THE UNNAMED PANDEMIC OF SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN AFRICA

Abstract

The whole world has been shaken to its root resulting from the sudden invasion of a dreaded and seemingly incurable Coronavirus disease also referred to as ‘COVID-19’ (Coronavirus Disease of 2019). Since late 2019 when the said virus invaded China and from there spread to other nations of the world there have been undying global unrest, economic instability, untold hardship and massive deaths. The world was brought almost into a standstill resulting from the lockdown concept. People of the world got accustomed to staying at home. However, beyond this glaring pandemic, are some other crimes which are perpetuated in the shadow of the pandemic. School children and students are out from school, parents are out of work, a good number not even having any source of income at all for months. This has led some to crime and more especially to sexual related offences. There have been increasing cases of rape even against children. Also, Gender based Violence against females – women and girls are also on the increase. There is also a global rising call for help to protect women and girls from domestic violence meted against them. In this paper we shall be unveiling this showdown Pandemic that has merged the female folks in the pit of fear of uncertainty and untold depression. We shall consider the various forms of Sexual and Gender based Violence and the activities of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) to curb this menace and we shall recommend the role which everyone must play in the family and in the society so as to curb this showdown pandemic.