…ESTABLISHES SPECIALIZED COURTS
The Attorney General of the Federation/Minister of Justice Abubarkar Malami SAN said that the Ministry has developed case scenarios for the Moot (mock) Court Trials which are imperative to the importance and necessity for the establishment/ designation of specialized Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Courts in Nigeria.
Malami stated this at a program tagged; 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence/ Mock Sexual and Gender based Violence Court held in Abuja on Monday 29th November, 2021.
Represented by a Director in the Public Prosecution Department, Abdulrahim Shuaibu, the AGF restated needs to train more judges to handle SGBV cases, protect evidences and its management.
He said, ” After the establishment of 31 SARCs, there have been free immediate emergency medical treatment, counseling and follow-up support to survivors of rape and social assault, including support for their engagement with the legal system,”
While commending the judges, lawyers, staff of FMOJ, Rule of Law and anti-corruption program (ROLAC) and other participants to attend the program, the AGF renewed government’s commitment to addressing SGBV and protecting the victims.
In a brief remark, former AGF and Minister of Justice, Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN blamed culture based interference and society structure as bane of proceedings; he then advocated the need for more procedural measure way out.
A Professor of law and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezilo raised the alarm that about 30 million women and girls might have fallen victims of Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.
According to the expert, unless new innovations are brought into laws, it might be difficult to fight the scourge, expressing worries that drug influence and spate of insecurity has raised the scourge in the country.
She hinted that the events were organized to demonstrate the reality with regards to criminal justice system when it comes to victims and survival of SGBV in search of judgement.
“Sometimes, while some of these things go on, there is low accountability or prosecution; just as little technical can make a viable case not to lead to conviction.
“Sad enough, the ratio of the number of such incidence is as much as 30 million of our population if daily reports and research is anything to go by.
“On our part, we are trying to look at what new innovation laws like extant law, ACJA, NAPTIP Act etc has brought to bear in overcoming this challenges,”
Ezilo thereafter hailed VAP adoption across the States, saying with proper implementations, it would help to bridge the gaps in the laws.
The Programme was organized by Federal Ministry of Justice, FCT Judiciary and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in persons (NAPTIP) in partnership with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (ROLAC) program