Domestic Violence: Nigerian Women at Risk

Human beings are relational in nature and sometimes in these relationships, violence occurs. Violence is any act which causes a person physical, psychological, sexual, verbal, emotional, economic harm in private or public life in peace or conflict situation. Much as everyone could suffer violence to a certain degree, girls, women, and elderly are more susceptible. Therefore violence against women and girls (VAWG) is that violence directed at them simply because they are females. It is achieved through the use of force, direct pressure, orientation, ritual, tradition, law, language, customs, usages, education and the division of labour. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 3800 people die from violence every day. This translates to 1.4 million needless deaths, yearly. To make matters worse, for every death from violence, many more suffer a range of injuries and other problems.

In Nigeria, we are daily inundated with news of different forms of violence — if it is not the husband killing the wife, it will be the couple using nails on a house help or a near relative raping the children. To curb this menace, the National Assembly enacted the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPPA) in 2015 which due to our federal system of government, applies only to Abuja. This Act holistically protects all persons from different aspects of violence in private or public life. Many states have localized the Act in form of Violence against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPPL) and Domestic Violence Law (DVL).

The laws penalize six different forms of violence which are:

i) Physical violence- an act of physical aggression towards another person, whether extreme or insignificant.

ii) Sexual violence -an act that violates sexual integrity of another, that is, obtaining sexual act by force or coercion.

iii) Psychological/Emotional/Verbal violence-a pattern of degrading or humiliating conduct towards a person.

iv) Economic violence -denial of financial and other economic resources that one is entitled to.

v) Harmful traditional practices-these embrace all traditional behaviors and cultural practices affecting fundamental rights of any person.

vi) Domestic violence- an act perpetrated on any person in a domestic relationship causing harm to the safety, health, or well-being. The law sees domestic relationship as one, between a person and a perpetrator of violence where they are or were married to each other, live or lived together in a marriage-like relationship, are the parents of a child, are family members, are or were engaged, in actual or perceived intimate relationship and or share or recently shared same residence.

Domestic violence seems to attract more attention because all forms of violence do take place within a domestic environment. For instance, in our work at Centre for Mmadu on Human rights (C4M), victims have reported issues of spousal battery (physical violence); rape and defilement (sexual violence); insults, ridicule, repeated exhibition of obsessive possessiveness invading liberty and forced isolation (emotional violence); denial of inheritance, starvation, denial of basic education and abandonment of dependents without sustenance and household necessities (economic violence); child marriage and widowhood malpractices (harmful traditional practices).

Again, violence here is so insidious and could go unnoticed for as long as possible. One of the reasons for this is that over time, people came up with myths used in explaining away violence. For instance, they say it is cultural but the Constitution which is our grundnorm provides in section 21 that the state shall protect, preserve and promote the Nigerian cultures which enhance human dignity. Others attribute it to poverty or lack of education but in reality, it is common at all levels of society amongst rich or poor/educated or uneducated. Some even opine that it is masculine to be violent to women but this questions whether men who do not abuse women are lesser men. Some say that men cannot control their anger and frustration but research shows that it is intentional conduct, and batterers are not out of control but carefully targets certain people at certain times and places. Especially as they generally do not attack their bosses or people on the streets, no matter how angry or frustrated they become. Some suggests that women who are assaulted often like it but in reality, women are not masochists and do not find pleasure in abuse. They are disgusted by it and could remain in abusive relationships for many reasons including social stigma of divorce and fear of having their children wrested away. Ridiculously, some say it is a sign of love but men beat their wives to show control, disrespect and degradation.

Internalizing these myths, women are made to endure violence as a mark of submission and because many people consider it family affair, they suffer in silence believing that exposure will ridicule the family. The nation witnessed 60% increase in domestic violence during the COVID-19 lock down. Unfortunately, it is yet to abate as evidenced by recent happenings. As a result of the culture of silence, only a few people report and many times, even reported cases do not see the light of the day.

Violence causes victims untold hardship in the form of: low self-esteem, depression, suicidal bouts, poor health results, death, loss of job/productivity and Violating human rights. The worst part is that children witnessing it is itself violence. The society suffers through reduced taxes due to lost wages and demands on courts, health facilities and police. Further, increase in broken homes due to violence distorts the fabric of the society, as family is the foundation of every society. Again, it constitutes obstacle to achieving equality, development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Many Non-Governmental Organizations have taken up the duty of educating victims as well as the police, that these are offences penalized by the law because the law intends their punishment. It is very important that government steps up awareness creation program and equipping the Police with adequate resources to carry on its responsibilities because VAPPA/VAPPL though a huge step is not a magic wand that will eradicate violence. In the absence of its implementation, it will remain book protection.

Seeing that accumulation of small cruelties leads to societal decay that will affect all, it is imperative that everyone who witnesses any form of violence speaks out if we must experience violence free society.