Lagos — A workshop on gender violence and HIV/AIDS organised by Gender and Child's Right Initiative (GCRI), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) dedicated to uplifting the status of women and young persons, has ended in Lagos.

The workshop took place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, in conjunction with Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that manages Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project on African Women. The workshop, tagged Engaging Business and Corporate Organisations in Health and Social Issues held under the distinguished chairmanship of Professor Osita Eze, Director General, Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos. The objective of the project was to advocate for change in public policy while sensitising corporate organisations on gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. It was also to build strong networks of business and corporate organisations to lend their voices to advocacy work in this area. The workshop attracted several corporate organisations which include MTN, NGOs, Government representatives and Journalists.

Presenting her paper titled, Gender- Based Violence: An Impediment to Human Development, the EXecutive Director of Gender and Child Rights Initiative, Barrister (Mrs.) Chigoziri Orjiaka identified the human violence meted on women in different spheres of life. She said that in most human society, the male is accorded a superior status, role, privileges and opportunities to develop his innate potential and capabilities, while the female is subjected to an inferior subordinate status.

This according to her has resulted to a critical issue of gender equity and sensitivity. She noted that if the negative concept about gender inferiority and superiority is kept aside and human beings treated based on their potentials and hard work, the world will be a better place for all. She however dismissed the notion that gender violence is meted on women alone. To her, gender- based violence is the violence meted out to a man or woman as a result of the peculiarities of his or her being a man or woman.

She said, "Gender-based violence reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including physical and verbal assaults, seXual abuse, rape, domestic violence, seXual assault and harassment, economic threats/deprivations, trafficking in persons, female genital mutilation and several harmful traditional practices. Gender based violence is a pervasive public health and human rights problem throughout the world, but the pattern and prevalence of violence vary from place to another. It affects both men and women in different ways. A lot of articles use gender-based violence interchangeably as if it means violence against women only. This, to my mind, is not so because 'gender-based violence' is addressing the interest of both men and women. Some men are victims of gender -based violence too. Violence against women is very popular and is all about women alone. The men see everything gender as not protecting their own interest."

She called for people to be more gender sensitive by incorporating the interest of all parties to all forms of violence no matter the percentage of persons affected.

Research has shown a direct link between gender-based violence and HIV infection, particularly in young women. It has been acknowledged world wide that gender inequality fuels the AIDS epidemic and poverty worsen the socio-economic impact of the HIV/AIDS. Orjiaka therefore addressed the gender issues involved in HIV infection that would help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS infection. Part of it is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She questioned why FGM is always a violation while male circumcision is not. "The point is that any cultural practice that is harmful to the individual is a violation. Male circumcision brings positive value, because it protects the man from cancer and other disease while female circumcision eXposes the woman to obstructed labour and reduces the seXual pleasure of a woman. The main reason for FGM, according to some tradition, is to reduce the seXual pleasure of a woman so that she will not be promiscuous. This has been proved to have negative effect as it even leads some women into promiscuity instead of stopping them."

Orjiaka, however, proffered some recommendations, that would guard against gender violence. They are prohibition of seXual harassment at the work place through serious sanctions for offenders and compensations for victims, repeal of policies and regulations that violate any particular gender or is discriminatory and enactment of policies that are gender balanced and promote equal opportunity for men and women. She also recommended that gender-based violence should be made an ethical issue so that it could lead to dismissal, demotion, forfeiture of benefits or become actionable by the company against the violator. Staff in-service training should incorporate and propagate gender sensitivity and rights in other to reduce the incidence of GBV. There is also need for research into the economic impact and effect of GBV to ascertain the statistics of economic loss and number of victims of GBV in Nigeria. Finally, she said that companies should join forces to advocate taX eXemptions on funds spent on social and health issues, especially through not-for-profit organisations as a way of encouraging private sector participation in funding of human development issues.

Also presenting a paper, HIV/AIDS as a Social Challenge, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye identified the causes and effects of HIV/AIDS in the society and also made some recommendations. He identified poverty, a wide range of deep-rooted harmful traditional practices (polygamy, wife hospitality and wife inheritance), thriving commercial seX trade, child labour, greed and a lack of female empowerment, as core causative factors of gender violence. Probably the most successful driver of the epidemic, according to him, is stigma and discrimination. He further stated that most PLWHA have eXperienced severe forms of stigma and this often leads them to quietly share out the virus. The use of unscreened blood product, needle sharing and unsterilised sharp object, FMG, scarification, uvulectomy etc, Ogboye said, are still very rampant and contribute to HIV prevalence.

In some of the countries most affected, Ogboye said HIV has reduced life eXpectancy by more than 20 years, slowed economic growth and deepened household poverty. "In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the epidemic has orphaned nearly 12 million children aged less than 18 years. The natural age distribution in many national populations in sub-Saharan Africa has been dramatically skewed by HIV with potentially perilous consequences for the transfer of knowledge and values from one generation to the neXt. At the same time, the epidemic has heightened global consciousness of health disparities, and catalysed unprecedented action to confront some of the world's most serious development. No disease in history has led to a comparable mobilisation of political, financial and human resources, and no development challenge has led to a stronger level of leadership and ownership by the communities and countries most heavily affected."

The effects of the epidemic are far reaching. Ogboye saw the professional class as more vulnerable because adult prevalence rates are already high. According to him, it will affect recruitment and staffing in all sectors. There will be loss of skilled labour, which implies a lot of resources invested in training. "Economists agree that HIV/AIDS will bring about a severe decline in productivity and saving. The epidemic will affect businesses, food supply, livelihoods and the availability of various cadres of professionals. AIDS therefore has a massive, direct effect on the economic growth of most high prevalence countries."

Addressing societal causes of HIV will require sustained progress in reducing human rights violation which includes gender inequality, stigma and discrimination of PLWHA. He advised that women economic dependence should be increased. There should also be legal reforms to recognise women's poverty and inheritance right, as well as rights of the girl to education should be prioritised by governments. NEEDS, SEEDS and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) need to be taken seriously and progress towards achieving set targets must be monitored. Governments, individuals, corporate organisations and civil society must recognise their roles as part of a continuum of prevention and care and must commit themselves to playing that role. Then can we say that we are winning the war against AIDS.