Who’s afraid of non-violence against women? By Miriam Humbe, Abuja

Credit: venturesafrica.com

Violence against persons, particularly the
vulnerable groups which includes women and
girls, is rooted in obnoxious cultures and
traditions commonly practiced in Nigeria. These
range from physical, sexual and emotional
abuses. Many women, especially in the southern
parts of Nigeria, are prone to violence such
as female genital mutilation, forceful ejection
from marital homes owing to the death of a
husband. Other harmful cultural practices include
forceful shaving of a woman’s head to mourn
dead husband, being forced to drink the bath
water of the deceased husbands and being
subjected to physical humiliation such as battery
and assault, all of which arise from long-held
abominable cultural beliefs are only a few to be
mentioned. Surprisingly, though, Section 55 of the
penal code (in operation in Northern Nigeria)
gives legal backing to the corrective beating of a
child, pupil, servant or wife as long as this does
not cause ‘grievous bodily harm’. In spite of this,
the legal and judicial systems provide women
with little protection against violence. While rape
is punishable by life imprisonment in Nigeria, the
burden of proof hangs on the shoulders of the
alleged victim. Also, the pain and shame of
reliving the experience coupled with societal
pressure to keep silent often discourage women
from reporting sexual violence. The police don’t
help her situation either. They often dismiss cases
of domestic violence as a ‘family affair’ and are
reluctant to intervene even when the woman
sustained serious bodily harm. The customary
law offers even less protection. The Sharia
provides that a husband can withdraw
maintenance if his wife declines sexual
intercourse. It also states that a woman alleging
rape must produce four witnesses. In the absence
of proof, a woman can be punished for adultery
ranging from a prison sentence to public flogging.
Just before leaving office, on May 25, 2015,
President Goodluck Jonathan signed a number of
bills earlier passed by the National Assembly into
law. Prominent among them is the Violence
against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 bill, which
has now become an Act of the National
Assembly. The Senate had earlier in May, passed
the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act
2015 into law. Although the Act prohibits all
forms of violence against persons in public and
private life, its implementation is the needed tool
to reducing violence in Nigeria. The VAPP Act
adequately addresses forms of violence against
women and girls, which are more often than not,
overlooked and condoned by society.
The VAPP Act seeks to prohibit female
circumcision or genital mutilation, forceful
ejection from home and harmful widowhood
practices. It also prohibits abandonment of
spouse, children and other dependants without
sustenance, battery, and harmful traditional
practices. VAPP also intends to eliminate violence
in private and public life and provide maximum
protection and effective remedies for victims of
violence, and punishment of offenders. It also
prohibits economic abuse, forced isolation, and
separation from family and friends, substance
attack, depriving persons of their liberty, incest,
and indecent exposure, among others. But, until
the VAPP Act, there was no federal law
specifically addressing sexual harassment and
domestic violence in Nigeria.
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu,
who presided at the session where the bill was
passed, said the bill would provide adequate
protection for the vulnerable in the society and
punish those who take advantage of them.
The VAPP Act is a child of 14 years of agitations
by the Civil Society Organizations with the
formation of the Legislative Advocacy Coalition
against Violence against Women (LACVAW) in
2001. Activists have consistently pushed for
national legislation prohibiting violence against
women. First presented to the House of
Representatives in May 2002, the Bill on Violence
Against Women became a Bill on Violence Against
Persons in 2008 when it was harmonized with 8
other Bills on gender-based violence in the
National Assembly. It took some seven years for
it to be passed into law.
Under the new law, spousal battery, forceful
ejection from home, forced financial dependence
or economic abuse, harmful widowhood
practices, female circumcision or genital
mutilation, harmful traditional practices,
substance attacks such as acid baths, political
violence and violence by state actors suck as
government security forces constitute offences.
Victims and survivors of violence are now
entitled to comprehensive medical, psychological,
social and legal assistance by accredited service
providers and government agencies, with their
identities protected during court cases. The
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking
in Persons (NAPTIP) is named as the service
provider.
Presently, the applicability of the VAPP Act
outside the FCT is subject to legal debate. There
is, however, clamoring for the VAPP law to be
passed in all the 36 States of the federation so as
to protect the vulnerable in the rural setting.
However, 13 States have enacted related
legislation with Plateau state joining Imo, Ekiti,
Kogi and Anambra to become the fifth state to
pass the Gender and Equal Opportunities Act
which seeks to eliminate all forms of
discrimination against women in education,
employment, indigeneship and other spheres of
life.
Minister of Women Affairs and Social
Development, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan at
a media parley themed: ‘Parleying to popularize
the VAPP Act’, organized by her ministry in Abuja
recently, urged all states to harmonise their Acts
in line with the VAPP Act. According to her,
“issues of violence against women has for long
been trivialized by both the general public and
policy makers. Consequently, the true extent of
violence against women and gender-based
violence in Nigeria is not known”.
Senator Alhassan hailed those states that have
taken concrete steps to improve the situation of
Nigerian women through laws, policies and
institutional mechanisms that promote women’s
human rights. These state-level initiatives include
the protection of widows against human rights
abuses viz Oyo and Anambra states, Protecting
the Girl-child, Benue, and Kano, Trafficking in
Women and Girls, Edo, Gender Based Violence,
Ebonyi state, Protection Against Domestic
Violence Law, Ekiti state, Violence Against
Women Law among several others.
This calls for all states to embark on legal reforms
and access to justice for women whose rights
have been violated. Interestingly, some states
already have laws in place to address domestic
violence, such as The Prohibition Against
Domestic Violence Law No 15, 2007 of Lagos State
and the Gender-Based Violation (Prohibition)
Law, 2011 of Ekiti State.
“Violence against women has become one of the
most visible social issues in the country so for me,
the 14 years of continuous struggle that led to the
successful passage of the VAPP Act on May 5,
2015, and its subsequent assent on May 25, 2015,
is highly commendable. In addition, the resilience
and participatory posture involving a coalition of
actors led by the ministry was apt and worthy of
praises”, the minister said.
Alhassan was optimistic that the VAPP Act would
ensure justice is done to women, girls and other
vulnerable groups who are being subjected to all
forms of violence. The VAPP Act is presently the
only Act that prohibits all forms of violence
against persons both in private and public life
and provides maximum protection and effective
remedies to victims and punishment for
offenders. To achieve full implementation of the
VAPP Act, Nigeria must deliberately eliminate the
entrenched barbaric cultural practices to protect
her most vulnerable citizens from all forms of
abuse.
“Recognizing the work ahead, I call on all
stakeholders, to work tirelessly to ensure that a
holistic strategic action is put in place to actualize
success in the VAPP Act implementation. I also
wish to call on religious and traditional leaders as
well as the media, our Civil Society Organisation
partners, especially the LACVAW coalition group.
I urge you to join hands to lift the veil of silence,
to support all vulnerable persons especially
women and girls to speak out against what is
happening to them and to protect them from
violence. I canvass your support in ensuring the
VAPP Act is passed, adopted and implemented
across all states of the federation”, she said.
In her remarks, Permanent Secretary in the
ministry, Mrs. Binta Bello who said the goal of the
media parley was to set in motion, coordinated
engagements and institutional mechanisms to
drive a coherent implementation of the VAPP Act,
posited that “The Act is clearly not enough to end
gender-based violence, but the media parley is
seen as a critical beginning, a call to action, a tool
for securing concerted efforts across all sectors
and an opportunity to mobilize all sections of the
society.
“The rationale for the media parley is the need
for awareness creation on the VAPP Act which
will ensure its implementation at all levels and
ultimately guarantee the protection of the rights
of women and girls and to ensure that
investments made in enacting the Act are
sustained and that stakeholders have a better
understanding of the provisions of the Act. The
main thrust of the project is to institutionalize
and implement the VAPP Act with relevant
government Millennium Development Agencies,
MDAs, security officials, the Judiciary and
working closely with the Civil Society groups and
partners”, she said.