Violence against women is a dreadfully brutal and pervasive crime. In
many countries, those who are responsible for preventing, eliminating
and ensuring accountability for it mostly fail to recognize it as such,
tolerate it or simply blame the victims for being violated. On the 31st
Anniversary of the International Day of Action on Violence against
Women – 25 November – law enforcement and public officers in Nigeria
must commit to a programme of action to change this.
On Friday,
23 November 2012, I attended a workshop of the International Association
of Women Judges at the conferenceViolence against women is a dreadfully
brutal and pervasive crime. In many countries, those who are
responsible for preventing, eliminating and ensuring accountability for
it mostly fail to recognize it as such, tolerate it or simply blame the
victims for being violated. On the 31st Anniversary of the
International Day of Action on Violence against Women – 25 November –
law enforcement and public officers in Nigeria must commit to a
programme of action to change this.
On Friday, 23 November 2012, I
attended a workshop of the International Association of Women Judges at
the conference room of the High Court of Nigeria’s Federal Capital
Territory in Abuja. The theme of the conference was “Sextortion”. Its
aim was to call attention to the various forms of intimate exploitation
that women suffer in the public space and inspire a committed search
for how the judiciary and the legal process take action to diminish and
ultimately eliminate this.
Present at the workshop were senior
judges of all the Superior Courts in Nigeria, including High Courts, the
Court of Appeal and Supreme Court as well as some international
judicial experts. The conference showcased the progress that women have
made in Nigeria’s legal profession as well as the considerable amount of
work that is still needed to eliminate historical discrimination
against women in the legal profession and the wider country.
The
afternoon panel discussion featured three presentations respectively by a
Nigerian judge, a Tanzanian judge and this writer explaining the
concept of sextortion, illustrating its various dimensions and offering
suggestions as to how to address it. The session was moderated by a
recently retired Justice of the Nigerian Supreme Court.
In
response to the panel ‘s presentations, Katsina State Attorney-General,
Alhaji Ibrahim Dan-Soho, who was also present at the meeting, offered a
spirited defence of “men” and a shocking plea for tolerance of the
levels of gratuitous intimate violence in our country. During the course
of this prolonged allocutus, the Honorable Attorney-General asserted
that “molestation is self-inflicted….in at least 90% of cases.”
Three
different participants at the meeting, including this writer, publicly
pointed out to the Honorable Attorney-General the egregious baselessness
of his claim, the obvious insensitivity of it and the clearly adverse
implications for victims of molestation and other intimate violence in
Katsina State, and requested him to withdraw it. He failed to
acknowledge this request.
molestation is a vile crime of
violence against mostly – but not necessarily or exclusively – women. It
grossly violates the physical integrity and dignity of its victims,
causes serious damage to public and reproductive health, and injures
social cohesion. It is, therefore, evidently outrageous for anyone to
say or suggest that such a crime is self-inflicted or to blame the crime
on its victims.
Every criminal justice system has a basic
obligation not just to recognize molestation and similar intimate
violence as the vile crime that it is but also to ensure that it is
effectively punished. Even in situations of conflict, molestation is now
well established as a war crime. Victims of such crimes are entitled to
expect the state to treat the crime of molestation seriously and to
provide the necessary care and support to enable them survive its
lingering and most damaging consequences.
Victims or survivors of
molestation in Katsina State, for instance, have no hope of such
support, care, remedies or accountability if or where the Chief Law
Officer of the territory takes the view that a crime of this seriousness
is self-inflicted. This attitude further victimizes survivors of
intimate violence and violates the political and legal obligation on
government to protect its entire people equally by providing effective
remedies for such crimes.
This is why most victims will suffer in
silence rather than report molestation. It is also why the attitude
reflected in the statement by Attorney-General Dan-Soho is a danger to
public safety and security. Any Chief Law Officer that harbours this
view has a duty to re-consider his position as such because this is
fundamentally incompatible with the functions and primary
responsibilities of the Attorney-General.
It is worth recalling
that since 1981, November 25 has been commemorated globally as the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In
December 1999, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution
54/134 formally recognizing this day as such. The International Day is
instituted in memory of the sacrifice of the Mirabal Sisters – Patria
Mercedes, Maria Argentina Minerva, and Antonia Maria Teresa – persecuted
and ultimately assassinated by suspected agents of the regime of Rafael
Trujillo in the Dominican Republic on 25 November, 1961.
The
globally recognized 16 Days of Activism on Violence against Women also
begins this week. In recognition of the multiple dimensions of intimate
and other forms of violence against women, the 16 Days of Activism
include the International Day of Action on Violence against Women and
World HIV/AIDS Day on December 1, and ends with the International Human
Rights Day on 10 December.
On this beginning of 16 Days of
Activism on Violence against Women, law officers and leaders – like
Attorney-General Dan-Soho – must do more and take clear action to
address the multi-dimensional problem of violence against women.
Present
at the workshop were senior judges of all the Superior Courts in
Nigeria, including High Courts, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court as
well as some international judicial experts. The conference showcased
the progress that women have made in Nigeria’s legal profession as well
as the considerable amount of work that is still needed to eliminate
historical discrimination against women in the legal profession and the
wider country.
No comments:
Post a Comment