By Noah Banjo
Global human rights advocacy group, Amnesty International, has said that the failure of the Nigerian government to tackle rape and other gender-based violence cases emboldens its perpetrators.
In a report released on Wednesday titled ‘Nigeria: A Harrowing Journey; Access To Justice for Women and Girls Survivors of Rape’, the group noted that the government’s failure to act effectively silences survivors.
The report, which is based on research carried out between March 2020 and August 2021, covers appaling cases of sexual violence against women and girls, including a six-year-old and an 11-year-old who were attacked so viciously they died.
Commenting on the report, the Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, stated that despite the declaration of a “state of emergency” on sexual and gender-based violence, rape persists at crisis levels with most survivors denied justice, rapists avoiding prosecution, and hundreds of cases of rape going unreported due to pervasive corruption, stigma, and victim-blaming.
She said, “The fear of not being believed, or even being blamed for being raped, is creating a dangerous culture of silence that prevents survivors from seeking justice.
“It is unacceptable that survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence face such a torturous ordeal to get justice, which only adds to their pain.
“The ‘state of emergency’ has proven to be an empty declaration, which has so far done nothing to protect women and girls in Nigeria.”
The Director added that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the safety of women and girls in Nigeria, who were often dismissed by the police.
“The Covid-19 pandemic only exposed what has been going on for so long. Not only are women and girls being raped in Nigeria, but when they are brave enough to come forward they are being dismissed by police officers as liars and attention-seekers – slurs which inflict further injury,” Ojigho added.
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