UN Women, Disability Advocates Back 220-Hour Marathon to Combat Gender-Based Violence
…Eyong says legal awareness key to protecting women, girls; Alta demands accessible police stations, courts, hospitals for survivors with disabilities
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and disability rights advocates have thrown their weight behind a 220-hour reading marathon aimed at exposing gaps in the protection of women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) across Nigeria and 14 other African countries.
The initiative, spearheaded by Olubunmi Uluba, seeks to raise public awareness of existing laws, human rights instruments and survivor protection frameworks through a nine-day, four-hour marathon reading aloud, while drawing attention to the persistent disconnect between legal protections and the ability of women and girls to access justice.
The exercise, which also seeks to set a Guinness World Record for the longest marathon reading aloud, has been described by UN Women as an opportunity to turn legal knowledge into an instrument of public education, human rights advocacy and social transformation.
Speaking at a press conference, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Beatrice Eyong, said the fight against gender-based violence must move beyond statistics, policies and legislative reforms to address the human experiences behind the figures.
She said behind every statistic was a survivor seeking justice, a young girl yearning for safety and a community striving to protect human dignity.
Eyong noted that SGBV remained one of the most persistent human rights challenges confronting Nigeria, Africa and the international community, identifying the gap between existing laws and public awareness of legal protections as a major obstacle to tackling the menace.
According to her, many women and girls remain unaware of their rights, the legal safeguards available to them and where to seek assistance when their rights are violated.
She said the 220-hour marathon was significant because it would bring legal frameworks and human rights instruments from 15 African countries closer to the people they were designed to protect.
Through the exercise, Uluba is expected to read relevant legal provisions and survivor protection laws, helping to translate often inaccessible legal documents into practical knowledge that can empower individuals and communities.
Eyong said every hour devoted to reading presented an opportunity for someone to understand their rights, recognise different forms of violence, appreciate the importance of consent or discover where survivors could obtain assistance.
She stressed that knowledge was an essential tool for preventing violence, protecting vulnerable populations and improving access to justice.
The UN Women representative said the initiative reflected the organisation’s conviction that gender equality and the elimination of violence against women and girls were non-negotiable.
She also situated the campaign within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 on gender equality, Goal 4 on quality education and Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions.
Eyong, however, emphasised that ending gender-based violence could not be left to governments or development organisations alone, calling for a collective response involving traditional and religious leaders, civil society groups, the media, families, men and boys.
She urged stakeholders to challenge harmful social norms, promote accountability and build communities where violence against women and girls was neither tolerated nor normalised.
Commending Uluba’s courage and determination, Eyong said the initiative demonstrated how individual commitment and public advocacy could inspire wider movements for social change.
She expressed UN Women’s solidarity with the organiser, wishing her strength, good health and success throughout the marathon.
However, the intervention by the disability rights community highlighted another critical dimension of the campaign: the additional barriers confronting women and girls with disabilities in accessing protection and justice when they experience sexual and gender-based violence.
Founder and President of the Network of Women with Disabilities, Hon. Lois Auta, said her organisation’s support for the initiative was driven by the need to break the silence surrounding violence against women, particularly those living with disabilities.
She observed that survivors with disabilities often faced multiple obstacles when attempting to report abuse, obtain medical attention or pursue justice.
Among the challenges she identified were inaccessible police stations, the absence of sign language interpreters, inadequate medical facilities and discriminatory practices within the justice system.
According to her, these barriers frequently discourage survivors from reporting violations and pursuing justice, leaving perpetrators with opportunities to evade accountability.
Auta argued that the existence of laws protecting women and persons with disabilities would have limited impact if survivors could not access the institutions responsible for enforcing them.
She therefore insisted that the reading marathon must go beyond reciting legal provisions to ensuring that their contents were understood, accessible and effectively implemented.
She called for legal information to be translated into Braille for visually impaired persons, simplified and easy-to-read formats for individuals with intellectual and learning disabilities, and sign language interpretation for people with hearing impairments.
The disability rights advocate also urged governments to domesticate, adequately fund and enforce disability rights legislation, while calling on the police and judiciary to strengthen the capacity of their personnel to respond appropriately to cases involving survivors with disabilities.
She stressed the need to make police stations, hospitals and courts physically and institutionally accessible, noting that equal protection under the law must extend to women and girls regardless of their disabilities.
Auta further challenged civil society organisations to move beyond token representation by actively involving women with disabilities in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes affecting them.
She invoked the disability rights principle, “Nothing about us without us”, arguing that women with disabilities must be recognised as active participants in decisions concerning their safety, rights and welfare.
She also appealed to the media to sustain coverage throughout the nine-day exercise rather than concentrating attention on its opening ceremony, stressing that continuous public engagement was necessary to achieve the campaign’s broader objectives.
Both speakers called for a coordinated national and regional response to gender-based violence, emphasising that legislation alone could not eliminate abuse without sustained public education, effective enforcement and changes in social attitudes.
While Eyong underscored the importance of making legal protections known to the public, Alta drew attention to the practical barriers that prevent some of the most vulnerable survivors from benefiting from those protections.
Their positions converge on a fundamental challenge confronting the campaign against gender-based violence: ensuring that the rights guaranteed by law translate into protection, support and justice for every woman and girl.
For Uluba, the 220-hour marathon represents an attempt to use an extraordinary endurance challenge to sustain public attention on an issue that continues to affect millions of women and girls.
But Eyong said the ultimate achievement must extend beyond breaking a Guinness World Record to breaking the silence surrounding violence, changing attitudes and ensuring that women and girls can live with dignity, safety and freedom from abuse.
The broader test of the initiative, therefore, will be whether the knowledge generated translates into greater awareness of legal rights, improved access to support services, stronger institutional accountability and an inclusive justice system that leaves no survivor behind.
Comments