Nkechi Uduma
The chairperson of International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Rivers state chapter, Barrister Anthonia Osadebe says the rate of domestic violence in Rivers state is on the increase.
Barr Osadebe stated this in an out of court interview today where they handled about 20 cases of domestic violence.
She said that the spousal abuse against the men ranged from physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional trauma.
” We had over 20 cases of domestic violence against men on failure to provide for the family, abandoning everything for their spouses thereby causing them emotional trauma, we also had cases of sexual abuse and physical abuse.
” The funny thing is when these men who abuse their wives discover that the matter is getting serious, they would come for out of court settlement”
Bar. Anthonia Osadebe also listed some of their achievements so far in curbing domestic violence in the state.
“We have tried to tackle spousal abuse in different ways but the one we do mostly is through mediation.
” We counsel these victims which are mostly women, make them understand their rights and obligations, talk to the men also on ways they can settle their differences without getting physical or any form of abuse”
“On the other hand, if the man is stubborn, or does not want to comply, we report to the police and if nothing is done,we take it to court.”
She also mentioned some of their challenges in curbing cases of domestic violence.
“The challenges we are facing are mostly on the women. They refuse to speak out most times when they are abused because they don’t want to leave their homes so they rather prefer to manage the problems until it gets out of hand, then they run to us to seek for help.
“And when we take it up, most times these same women would come to us that they want to pull out because they don’t want to leave their husbands.
” They are never willing to follow the matter to the end to get a logical conclusion.”
She also urged women not to relent when they are in abusive marriages or relationship but that they should learn to speak out so that they can have peace of mind.
