Effectiveness of Legislation Enacted to Address VAW in Nigeria

1
Effectiveness of Legislation Enacted to Address
VAW in Nigeria

• By
• Oby Nwankwo
• Executive Director
• Civil Resource Development and Documentation
  Centre (CIRDDOC) Nigeria
• Monday, December 02, 2013

2
Introduction Violence against women

• a profound social health problem for women.
• a significant cause of female morbidity
  mortality.
• a social problem in terms of the cultural
  prerogatives assigned to men by sexism.
• a patriarchal culture both fosters belief in
  mens entitlement to service, obedience, loyalty
  subservience of women partners authorizes
  mens violence towards women in service of those
  entitlements.
• In a patriarchy, the power assigned to men in
  intimate relationships the violence permitted
  to sustain that power foster social control of
  women by men in the culture.

3
VAW Cultural Myths (1)

• Violence should be seen as the final expression
  of patriarchal values of sexual domination in
  society.
• The values are accentuated by cultural myths
  which suggest for instance, that
• domestic violence is a private family affair,
• women who are raped asked for it
• Cultural myths victimize women shape their
  attitudes towards violence.
• Presumption that marriage entails automatic
  consent to sexual relations, terms of which are
  dictated by the husband.
• Mens ownership of womens sexuality justifies
  FGM child marriage to preserve a womans
  virginity for her husband.
• Laws (s. 55 P.C) tend to encourage VAW - allows a
  husband to beat his wife, justifying the
  ownership myth.

4
VAW Cultural Myths (2)

• Longstanding social cultural norms reinforce
  its acceptability in society.
• Marital rape is not a crime a wife is the
  property of the man who paid bride price.
• Divorce property laws customary practices
  disadvantage women who try to escape abusive
  marriages.
• Nigerian women are
• excluded from inheriting (cannot access credit
  for lack of collateral),
• evicted from their lands homes by in-laws,
• stripped of their possessions,
• forced to engage in risky sexual practices in
  order to keep their property.

5
Forms of Manifestation of VAW in Nigeria (1)

• Pushing, kicking, hitting, punching, burning,
  stabbing, throwing of hot water or sulfuric acid,
  wounding, killing.
• HTPs - FGM, child marriage, oppressive widowhood
  practices, levirate marriages denial of
  inheritance.
• Sexual offences - rape, marital rape, incest,
  indecent assault, sexual harassment, forced
  pregnancy, trafficking in women, deliberately
  infecting women with HIV/AIDS.
• Violence by state actors - rape indecent
  assault by police d security forces, torture of
  women in custody.
• Emotional or psychological abuse - a form of
  violence that many battered women consider worse
  than physical abuse.

6
Forms of Manifestation of VAW in Nigeria (2)

• Emotional or psychological abuse involve
• repeated verbal abuse, Harassment,
• Confinement husbands restricting their wives
  movements.
• deprivation of financial personal resources,
• repeated threats to send victim away from her
  matrimonial home,
• men going away from home leaving the children
  mother without any support,
• in-laws tormenting the wife
• sex selective abortion/male child preference
  ideology,
• daughters women being thought of as good for
  nothing not worth educating,
• perpetual fear of being beaten, attacked or
  harassed.

7
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Criminal Law (1)

• Before 2003, no national laws expressly or
  specifically protecting women against violence.
• Existing laws are inadequate, discriminatory or
  limited by virtue of the undue burden placed on
  the victim Criminal Law.
• Section 383 of the Criminal Code of Nigeria - 3
  years imprisonment for assault occasioning harm
• - does not protect women from violence in
  relationships e.g. marriage
• - deals with assault generally
• - It does not provide reliefs - maintenance,
  shelter, custody etc.
• Remedies under criminal law are confined to the
  prosecution possible conviction of the offender
  nothing for the victim.

8
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Criminal Law
(2)

• Criminal Law provides punishment for violent acts
  but the system refuses to deal with violence in
  the home as crime.
• State driven - little space to consider the
  victims needs.
• Non-compoundable offence - does not allow a woman
  any scope for entering into settlements once the
  case reaches the court.
• Higher standard of proof - beyond reasonable
  doubt.
• High burden is difficult to discharge.
• Police refusal to file complaints by victims
  under the CC.
• General perception that such cases are private
  should never be put in the public realm.

9
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Criminal Law (3)

• Punishment for rape in the CC is life
  imprisonment.
• However, the law requires corroboration, which
  makes proof of the offence an arduous task
  provides for the court to remind itself of the
  danger of convicting on the uncorroborated
  evidence of victim.
• Section 221 CC
• penalty of 2 years imprisonment for unlawful
  carnal knowledge of a girl being above 13 years
  and under 16 years of age
• it is a defense under the section that the
  accused person believed that the girl was above
  16 years.
• prosecution must have begun within 2 months after
  the offence was committed or it lapses
• there must be corroboration to secure a
  conviction usually no witness in such offences.
  
• While indecent assault on a girl is a
  misdemeanour, indecent assault of a boy is a
  felony that carries a stiffer penalty.
• Sentences are inadequate

10
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Sharia Legal
Code

• Rape is criminalized in the Sharia Penal Laws
  introduced from 1999 - 12 northern states.
• Insufficient protection or redress for women who
  have been raped discriminates against married
  women.
• Definition of rape falls short of the principles
  underlying the Rome statute definition.
• Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife is not
  rape.
• Under the Kano Sharia Penal Code rape carries
  different penalties according to marital status
  of the perpetrator.
• Punishable with death by stoning if the
  perpetrator is married, caning up to life
  imprisonment if the perpetrator is unmarried.
• A woman alleging rape must produce 4 witnesses or
  go to imprisonment for one year or up to 100
  lashes.

11
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Marriage
Divorce Laws (1)

• Some provisions of Nigerian laws reduce ability
  of women to escape violent relationships.
• Ground for the dissolution of marriage under the
  Matrimonial Causes Act is irretrievable breakdown
  of the marriage.
• Lists a series of conduct for which the
  petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live
  with the respondent - one of which is cruelty.
• Petitioner has to satisfy the court that the
  respondent has been convicted of attempted murder
  or attempt to unlawfully kill her etc.
• This conviction is necessary for the woman to get
  out of the relationship lawfully.
• Courts do not consider a single act of cruelty
  sufficient to evoke the application of that
  section of the law.

12
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Marriage
Divorce Laws (2)

• Right to reside in the matrimonial home is
  missing in all our laws.
• The matrimonial home belongs to the husband under
  the culture.
• Without the recognition of a right to reside,
  divorce laws provide little support to women in
  violent situations.
• Root cause of the vulnerability of a woman in her
  matrimonial home.
• A major factor making it possible to drive out a
  woman blackmail her into agreeing to an unfair
  settlement.
• Breakdown of marriage in our society with its
  attendant discrimination means virtual civil
  death for women.
• Divorce law has no answer for women who do not
  want a divorce but want to end the violence.

13
Existing Legal Framework on VAW Trafficking
Laws.

• In 2003, the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition)
  Law Enforcement Administration Act was passed.
• Government followed up with an implementation
  agency - National Agency for Prohibition of
  Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP).
• Since 2003, the war against human trafficking has
  been diligent under NAPTIP.
• Act was amended in 2005 to increase penalties.
• procurement of persons for illicit sexual
  intercourse with another (10 years imprisonment),
  
• procurement for prostitution (14 years), etc.
• NAPTIP to enforce the law, coordinate other
  laws against trafficking adopt measures to
  eradicate trafficking.

14
Existing Legal Framework on VAW State Laws (1)

• No national law against HTPs before 1999.
• Subsequent state laws prohibiting HTPs include
• Edo State Female Circumcision Genital
  Mutilation (Prohibition) Law (1999),
• Cross River State Girl-Child Marriages Female
  Circumcision (Prohibition) Law (2000),
• Rivers State Abolition of Female Circumcision Law
  (2001),
• Ogun State Female Circumcision Genital
  Mutilation (Prohibition) Law (2000),
• Ebonyi State Abolition of HTPs Against Women
  Children Law (2001).
• These laws have criminalized FGM prescribed
  penalties for offenders, though extremely
  inadequate.

15
Existing Legal Framework on VAW State Laws (2)

• State laws on the fundamental rights of widows
  widowers
• Enugu State Prohibition of Infringement of
  Widows and Widowers Fundamental Rights Law
  (2001)
• Oyo State Widows Empowerment Law, 2002
• Anambra State Malpractices against Widows
  Widowers (Prohibition) Law in 2004
• Edo State Inhuman Treatment of Widows
  (Prohibition) Law 2004
• Ekiti State Widowhood Law.

16
Administration of Justice Sector Reforms (1)

• Government set up a committee on reform of
  justice sector.
• Worked with the LRC to review laws Has
  submitted report but yet to be passed.
• Women submitted memoranda, recommending victim
  witness protection provisions in DV cases.
• A Government draft bill on DV was harmonized with
  VAW bill.
• Committee on Review of Discriminatory Laws
  against Women, 2005 NHR Commission.
• Abolition of all Forms of Discrimination against
  Women in Nigeria Other Related Matters Act
  2006 - pending before NASS.

17
Administration of Justice Sector Reforms
Domestication of International Conventions (2)

• Childs Rights Act, 2003 - first national law to
  put the age of marriage at 18 years.
• Act incorporates basic principles of UN
  Convention on Rights of the Child.
• Act criminalizes HTPs against the girl child.
• Act establishes a child justice system different
  from the regular court procedure.
• Nigeria has incorporated the African Charter on
  Human Peoples Rights.
• Provides for right to dignity prohibits all
  forms of exploitation degradation.

18
Background of VAW Bill (1)The Womens Tribunal

• VAW had long been trivialised in Nigeria, people
  refused to recognise the extent of domestic
  violence abuse.
• No gender disaggregated verifiable data on VAW
• No government effort to address it.
• In 2001, CIRDDOC BAOBAB organised a mock
  tribunal on VAW - to break the silence around
  VAW.
• 33 women girls told a panel of respected judges
  their stories of abuse including rape, incest,
  wife battery, murder, attempted murder,
  trafficking etc.
• National media coverage Large audience.
• Testimony of the women brought many to tears.
• Judges returned a verdict - powerful
  recommendations including legislation.

19
Background of VAW Bill (2)The Womens Tribunal

• Tribunal was timed to correspond with democratic
  elections so newly elected legislators would gain
  greater perspective on the issue be confronted
  with the need to include it in their schedule of
  legislation.
• Promoted greater public appreciation of VAW.
• It had a striking impact, the womens testimony
  moved witnesses to look at the issue of VAW
  demand action.
• It added faces, stories experiences to the
  statistics of VAW to give greater weight to the
  issue.
• Participants Government law enforcement
  agencies, ministries, LG officials, UN agencies,
  cultural religious leaders, schools, donors,
  NGOs individuals.

20
Background of VAW Bill (3)The Womens Tribunal

• Legislators pledged their support for a VAW Bill.
  
• It raised awareness about VAW, actively
  engaged journalists who continued to highlight
  the issue more regularly in their reporting.
• It created a reference point for the discussion
  of womens human rights VAW.
• National state level legislation to protect
  women were developed as a result of the tribunals
  other interventions.
• Cross River state tribunal took place earlier in
  1999 2 years later the Northern CRS Women
  Assoc. successfully lobbied for a law against FGM.

21
Background of the Violence Prohibition Bill

• As a result of these interventions
  disillusionment arising from inadequacies of
  existing laws their failure to protect women
• Womens rights activists came together to form an
  umbrella organization National Coalition on VAW
  
• To join forces to move the socio-cultural
  phenomenon from a private space into the public
  sphere.
• Serious work on combating the menace.
• Consensus was that legislation was necessary.
• Legislative Advocacy Coalition on VAW was
  therefore established.
• Members presented the VAW bill before the NASS.
• Legislative advocacy commenced but the former
  NASS failed to pass the bill before its life came
  to an end.

22
Rationale Key Features of the Violence
Prohibition Bill (1)

• Title Violence Prohibition Bill.
• Prohibits all forms of Violence
• Physical,
• Sexual,
• Psychological,
• Domestic Violence,
• HTPs
• Discrimination against Women
• Provides remedies for Victims
• Establishes a Commission a Trust Fund for
  victims.
• Purpose to prevent violence, punish offenders
  restore a woman to a position of equality within
  the marriage.
• Precondition - to stop the violence promptly.

23
Rationale Key Features of the Violence
Prohibition Bill (2)

• A successful law on DV will include some basic
  provisions -
• a clear declaration of the basic intent of the
  law, namely,
• the object of preventing domestic violence
• a clear unambiguous statement of the right to
  be free from DV
• recognition of DV as a violation of the human
  rights of women
• Definition of DV which captures womens
  experience of abuse with some degree of
  precision
• Definition of the shared household so that
  rights can be protected within that household
• Relief that can be given to protect women from
  violence
• Infrastructure available to victims of violence
  that can make the remedy accessible e.g. clarity
  simplicity of court procedures
• Monitoring the functioning of the law
• Coordinated response to DV by recognizing the
  role of NGOs, medical profession, shelters
  police in assisting prevention of DV.

24
Rationale Key Features of the Violence
Prohibition Bill (3)

• Original name VAW Bill, later changed to
  Violence (Prohibition) Bill, 2003.
• Men also suffer DV should be protected also.
• 25 volunteer sponsors - 10 female 15 male.
• Massive production wide distribution.
• Criminal Civil components to fill in the
  inadequacies in the existing legal regime.
• Recognition of a womans right to a life free
  from violence.
• An effort to codify common law - recognises a
  womans right to reside in her matrimonial home.

25
Key Features of the Bill

• It repeals inadequate laws
• It incorporates Gang Rape
• It establishes a Trust Fund for victims of VAW
• It defines domestic violence, domestic
  relationship, violence, a child.
• It provides the following remedies
• a. Criminal sanctions
• b. Compensation
• c. Emergency Monetary relief
• d. Protection Order/Interim Protection Order
• d. Custody order
• e. Interim orders

26
Infrastructure under the law

• Special desks in police stations
• Special training for officers who handle sexual
  offences.
• Rape Crisis Centres
• Victims Trust Fund
• VAW Commission to
• monitor implementation of the Act when passed,
• administering the operation of the Trust Fund
• manage the Rape Crisis Centre etc.
• Courts empowered to deal with applications
• Medical facilities shelter homes to provide
  services to aggrieved women.

27
Commonalities differences in legal approaches
in Nigeria (1)

• Legal Defense Assistance Project (LEDAP) DV
  bill project at state level - At least 2 states
  passed the law.
• LEDAP DV bill is quasi criminal quasi civil in
  nature.
• Perpetrators who disobey court order or
  prohibition in the law is to be arrested
  punished.
• Criminal proceedings require long procedures
  depend on efforts of the investigating
  prosecuting police officer
• Women encounter obstacles in the course of the
  process.
• Policemen refuse to file their complaints
• Relevant technical documents - medical report
  etc. are difficult to get.
• Women are afraid to file criminal complaints
  because
• they fear that the incarceration of their
  husbands would result in a loss of face or social
  status for the family
• their husbands would become more violent after
  incarceration or
• they would be left without a source of income if
  the husband is sent to jail.
• they do not wish to place their children in a
  situation where they will have to see their
  father in jail.

28
Commonalities differences in legal approaches
in Nigeria (2)

• LEDAP DV bill aims only at protecting the
  survivor from violence within the home.
• Protection order will provide women with other
  means of ending the violence to which they are
  subjected.
• The civil justice process will involve less
  complicated quicker legal proceedings.
• The order compels the spouse to continue to
  provide for his family during the time he is
  under legal sanction counseling.
• Different state HTP laws adopted different
  approaches.
• Most of them are quasi-criminal in nature.
• Each state law dealt with an aspect of violence
  or two.

29
Effectiveness of Laws on VAW (1)

• Violence Prohibition Bill is yet to be passed.
• Criminal laws involve protracted legal
  proceedings do not allow for negotiations.
• Difficulty in accessing existing laws led to
  conception of a VAW law.
• State VAW laws are not implemented.
• Lack of political will.
• No record of the budgetary provision.
• Anti-trafficking programs are underfinanced
  inadequately supported.
• FGNs commitment to the war against trafficking
  in human persons through NAPTIP is yielding
  results.

30
Effectiveness of Laws on VAW (2) Activities of
NAPTIP

• Bursting of trafficking syndicates.
• Repatriation rehabilitation of victims of
  trafficking.
• Punishment of culprits.
• In 2006, government reported 81 trafficking
  investigations, 23 prosecutions 3 convictions.
• Sentences imposed on traffickers were inadequate.
  
• NAPTIP shelters in 6 cities provide victims with
  short term care.
• In 2006, the government developed a national
  action plan against trafficking.
• By 2007, Nigeria moved from tier 2 watch list to
  tier 2, which, according to the ES of NAPTIP, is
  a great achievement for the country.

31
Challenges

• Patriarchal mindset of the general public,
  legislators, government structures civil
  society.
• Political environment took legislative attention
  away from duties.
• Impeachment fever that gripped the Assemblies
  3rd term bid of Mr. president distracted them.
• Lack of evidence based data on VAW contributed in
  the non-passage of the law.
• Lack of awareness of existence of the laws.
• Lack of political will to allocate adequate
  resources to support implementation of laws.
• Institutions Homes necessary for the
  implementation of the laws are not covered in the
  budgets.
• Lack of resources on the part of victims.

32
Lessons learnt

• Coalition building capacity building for NGOs
  are necessary for successful legislative
  advocacy.
• Failure to sensitise the community, women the
  gate keepers about the bill led to a backlash.
• Massive dissemination of the contents of the law
  imperative for successful implementation.
• Legislation gives legitimacy to the campaign to
  end VAW provides incentive for the involvement
  of government local authorities.
• Legislation is an obligation to initiate or
  support the efforts to combat violence.
• VAW must be recognised as a social problem at the
  local level, to make it easier to secure support
  for the proposed legislation.
• Political environment can have a strong influence
  on the way society perceives the project.
• Distraction of legislators by political
  environment contributed to the failure to pass
  the bill.
• The executive needs to be targeted in the
  advocacy plan as implementation of a law is its
  responsibility.

33
Good practices (1)

• Building coalition building and partnership among
  the stakeholders.
• Involving different institutions in the drafting
  of the bill brought in different perspectives to
  the bill.
• Management transparency coordination of the
  project by a Steering Committee of stakeholders
  ensured a level of trust to the project by
  different persons.
• Establishment of partnerships between CSOs
  government contributed to the little success
  achieved in the project
• Using media as an ally partly because of the
  sensational nature of the topic, mass media
  campaign helped to raise awareness of the problem
  sensitized the government legislators.

34
Good Practices (2)

• Ensuring that the contents of the bill respected
  the culture of the place right of residence.
• Enlisting support of high profile legislators and
  government officials was a good practice.
• Framing sensitive issues in a culturally
  appropriate context is important.
• Simplifying and translating existing laws into
  local languages as well as including a simple
  guide on how to use the laws (particularly at the
  state and local levels) will improve the level of
  implementation and effectiveness of the laws.
• Building strengthening the capacity of the
  Legal Aid Council to make the implementation of
  the laws on VAW a core focus of their services.

35
Conclusion

• The different approaches have yielded credible
  results from which a number of lessons can be
  drawn.
• Although the Violence Prohibition bill was not
  passed into law before the end of the life of the
  former legislature, a lot of lessons were learnt
  and these would guide the next phase of advocacy
  on the bill when it resumes.
• Capacity building is needed for CSOs to ensure
  that they become an important social force
  capable of influencing the male dominated and
  patriarchal legislature to pass the bill into
  law.