Stakeholders Demand Separate Court For Sexual, Gender Based Violence Cases

Danladi Plang, National Programme Manager, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme amongst other stakeholders have called for the establishment of separate courts to prosecute the cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).

Stakeholder emphasised the need for critical actors to collaborate in the fight as well as provide a platform for experts to identify policy options, legal innovation, best practices, processes for the establishment, and modalities for operation.

Plang made this known at the official opening of the 7th Network Conference of Sexual Assault Referral Centers (SARCs), on Thursday in Abuja, organised by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC)  Programme, in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and British Council, to mark the beginning of the 16 days activism on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.

According to him, "for many years, there have been calls for the prosecution of cases of SGBV, in separate courts, it is for this reason RoLAC is campaigning this year for the separate judicial process. 

"The main objective of this conference is to identify policy options, recommendations and action for the efficient disposal of rights of victims and mobilise relevant actors.

Speaking further he stated that, from last year a lot has happened as most states have domesticated the Violence Against Persons Law, and now have more SARC, adding that about 32 have been created with the latest being Kebbi state.

"Of course more victims and survivors are being supported by the Centers, as at June this year we have about 21,000 survivors that are supported, in the last eight years out of this 21,000 about 6900, are being cared for by the SARC, which represents about 30% of survivors.

"There is a serious consensus that the prosecution of offenders is key even as the cases reported are very few, there is a disproportionately higher number of victims to the perpetrators, and of course they deserve Justice, as different they may be.

UN Women Country Representative, Comfort Lamptey, re-emphasised the need to join forces to create awareness and education in eliminating and ending the scourge of Gender-Based Violence from the community and our nations.

Lamptey noted that this year marks 30 years since the start of the 16 days activism campaign, reiterating, globally one in three women have been abused sexually and in Nigeria, 28% of women have been abused before the ages of 15 and 49 in one form of violence.

Stating further, she noted that 16% of women and girls have experienced this from spouses and home as in times of crisis the number rises.

"During the first month of the lockdown directive, a five fold increase was recorded of GBV, one in four women feel unsafe at home, since the onset of COVID 19. Outside the home women, also feel increasingly unsafe. 

"This is a wake-up call for solving the problem at its root, while this problem remains pervasive, it is not preventable.
Preventive methods are critical to ending GBV it requires a commitment from all of us to work against the harmful practice that sustains gender inequality.

"More men need to step up to form forces with some right advocate, through the UNWomen joint spotlight initiative to engage stakeholders in the community, traditional ruler to address some of the patriarchal norms that encourage gender inequality.

"Provide a comprehensive support system that will help survivor centred services which include police, Justice, and social sectors, As well as sufficient financing for women, are essential ingredients to the fight against GBV.

"The past two years in Nigeria have experienced progress on the domestication of the VAPP act to the law since it was passed in 2015, with a total of 30 states out of 36in Nigeria, this commendable feat was achieved by the declaration of a state of emergency on GBV by the Nigerian Governor forum in 2020.

"We need to ensure that federal and state government ensure that GBV survivors have full access to justice, with reliable prosecution of perpetrators.

"Put women at the centre of responses including the policy situation solutions, 
Strengthen services including Justice  for women who experience violence and 
Invest in prevention efforts to end Violence Against Women and Girls," she stressed.

In the same vein, Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Samuela Isopi identified impunity as fuel for GBV.

According to her, "this type of violence remains largely unreported due to the stigma and shame surrounding it, and the lack of confidence in authorities. As a result, many perpetrators remain free and unpunished. Impunity contributes to fuel GBV.

"Impunity contributes to fuel SGBV, if we do not stop impunity, we may not be able to stop GBV, the government has a critical role in maintaining and sustaining of the separate court for it to succeed, the government needs to take ownership of this court by allocating resources to address the need of the people,"   she said.

Honourable Justice Ibrahim Muhammad,    Chief Justice of the Federation said that in creating a special court, there is the need to have trained judges and this is a lot of work. This is an issue that takes more than talking, things must be in place, when we have everything set then we can start talking of special courts. 

Represented by Justice Amina Audi, Muhammad is of the view that;

"Before we go advocating for special courts we need to put in place all other structures that will make this succeed. 

"Rural areas need to have gender desk of institutions with specialised personnel to attend to vulnerable victims, the first contact for victims need to be able to bring them out of despair," he said.