General Elections: INEC Moves To Checkmate Violence Against Women, Persons With Disabilities

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is putting in place measures that will help mitigate all forms of violence against women and persons living with disabilities on voting day.

INEC’s resident electoral commissioner in Kaduna State, Abdullahi Kaugama, disclosed this at a seminar on mitigating violence against women in the 2019 elections organised for Non-Governmental Organizations in the Kaduna state capital. He emphasizes that enlightening women on the voting processes ahead of the polls will enable them to make informed decisions.

Over the years, women, children and even people with disabilities are often the major casualties whenever there is an outbreak of violence especially during elections. In its seminar tagged “Mitigating Violence Against Women In The Electoral Process”, the electoral umpire sought to understand specific forms and levels of electoral violence women face during the electoral process, either as candidates, supporters or voters.

Among the participants were INEC officials, Civil Society Organizations, the National Council of Women Societies and security agencies.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Kaduna state, who noted that women and children are more vulnerable to violence, said the sensitization programme will also avail the participants the opportunity to understand the women perspective on violence during elections with a view to finding ways of mitigating it.

The representative of the Kaduna state commissioner of police said the command is working closely with other security agencies to protect the electorates and also identify the perpetrators of violence on women aimed at strengthening female participation in the electoral process.

Speaking of the importance of the seminar, some of the participants were of the opinion that more women are getting more involved in the country’s electoral process, consequently falling prey and becoming victims of violence. They, however, called for concerted action.

According to INEC, the participants at the programme were trained to understand the effectiveness of state and non-state institutional mechanisms in providing redress for female victims of electoral violence, and also expected to in turn sensitise the public on the need to desist from violence during the forthcoming polls in the state.