Forty-eight per cent of Nigerian women have experienced at least one form of violence since the COVID-19 pandemic, a United Nations Women report has revealed. “Verbal abuse and denial of basic resources were the most common forms of VAW reported (23 per cent) since the pandemic began; denial of communication (21 per cent) although these may have been the result of measures taken to limit the spread of the pandemic, such as lockdowns, curfews, and social distancing. Similarly, 16 per cent reported sexual harassment and 15 percent reported physical abuse,” the report said. The report titled ‘Measuring the shadow pandemic: Violence against women during COVID-19’ also revealed that 45 per cent of women from the countries where the research was conducted have been exposed directly or indirectly to at least one form of violence.
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