UN Women team, Brazil embassy hold film show about GBV
UN Women team, Brazil embassy hold film show about GBV
By Moses A. Uyang
To mark the United Nations (UN) 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence, the UN Women team in collaboration with the Brazilian Embassy in Nigeria has presented two brilliant film about female genital mutilation and domestic violence.
The event, a two-day Orange The World Film Screening was held in Abuja between 2nd and 3rd December 2021 and it attracted many movie lovers, activists, diplomats, the media, NGOs and representatives from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The ambassador of Brazil to Nigeria Ambassador Ricardo Guerra Araújo welcomed all warmly to the film screening on the both days as he called on everyone to become proactive as the world continues to work on ending gender-based violence.
Prominent among the films were Jaha’s Promise and Silêncio Das Inocentes (Silence of the Innocents).
Jaha’s Promise tells the story of a
Gambian Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Campaigner, Jaha Dukureh who returns from the US to her native Gambia to vehemently campaign against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation that she and over 200 million women and girls have sadly undergone globally.
This of course eventually led to the banning of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation in The Gambia.
On the other hand, Silêncio Das Inocentes, a Brazilian film documentary that tells of the story of Maria Da Penha. It recounts her survival of two attempts of murder by her husband. Her dogged campaign against domestic violence in Brazil eventually led to what is today known as Maria da Penha Law in Brazil.
The Maria da Penha law aims to reduce domestic violence mainly by increasing punishment for domestic abuse offenders, increasing the maximum detention time from one to three years, establishing domestic violence courts and requiring Brazilian authorities to institute 24 hour shelters for victims of household domestic abuse.
Speaking after the film show,
Dame Pauline K. Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs stated that women and girls needed to assisted in speaking out to break the culture of silence.
“We need champions to speak up for others in crises.” And that “The culture of silence has to be broken”
She further stressed the President Muhammadu Buhari’s open support against gender-based violence in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the First Lady of Niger State, Dr Amina Abubakar Bello observed that ” The film we just watched shows the pain you see in almost every woman’s story.”
Furthermore, Dr. Hussaini Abdu suggested a curriculum be designed to help educate young pupils on the need to learn and imbibe the culture of non-violence and respect for women and girls.
