By Ian Ochieng.
Federation of Women Lawyers, (Fida) Migori branch has expressed concern on the escalating cases of Gender Based Violence, (GBV ) within the county.
Speaking in Migori town yesterday, the County Director Caroline Okere said that there has been a sudden rise in cases reported of GBV with women and children being the most affected.
“It is unfortunate that unlike in other parts of the country, here the cases are going up,” he said adding that her office has already recorded 120 cases of women who have been physically assaulted by their spouses over the past one year.
She further said that another 85 children have also been defiled over the same period of time, something she said was worrying to the association.
At the same time, Okere said that many children who undergo the wrath of gender based violence are eventually forced to drop out of schools due to pregnancy that makes them vulnerable to harassment and gender based violence
“Many children drop out of school due to pregnancy and the gender based violence in the county that makes them become pregnant due to defilement and rape,” she said
She at the same time regretted the fact that most of the GBV cases were taking too long to get concluded in the courts, something which she said was denying the victims justice.
Saying a good number of them ended up being dropped due to what she termed as poor investigation, Okere therefore called on the police to ensure that all GBV cases are well investigated before they are taken to court.
She also called for the establishment of children cells at the Migori police station to help in holding up of children who are picked up by the police on cases gender based violence.
She further regretted that several girls were still being forced by their parents to undergo Female Genital Mutilation, (FGM) and that those who refuse to take part are disowned and chased away from homes.