By Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) has not failed on its mandate which is war against domestic and sexual violence. That seems to be the consensus of a number of stakeholders.
Among the stakeholders who rated Lagos DSVA high was a leading civic-tech organization that promotes accountability and transparency in governance through social innovation and advocacy, BudgIT. The group awarded the agency its 2023 edition of Active Citizens Award.
BudgIT stated that the agency got the award for its commitment to social justice and advancing service delivery for victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Lagos State. Lagos DSVA used to be the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) until September 20, 2021, when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed into law the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Bill. DSVRT was set up in 2014. The issue of domestic violence is a major issue globally. It is one of the most heinous crimes which has and still results in numerous deaths, but still receives the least amount of attention, while its negative influence is being underrated.
However, with the record of its achievement provided at the 2023 Domestic and Sexual Awareness Month, held in September, Lagos State Government is proving that the administration of Governor Sanwolu-Olu is not only giving the menace maximum attention but also tackling it with various initiatives to curb it.
Reiterating the mandate of Lagos DSVA after signing the bill establishing it into law then, Sanwo-Olu said: “Raising awareness about domestic and sexual violence is an important piece of working to end the cycle of violence. It is important to reiterate the state government’s zero tolerance to all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. We will not rest on our oars until the menace is reduced to the barest minimum in Lagos.”
According to the governor, the agency is well equipped to combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) through educating the public, advocacy, recruiting volunteers, enforcement, among others. He believes that preventive measures are the most efficient ways of addressing SGBV issues.
Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, who is the pioneer Executive Secretary of Lagos DSVA, in a chat with journalists during an awareness campaign on the effect of the menace and how to curb it, said her agency is a collection of professional service providers and officials that respond as a group and in a timely fashion to the various needs of domestic and sexual violence survivors by providing legal, medical, emergency assistance, counseling, psychological and psycho-social support.
She disclosed that the agency also encourages and creates an unprecedented level of collaboration among professionals working to end SGBV, adding that in the last two years of Lagos DSVA’s existence, the agency has been combing the entire Lagos to check sexual and domestic violence in order to bring perpetrators to book. Vivour-Adeniyi said the award recently bestowed on her agency by BudgIT, was a confirmation of their unrelenting effort and sterling performance in addressing SGBV issues.
The agency’s executive secretary, Vivour-Adeniyi disclosed that in the past two years, the agency under her watch has mainstreamed prevention and response into the education sector through behavioural mindset programmes, training for stakeholders in the educational sector among others.
She said with the support of the state Ministry of Education, the agency was able to introduce different initiatives to educate students and other stakeholders, leading to the introduction of the Kings and Queens Club, an initiative to engage boys and girls from an early age on issues such as sexual and reproductive rights, health, and SGBV.
On approach to ensure access to justice for survivors, she stated that the agency strengthened its symbiotic relationship with the police and introduced novel innovations including providing financial support to aid and facilitate investigation and charging of cases to court and also collaborate and partner with the criminal justice stakeholders through coordination, meetings, trainings and case management conferences. Again, to encourage survivors in abusive relationships to break the culture of silence and speak out, Vivour-Adeniyi said her agency, apart from providing legal support for them; also provides accommodation, health, psychosocial support as well as livelihood support for them through Eko Haven.
Apart from all these, on ensuring safety of all residents, especially in public places, Lagos DSVA boss said her agency extended its partnership to the regulators and providers of transportation including Lagos State Waterways Authority, Lagos Bus Services Limited as well as Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) for them to infuse safety and awareness creation in their operations, through the public display of relevant information, including the toll free line on stickers, posters at bus terminals, bus parks and inside the buses.
Again, she said: “To ensure no gender is left behind in the war against the SGBV menace, The Hidden Crime, Violence Against Men is an initiative which was curated to spotlight domestic violence against men. At the launch which had over 400 men in attendance, participants were educated and encouraged to report when experiencing any form of abuse. The aim was to ensure that the agency leaves no gender behind in its advocacy, develop preventive and response mechanisms, compelling men to break the culture of silence”. In fighting domestic and sexual violence, Vivour-Adeniyi said the Office of the Public Defender as well as the Lagos Public Interest Law Partnership (LPILP) have provided free legal representation to survivors of domestic violence; judicial separation, divorce, maintenance, custody of children and settlement.
While women are the main object of sexual and domestic violence, findings by DSVA reveals that 340 male reported incidents of domestic violence perpetrated against them by their wives between September 2022 and July 2023.This is more than twice the number reported between September 2021 and July 2022, which stood at 140 cases.
“This is an indication that the culture of silence amongst the male gender concerning issues of Sexual and Gender Based Violence is also gradually being broken,” Vivour-Adeniyi said. Available statistics showed that from September 2021 to July 2023, the agency received a total of 10,484 cases of SGBV via the Virtual Referral and Response Service (VRRS) and physical report. Out of these cases, domestic violence accounts for 4,360 cases.
As a mark of improvement in its operations, DSVA received more reported cases of SGBV between August 1, 2022 and July 2023, which were higher than between September 2021 and July 2022. While 5,624 cases were reported in the last one year, 4860 were reported in the previous year. In the last one year, the DSVA, handled 5,624 cases of which 2,331 were domestic violence cases, 90 rape cases, 72 sexual assault cases and two sexual assault by penetration cases. Others are one attempt to commit rape, 123 threat to life, 609 separation, failure to take responsibility of children, neglect, child abduction, child labour and custody cases; 384 non-GBV, (tenancy disputes, assault simplicity etc), 143 child abuse/physical assault, 235 defilement cases, three defilement/molestation by minor to minor and 33 sexual harassment/molestation cases.
According to Vivour-Adeniyi, a total of 1,598 children have experienced emotional abuse (i.e these children have been exposed to Domestic Violence within the home). Forty per cent of these children have been taken through counselling programmes to ensure they were able to psychologically deal with the events they had witnessed without it having a permanent and negative impact on them.