Advocacy Visit for the Gazette of the Plateau GEO Law

The Executive Director of the Community Initiative for the Emancipation of Vulnerable Children & Women, Mrs. Sewuese Surma Isaiah, pioneered the translation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition act into Braille.

This action is reminiscent of the several efforts she and the team applied at establishing and ensuring the gazetting of the Gender and Equal Opportunities law at the State level, which saw lots of collaborations between the Executive Director, the Plateau State Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General of the State.

The act aims to eliminate the Violence in Private and Public life, and seeks to prosecute persons found guilty of sexual/gender based violence, and establishes institutional mechanisms to prohibit violence. In addition, The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act prohibits all forms of violence against persons and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishments of offenders; and for related matters.

Furthermore, the VAPP law focuses on globally acceptable deterrents in the form of punishments for offenders and also includes provisions for the financial compensation of victims — another first. It also categorizes emotional, verbal and psychological abuse as offences.

Ultimately, the VAPP law’s purpose is to reduce the equality gap between men and women in Nigeria as well as cut down the country’s very high incidence of GBV which disproportionately affects women and girls.