Over 4000 cases of violence against women and children have been recorded in the last five years by the WARAKA Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Kano state alone.
This was made public on Thursday by the Chairman SARC Steering Committee, Barr Sanusi Aliyu Yakasai at a press conference for the commemoration of 16 days of activism for the elimination of Gender-Based Violence in Kano State.
The event was in collaboration with the GBV Response Team, Free Legal Aid Service Providers and also in partnership with Rule of Law and Anti Corruption (RoLAC) programme.
“Since inception, the centre has recorded over 4000 cases and still counting cases of sexual violence mostly against young children below the age of 13 years.
“With its growing population which has made Kano state cosmopolitan, thereby increasing the tendencies of exposing the most vulnerable members of the society comprising of women and girls at risk of being abused.
“For example, Dala LGA which is the most populous in the state, in recent times, has recorded a high rate of incidences of violence against women and children especially rape cases.
“This is closely followed by Kumbotso, Nasarawa, Tarauni and other metropolitan LGAs in the state” he stated.
Also speaking on the challenges in the fight against sexual violence, the Committee chairman mentioned how silence and stigma as a result of such incidence have worsened the situation while he called on the Kano state government to establish special courts for sexual violence cases to enhance the fight against the crime.
“Yet for far too long, impunity, silence, stigma, have allowed violence against women to escalate to pandemic proportions.
“I will like to use this opportunity to call on the administration of Kano state government under the leadership of Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to establish special courts to handle SGBV cases” he stated.
Annually, the global community marks the 25th November, as the International Day for the elimination of Violence against Women and Girls.
