Group launches on-line platform to report gender-based violence

To answer circumstances of On-line Gender Based mostly Violence (OGBV), particularly in opposition to girls and different weak teams, a group of girls in know-how, TechHer, has launched a digital platform.

Named “Kuram”, the platform is designed to offer assets to handle OGBV threats affecting completely different weak teams throughout gender, sexual orientation, class, and background.

Kuram, which interprets to “maintain me protected” in Tiv, certainly one of Nigeria’s many languages that’s generally spoken throughout the North-central states and different components of the nation, was launched in Abuja with the assist of Hivos by the Digital Defenders Partnership.

Whereas unveiling the platform, TechHer Govt Director, Chioma Agwuegbo, spoke on the necessity for actionable options like Kuram, at the same time as she decried “unnoticed and silent victims of OGBV misplaced to poor information and the non-availability of avenues to report violations.”

Information on violence storage

Ms Agwuegbo additional defined the platform’s capacity to gather and retailer information on digital violence whereas “advancing advocacy efforts and proof for the remediation of circumstances.”

“TechHer has invested a number of assets to demystify know-how for younger girls and women by our college tour tasks. It’s a disgrace that whereas we encourage girls to entry and wield know-how extra, they’re discouraged by the violence perpetrated in opposition to them in digital areas.

“On-line violence goes past revenge porn; it’s bullying, doxing, deep fakes, amongst different types of violence perpetrated in opposition to girls and different weak teams on the web,” she mentioned.

The launch of Kuram had in attendance stakeholders from civil society and digital platform founders.

Commendation

In a goodwill message, the Nation Director of Plan Worldwide, Charles Usei, reiterated the significance of defending girls’s security on-line and the necessity for survivors’ justice tales to be shared to encourage others to talk up.

The Govt Director of DIGICIVIC Initiative, Mojirayo Ogunlana, condemned the truth that far too many voters, particularly OGBV victims, are unaware of their digital rights as a result of ambiguity of legal guidelines in Nigeria.

She beneficial the simplification of related legal guidelines to spice up consciousness of web consumer rights.

“Simplifying these legal guidelines offers a pathway for higher understanding and, in flip, helps folks to remember that they will search authorized recourse when their rights have been violated on-line. A number of circumstances have been taken to the courts just by enabling consciousness of non-public rights,” she mentioned.

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Talking of efforts to advance OGBV consciousness, the TechHer Girls’s Rights & Security Officer, Amina Salaudeen, mentioned they’ve facilitated in-person and digital workshops for over 1,000 girls and women nationwide.

“These coaching periods aimed to create OGBV consciousness and supply assets, together with a homegrown digital safety toolkit and sharing relatable tales to encourage victims to step ahead,” she mentioned.