the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender in collaborarion with UNICEF to improve counsel, social workers and medical personnel knowledge and response to cases of gender based violence, promote synergy among stakeholders, enhance capacity for effective justice delivery and services to survivors.
