Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
Ogun State Government has embarked on a training programme for media practitioners in the state on how to report Gender-Based Violent(GBV) to protect victims and ensure their survival against trauma and stigmatization in the country.
The event was organized by Ogun State Economic Transformation Projects(OG STEP) in conjunction with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development recently in Abeokuta, the state capital.
With the theme ” Strengthening Gender-Based Violence Through Collaboration, Learning and Safeguarding Standards”, the training become an eye opener for newsmen on better ways to report GBV in favour of victims.
OGSTEP’s Gender Specialist, Mrs Ewajesu Fasina, the media has a vital role to play in influencing public perception and response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV), saying that Journalists should consider mental health of the survival.
Fasina emphasized the importance of journalists prioritizing survivors’ dignity and safety in their reporting, urging them to shun narratives that could cause further harm or trauma to the victim
She stressed the importance of implementing safeguarding standards in all sectors, particularly when reporting a girl child or male involved in GBV at tender to save the victim from societal stigmatization.
The state coordinator for the Child Protection Network, Barr. Damola Lapite, expressed the legal framework guiding GBV reporting, insisting that journalist reports should always protect their victims of GBV rather than reporting them in a manner that would make them laughing stock in the face of the public.
Lapite maintained that a child especially female who gave consent to sexual activities was ignorant of the act, even do the girl said she was aware of the act, saying that any male who lured her into such act would be charged to court for sexual abuse.
” What we have done here today is to basically talk to us (journalists) on the things that are are required of us in reporting Gender-Based Violent cases, and we basically talked about the need for confidentiality, for consent and to avoid being traumatizing survivals when we are reporting.”
“Also together we awaken ourselves to our responsibilities to the society as the conscience of the society, we all agreed that things are happening and it seeming they are passing us by and we are not noticing them this was basically for us as a people as the conscience of the society. Actually what the law says is that children are incapable of giving consent, so consent in whatever form to social activities it is an imposibility for a child.” he added.
