SPEAK WEDNESDAY
No Access, No Escape: Why Information is Critical to GBV Survival
When Sheila was nineteen and living in Lagos, the threats began. Her husband told her that if she ever disobeyed him, he would make sure she lost her job and her reputation. One night, terrified, she sent a friend a message begging for help. But she did not know where to go, which law could protect her, or who to call. Information could have saved her. Its absence trapped her.
This is the silent epidemic within gender-based violence (GBV): not only physical harm but the isolation created by ignorance. Without access to timely and accurate information, survivors are left in darkness. Information is not a luxury. It is the first line of defence and the foundation of justice.
Why Information Saves Lives
When a woman understands that violence against her is a crime, she begins to reclaim her power. When she knows where to report, what medical help to seek, and how to preserve evidence, she increases her chances of survival and justice. Without that knowledge, fear becomes her only companion.
Studies from Nigeria show that most women who experience GBV are unaware of available support. In Adamawa State, 60 percent of women knew that services existed, but fewer than 18 percent understood what those services actually offered. A 2025 study found that even educated young women often avoid post-violence health care because they do not know where to go, or they fear stigma and disbelief.
Globally, the United Nations has affirmed through multiple conventions including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and UN Security Council Resolution that access to information is central to ending violence. Without it, laws, services, and resources remain out of reach.
The Barriers That Keep Survivors Silent
Survivors often do not seek help because they believe nobody will believe them. Others live far from formal services. Many lack access to the internet or even a simple phone number they can trust. Information materials are often written in legal or medical language that ordinary people cannot understand. In rural areas, the absence of community-based awareness campaigns means women do not even know that shelters or hotlines exist.
These are not personal failures. They are systemic failures of governments that under fund awareness programmes, of institutions that do not communicate in local languages, and of communities that allow silence to thrive.
What Survivors Can Do When They Need Help
Every survivor deserves a pathway to safety. Here is what that path can look like:
- Seek immediate safety: If you are in danger, leave the space if possible. Go to a trusted friend, relative, neighbour, or nearby public place.
- Reach out for help: Call the national GBV toll-free line: 0800 033 3333. You can also contact the organisations that provide counselling, medical referrals, and legal support.
- Preserve evidence: Avoid bathing or changing clothes if you experienced physical or sexual violence. Seek medical care immediately.
- Know your rights: Violence against women is a crime under the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015. Every survivor has a right to medical treatment, legal assistance, and protection.
- Document and speak. Keep copies of threatening messages or photos. Report to a the police or NAPTIP. You are not alone, and help exists.
Call to Action
Governments and institutions must treat access to information as a legal right and embed it firmly within all GBV policies and action plans. Every state should guarantee that survivors know what services exist and how to reach them. Public awareness must go beyond slogans to reach the offline majority through community radio, schools, and local languages that resonate. Survivor-friendly spaces should be standard in every police station, hospital, and local government office, where trained officers and clear contact points offer judgement-free guidance. Finally, investment in ethical data systems and public education is non-negotiable. Reliable data exposes the gaps, directs resources, and saves lives, as demonstrated by the efforts of UNFPA and Nigeria’s GBV Information Management System.
How CFHI Is Closing the Information Gap
At the Centre for Family Health Initiative (CFHI), we believe that information is power and in the fight against GBV, it is protection. CFHI leads nationwide awareness through the 16 Days of Activism, runs community and school groups that teach health, rights, and safety, and provides direct referrals for survivors to medical, psychosocial, and legal services. Our work reaches those often left behind; the woman without a phone, the girl who cannot read, the family with no internet or transport. By breaking information barriers, we give survivors a voice, a pathway, and a plan. Because when women know their rights and how to use them, violence begins to lose its power.
The Global Urgency
Across the world, violence thrives where information is weakest. For the woman in a remote village without a phone or access to the internet, silence becomes her only shelter. For the girl who cannot read, the poster on the clinic wall might as well be blank. For displaced women in camps, and for widows in informal settlements, help often feels like a rumour whispered too far away to reach. In these spaces, information is not abstract, it is survival. It is the map that leads from danger to safety, from fear to agency. Every hotline number, every awareness programme, every conversation led in a local dialect is more than communication. It is protection. It is the first step toward justice and the quiet revolution that keeps women alive.
Speak Wednesday is an initiative of CFHI to address issues around gender-based violence and gender bias.
#NoAccessNoEscape #InformationSavesLives #EndGBV #RightsAreKnowledge #SpeakWednesday #GenderJustice
