The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has assured that his administration will continue to advance policies and programmes to protect young girls, women and other vulnerable groups in the state.
The governor gave the assurance in commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, marked by the United Nations every November 25.
He said that the state had suffered adversely from the exploitation of women, especially by human traffickers, noting that the state’s campaign against the menace is yielding fruits.
According to him, “With appropriate legislations, support of the judiciary, collaboration with civil rights organisations and donor agencies, the state government has continued to protect young girls and women. Our dogged commitment to this cause has resulted in the setting up of the Edo State Taskforce Against Human Trafficking (ETAHT). We have the legal structures to prosecute crimes against women and other vulnerable groups in the society.”
Noting that this year’s theme Orange the World: #HearMeToo resonates with the state’s commitment to protecting women, he added, “women and girls in any part of the state are urged to speak up against any form of violence against them. We will not relent in addressing issues that infringe on their rights.”
“The state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the Ministry of Justice have been equipped to deal with issues bothering on violence of any form against women and vulnerable groups in the state. The judiciary has demonstrated this with the sentencing of child molesters who are serving various jail terms,” he added.
According to the governor, “Teachers are being trained through the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) Programme to identify children who are victims of violence in homes and we are doing our best to curtail such occurrence.
“The state government has a standing taskforce that oversees the reduction of instances of illegal migration and has implemented law against human traffickers. We have continued with rehabilitation programme for victims and have made it a policy not to condemn those who were deceived by perpetrators of gender-based violence.”
According to the UN, the 2018 theme is Orange the World: #HearMeToo and the date marks the launch of 16 days of activism that will be rounded off on 10 December 2018, the International Human Rights Day.
