Photovoice Exhibition and International Human Rights Day Commemorative Activity

WHER Initiative conducted a Photovoice exhibition on the 16th of December 2018 in commemoration of the annual International Human Rights Day celebrated every 10th December. The purpose of this event is to create an avenue for LBQ women to gain knowledge on culture, human rights and sexuality and to tell the stories of violations experienced by LBQT women across Nigeria.

The event was attended by 37 participants. The occasion was centred on the need for people to stand against violations and injustice of the rights of everyone regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. It also reflected on what culture says about human rights, and the universality of culture was discussed in detail as it relates to sexuality as well as human rights. 10 photographs of LBQT persons were exhibited and participants took time to reflect on their stories of human rights violations

Building the Capacity of Media Personnel’s in Nigeria on Human Rights and Gender Diversity

To sensitize Media personnel on the issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons and establish working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations, WHER conducted a To sensitize Media personnel on the issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons and establish working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations, WHER conducted a capacity building workshop on 11th – 12th November 2019. The workshop was attended by 11 media personnel and resulted in improved capacity for media personnel on issues that concern Sexual Minority Persons, established working relationships with Media personnel for future collaborations and established direct contacts with mainstream media houses.

The workshop which was interactive in nature was centred on issues such as gender and sexuality reflecting on gender serotypes and the effect that it has on the LGBT community. It also reflected on issues such as rights and laws in Nigeria with the attendees educated on the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) and other laws such as the Penal and Shari’a Law. The activity had the aim of indicating how these laws violates the basic human rights of all Nigerians and also re-educate the group on their code of practice.

At the end of the activity, strategies were developed on how LGBTQ issues can best be represented in the media by using the appropriate language and also mapping out LGBTQ friendly media houses that can be approached when we need to tell our own stories and in our own voices without the fear of it being misconstrued

Improving lives: Empowering Sexual Minority Women in Nigeria

Women’s Health & Equal Rights Initiative [WHER] has kicked off the first part of its ‘Pathways to Empowering Sexual Minority Women in Nigeria’ project with two workshops held in Abuja. The project aims to strengthen sexual minority women by psychologically empowering them and enhancing their capacity to become more financially stable.

Photo caption from the training in Abuja.

The workshops tagged ‘Psychological Empowerment and Leadership/Life-Skills Building Workshop’ were held on the 11th – 13th and 15th – 17th of August 2018 respectively with 45 women (aged 18 – 35) in attendance.

The project was focused on building self-esteem, self-confidence, self- acceptance and learning about sexual orientation and gender identity/expression through interactive training sessions.

Participants also learned about life skills such as negotiation, stress management and interpersonal communication.

Currently, similar workshops are being held in Lagos, and details will be provided at its conclusion.

Rights Every Nigerian Woman Should Know

This new book serves as a resource for coping with the human rights-related challenges that straight and lesbian women face: rape, forced marriage, domestic violence, and blackmail.

The 50-page cartoon-filled book presents simple summaries of Nigerian laws, including the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act and laws governing inheritance, families, bail, landlords, and tenants. It also clarifies the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international treaties, and the African Charter. It describes how those can be used to seek justice when women’s rights are violated.

This book is dedicated to human rights educators and defenders, including women.

Download e-copy. (551 downloads)