The Programme Officer of the Leadership Initiative for Youth Empowerment, LIFE, Ogechi Stephen has warned that cases of sexual assault should not be joked about, saying they are more than rape cases.

 

 

Stephen spoke at the just-concluded three-day workshop with the theme: “Scaling up leadership of female survivors in Lagos to empower youths on effective Gender-Based Violence (GBV) response and access to justice.

 

Stephen, who argued that there is more to sexual assault, said anything an individual who did not give consent is committing sexual assault.

 

 

“Sexual assault is not only when you rape somebody. When someone spanks your butt or touches your breast without consent, it is sexual assault.

 

“We are training young people to enable them to be agents of change in their society. We want them to be able to stand up with cases of abuse, stand up to abuse; we want them to be able to speak up. It is to improve access to justice for vulnerable survivors of gender-based violence, to prove access to justice for them.”

 

 

Speaking on the workshop, Stephen said during the three-day programme, they were able to help participants understand what gender is, and various forms of gender-based violence and abuse.

 

Noting that most of the participants were in secondary schools, she said they have been able to help them become change agents in their community and also in their schools.

 

 

“Now we were also able to help them to see the overview of Lagos Domestic Violence laws, the various reporting channels and pathways where they can report and help cases of abuse, the various laws guiding abuse and how they can employ these when the need arises.

 

 

“We need them to go out there and pass on this knowledge to others. Imagine the ripple effect when these 43 participants take what they have learned and then teach 10 others. It means more people will understand abuse; and gender-based violence and have a different thought.”

 

 

She advised the participants to continue to be sexual assault change agents and should not be perpetrators of gender-based violence.

 

 

One of the participants, Samuel Oluwapelumi, a 500-level student from Kwara State University said he has been able to understand what gender-based violence means and how to eradicate gender-based violence in society.

 

 

“With the insight they have given us here, I would be able to give people more enlightenment and help make them aware that it is not only physical abuse that is bad.”

 

 

The seminar had over 41 teenagers from various local Government areas in Lagos State, and they were taught the basis of gender-based violence, how to identify abuses, and the various forms of sexual assault. The youths were also sensitised to task themselves with the mandated reporting of abuse cases to relevant agencies, irrespective of a victim’s disposition.

 

 

The highlight of the workshop was the interactive session which allowed participants to ask pertinent questions arising from their immediate environment in GBV cases which were answered by different resource persons.