Why I launched my book on Gender Based Violence on my 40th birthday celebration----- Barr. Ene Unobe

 

 

---Marks 15 years in the legal profession with family, friends

 

 

Mrs. Ene Sarah Unobe (Esq) was overwhelmed with joy and full of  praises to God as she celebrated   her 40^th birthday on July 1^st.  Barr Unobe who is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Centre for Human Rights Non-Violence And Safety Awareness (ICHRNVSA) based in Lagos Nigeria , also used the occasion of her birthday  to  launch a book  she authored titled ‘’ Gender Based Violence and related offences-  Prevention, Protection and Prosecution  at the Raddison Hotel, Isaac John Street, Ikeja, Lagos.

 

 

Barrister Ene Unobe whose birthday was on June 25^th ,shifted the date forward to accommodate the celebration of her other achievements as she  expressed her appreciation to God for the triple celebration. She said,” I am thankful to God that I am presenting a book on gender based violence. It has been my heart desire to launch this book.  It has come to reality today and it is a triple celebration for me; my 40th birthday, book presentation and fifteen  years anniversary as a human right defender and as human right lawyer. I have been dealings with women, vulnerable groups, people with disabilities, women going through lots of violence.  Having a lot of experiences with the police, women and their challenges, I decided to write this book for people to read so that they can learn how to defend and protect themselves from gender-based violence as the book is a summary of my wealth of experience in my profession in dealing with gender-based violence and related offences in my fifteen years work. The book will be beneficial to all, as it teaches how to prevent domestic, gender-based violence, how to protect yourself and others from being a victim and how to prosecute offenders of domestic-based violence’’.

 

Emphasizing the need for all to be advocates against gender based violence and related offences, like rape, domestic violence, among others, Barr. Unobe said “If you are not a victim, you will learn how  not to become a victim. If you are a victim, you will learn how to get justice in the police station or criminal justice section. It will be beneficial to children and also talk about the effects of domestic violence on family and the society. The book is vast in dealing with all the issues of domestic and gender-based violence, as families will also be benefiting from it. We can’t reduce violence on the street or in the country without reducing violence in our homes. People promoting violence are victims from the home. Gender based violence at home escalates into street violence, societal violence and into terrorism. I advise every one, every family, the general public to get a copy of this book as it empowers the knowledge on how to prevent, protect and prosecute gender-based violence. If you see something, say something, do something. Gender-based violence is a monster”

 

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Explaining why gender based violence against women is worrisome and needs to be nipped in the bud , Barr. Unobe said “My office receives 

various complaints on human rights violations and gender- based violence especially violence towards  women and girls and they are  troubling. This is because  battered women would  rather bear the violence  as they do not want their abusive husbands to face  prosecution  due to cultural reasons and other reasons. This behaviour poses a lot of challenges to rights advocates and the law enforcement officers. Some of these women even with grave bodily harm, with blood dripping from their bodies following assaults they face in the hands of their husbands and partners,  would rather prefer you call their abusive husbands or partner  and threaten them to desist from harming them further  rather than prosecute such abusive men . These women  will cry and plead on the behalf of these men when the police eventually arrest such men. They can go as far as recanting their statements and turn around to accuse the human rights defenders of inciting them against their spouses. This such of scenario and others are in this book and how to tackle them’’.

 

Professor  Adedoyin Adelaja ,the Vice Chancellor of Littoral University ( ILEPS) Porto - Novo , Republic of Benin  who wrote the Forward of the book recommends the book and urges everyone to get a  copy as the book is a fresh insight of experience in tackling GBV from a human right defender with wealth of experience ." We know that sizeable proportion of women worldwide have experienced Gender based violence. However, this book exposed the fact that many women will not talk about the violence they are experiencing unless they are asked directly. In this book,  Barr. Ene  Unobe has positioned herself as someone whom women and girls including men facing violence can  discuss the issue with . This book is an expose' on how stakeholders can develop projects to assist victims of gender based violence and other related offences. She has dedicated a chapter of this book on how government can legislate to rescue the ugly situation. She also opined on how the law can help victims. This revolutionary book offers a blueprint for reform of expressive family laws in the variety of global context , secular, religious  and  traditional. I  recommend this book on  every bookshelf all over the world as this is the author's contribution to the fight against the menace of gender based violence".

 

Taking a look at the content of the book which has 121 pages and eight chapters, Chapter one talks about the " Meaning of Gender based Violence. Chapter 2 deals with the  " History of Gender based violence. Chapter 3 talks about " Understanding Gender based violence and other related offences" . Chapter 4 talks about "Effects of Gender based violence". Chapter 5 talks about " Victims of Gender based violence and attitude of perpetrators". Chapter 6 " Effects of Gender Based Violence on the family". Chapter 7 " Prevention of Gender based violence, while chapter 8 dealt on " Vital information on where to seek help for domestic violence victims.