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Contents
Editorial team Editorial Team Winnifred Oyindamola Olanipekun Editor-in-Chief
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Keno Eden-Ettah
Interview: Mrs. Olabisi Soyebo SAN Partner, Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co.
Funsho Olorunfemi Anne Nneka Osho Chikanso Ezitonye
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Editorial Assistant Faith Awosusi
Guidelines for Contributors
Article: Protecting the Rights of Migrants in the Wake of Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa Dr. Emeka Amechi
PIVOT newsletter is a quarterly publication that delivers a focused perspective on family rights both in Nigeria and internationally.
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Case Review: Joel Anode v Samuel Mmeka (2008) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1094) 1 CA Mrs Esther Bashorun
We welcome articles, case reviews and opinions on topical issues, recent statutes or pending bills for publication on the subject matter. All write-ups are to be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief at pivot@aucourantlegal.com and pivotnewsletter@yahoo.com Each write-up should be approximately 1,500 words. All references should be by way of end notes. Reference to published work must include full bibliographical details, particularly name of publisher as well as year of publication. Publication of submitted write-ups will be subject to the scrutiny and approval of the newsletter’s Editorial Advisory Board.
Editorial Advisory Board
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Article: The Development of Medical Law in Nigeria: The Open Season of Malpractice Suits La-olu Osanyin Esq.
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News and Developments On Human Rights (page 24)
Article: A Critique of the Provisions of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015
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Ifeoluwagbeminiyi Ojediran Esq. (page 54)
Mr. Femi Falana SAN (Chairman) Mr. Mike Igbokwe SAN Mr. Obi Okwusogu SAN, FCIArb
Lifestyle: Skincare Routines for Busy People
Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun SAN, FCIArb Mrs. Yinka Fasakin-Odukoya Dr. Nwudego Chinwuba
ADVERTISEMENT RATES:
20 FULL PAGE HALF PAGE QUARTER PAGE
Lillian Paul (page 61)
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All adverts are in coloured printing
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EDITORIAL NOTE Welcome once again to another motivating edition of Pivot. Thanks to you, our publication keeps getting better by the day. This edition features an exclusive interview with Mrs. Olabisi Soyebo SAN, a Partner in the law firm of Abdullahi Ibrahim and Co. A sophisticated litigator with the enviable record of being the first female from northern Nigeria to take Silk. In this rare interview, she tells PIVOT what spurred her on her rise to the lofty heights of her career amongst other things. This interview is an inspiration, a must-read. Dr. Emeka Amechi of the University of South Africa writes on the sad reality of South Africa’s xenophobic attacks as they affect the rights of migrants. This writeup is topical, given the present struggles with the influx of immigrants from the Syria-Libya axis into Europe and other Western nations. Featuring also in this edition is a write-up by La-olu Osanyin Esq. a well-known expert in medical law. He discusses issues relating to the budding area of medical law related litigation in Nigeria. In our case review, Mrs. Esther Bashorun of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, evaluates the far-reaching decision by the Nigerian Court of Appeal on the custody of children born outside wedlock as reported in the case of Anode v Mmeka (2008) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1094) 1 CA. Featuring in this edition is an in-depth analysis of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act by Ifeoluwa Ojediran Esq. This piece is a must-read as Ifeoluwa gives a blow-by-blow evaluation of the various sections and sub-sections of this overdue Act. Last but not least, in our lifestyle segment is a piece by Lillian Paul, a beauty therapist who advises on healthy daily skincare habits for busy people. As usual we have our usual news and updates on human rights from around the world. Happy reading and please keep those feedbacks coming.
Winnifred Oyindamola Olanipekun For advert placements, questions, comments, enquires, or to send your articles, email us at pivot@aucourantlegal.com and pivotnewsletter@yahoo.com or call 234 (1) 3428150, +2347062320392 For more information, visit www.aucourantlegal.com 4
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WE PURSUE EXCELLENCE
AU COURANT is a Research, Publishing, Consulting and Training firm offering legal information, analysis and industry training solutions to corporate organizations, law firms, regulatory bodies, and government agencies. Our core objective is to advance our clients’ professional growth through training, consulting, and information. We strive to maximize potentials by bridging the gap in knowledge and training. We are committed to fulfilling these objectives through value-driven services tailored to client-specific needs. Our services include: · · · · · ·
Training Consulting Publishing Writing, Editing & Research Library Evaluation Office Retreat Planning
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INTERVIEW WITH
MRS. OLABISI SOYEBO SAN Mrs. Olabisi Soyebo SAN is a Partner in Abdullahi Ibrahim and Co. and the head of their Abuja office. She joined the firm at the start of her career and as remained there ever since (a rarity these days). She was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2008 with the enviable record of being the first female from northern Nigeria to make such a feat. The soft spoken Silk shares her insights with PIVOT on several issues, including her career, practice, gender inequality, motivations and the new Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act amongst others.
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INTERVIEW
You have been a legal practitioner for over 27 years and a Senior Advocate since 2008; can you share with us your experience on your rise to the top?
I
started out studying Sociology at the College of St Elizabeth, New Jersey. On graduating with a BA(Hons) in Sociology, I proceeded to the University of Buckingham in England where I obtained my degree in Law in 1987. I was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988 and was thereafter posted by the NYSC to the law firm of Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. in Kaduna for my service year. After the NYSC year I was retained and have remained with the firm till date. At the time I joined Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. I had the advantage of settling into a law firm which at the time was already well established and the Principal, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim CON, SAN was already a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“It is important to be focused on any goals you might have set for yourself. My goal was always to do well in whatever I lay my hands upon to do and my belief was that success would follow”. You can then imagine the wealth of experience which was available to me. I was lucky to have seniors in chambers at the time who enabled me experience the proper pupillage required by a young lawyer in the profession. I had initially wanted to restrict my practice of law but with the passing of the years I found myself immersed fully in litigation on a day to day basis and realized that it was an aspect of the practice of law which I indeed enjoyed. As we all know litigation can have its joys and frustrations but these all contribute to the great robust experience one should have as an
advocate or litigator, and if it is something you enjoy doing you look to the satisfaction and fulfillment you get at the end of the day and not the challenges or frustrations. As the years progressed I was continually encouraged to take concrete steps towards taking on the robe of Silk. I took the advice and in 2008 I was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). I was immediately made aware of the fact that I was indeed the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria from Northern Nigeria! It was a pleasant surprise that I was actually making history. On the whole it has been a fulfilling experience. I have had lots of support and encouragement along the way. I have been lucky in the sense that I have never been treated as different from my colleagues in chambers by virtue of the fact that I am female. I’ve been allowed to work at my best as a lawyer right up to now being a partner in the firm.
What factor(s) motivated you all through these years? It is important to be focused on any goals you might have set for yourself. My goal was always to do well in whatever I lay my hands upon to do and my belief was that success would follow. It wasn’t smooth sailing but with the proper navigational tools and guidance one couldn’t stray far. Again I found myself in a law firm where I had a great mentor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim CON SAN, who was and is there to encourage and challenge you as a lawyer and who makes you appreciate the profession even more. Also important is to truly enjoy what one is doing and to keep God ever present in all one’s endeavors.
How were you able to juggle work with family responsibilities? For a woman, you must have a good work - life balance, that is being able to juggle one’s work life with family responsibilities and this usually is not always easy. Family responsibilities must take precedence in all situations while also not allowing your job to suffer. A woman must be creative about structuring her career around the realities of life and family. I must say that I indeed had, and still have, good family support. It’s very important to carry your family along as you navigate your career life as it’s only then that you can have the required understanding from them. I thank God that my family has been very supportive and accommodating and ready to step in to ensure the continuous smooth running of our home.
Do you think there are challenges peculiar to female litigators? If yes, how do you think the challenges can be overcome? The main challenge peculiar to
I have never been treated as different from my colleagues in chambers by virtue of the fact that I am female. I’ve been allowed to work at my best as a lawyer right up to now being a partner in the firm.
female litigators, and this is world over, is again maintaining a healthy balance between the home and work life. Both can be demanding particularly in the male dominated litigation field and in a profession that can easily consume all your waking hours but with a bit of ingenuity it can be overcome, as
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INTERVIEW
well as with good home support. There could also be the challenge of the “perception” of a woman being the weaker sex but luckily it is not a profession where physical strength matters so I believe that what is important here is to ensure that one projects oneself as a professional in one’s interactions and at the end of the day being female or not does not matter. What matters is to always be well prepared, conduct the case of your client to the best of your ability and to be a partner in the smooth and successful administration of justice.
Do you believe that gender inequality exists, if so, what factors do you think are responsible and What can be done to totally eradicate it? Gender inequality does exist. In some cases, it might not be obvious but we cannot deny that we all live in societies where culturally, traditionally and otherwise, and despite all the talk about equal opportunities, it is still an issue. It
Family responsibilities must take precedence in all situations while also not allowing your job to suffer. A woman must be creative about structuring her career around the realities of life and family. is important that the society and government continue to take concrete steps to remove all inequalities and to implement all laws in this regard. The psyche of men and women alike must change.
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What are your thoughts about the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act recently passed by the National Assembly? The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 is a significant development and a victorious step in the right direction after very many years. It is noteworthy that the Act is not restricted to only female gender issues.It however seeks, amongst other things, to ensure an end to violence against women including domestic violence, sexual violence, female circumcision and genital mutilation, harmful widowhood practices and other harmful traditional/cultural practices as well as economic abuses. It is another addition to the laws of the land already enacted or reenacted to address some of these issues, but more important is the implementation of these laws. If these laws exist and are not implemented, they serve no useful purpose and in a lot of cases result in the public agitating for more laws when in fact these laws are already in place. It is an improvement on similar provisions on violence which were contained in the criminal and penal codes. In fact some states have also enacted similar legislations.
You have been with Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. all of your practice life, what factors do you think encouraged you to stay and develop in the same law firm? I have indeed been with Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. since my NYSC year. I needed no encouragement to stay because Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. feels like home. It has the right conducive environment to
enable an individual blossom as a lawyer. You continually have an enriching experience because of the varied field of law in which you are able to practice. Additionally you are surrounded by colleagues with whom one has a good working relationship. Infact we see ourselves as one big family both in and out of the office and this also includes colleagues and other employees who might have now left the employment of the firm. It is interesting to note that quite a few of the present members of Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co have been with the firm even longer than myself. So, you do find that job satisfaction one looks for there.
It is a rarity today to see lawyers stay, develop and blossom in the same law firm for a long time. What do you think is responsible for this? It is a rarity to remain in the same firm for so long but as I earlier stated I had an environment which encouraged me to blossom so you aren’t even aware of the years rolling on but rather you are immersed in the richness and enjoyment of your opportunities and experiences garnered. Again, there are members of the firm who have been around for as long or even longer than myself. It is a place where I have found good motivation and job satisfaction.
Who are your professional rolemodels and why? Unarguably, I would say my first role model has been Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim SAN and this was even from before I qualified as a lawyer. I had someone to look up to and luckily subsequently work with and learn
My advice to young lawyers is to be patient and focused. Rome was not built in a day. Neither do short cuts pay in the long run.
under his tutelage. He is indeed a life role model. He has taught me a lot not just about law but more importantly, about life. Chief Mrs. Folake Solanke SAN is also a role model as the first female SAN in Nigeria, her brilliance, eloquence and comportment set her out as a standard bearer.
Do you consider female lawyers to be more suited to transaction practice than litigation? You are asking the wrong person! I believe strongly in the ability of women to excel in any field of endeavor they set their minds to embark upon. We have excellent examples of female litigators as well as transaction experts. I believe it is more an individual choice made by the particular person knowing his or her interests, life goals and character traits.
What do you think about the decline in standard of education in Nigeria; and what can be done to address this issue? The decline of the standard of education in Nigeria is a great cause for concern. It is my hope that the new administration in Nigeria would make this issue one of its priorities as without a well-educated citizenry any real hopes for progress as a nation is imaginary. Our education system has to be upgraded to attain a real and proper universal standard. There was a time when our colleges and universities had a good number of expatriate students coming from other African countries and beyond.
It is deeply worrisome when you sometimes find new graduates, even from the law school, having difficulties in constructing a correct grammatical sentence. More attention has to be paid to primary and secondary education as these are the foundation blocks upon which a child develops. We should remember our parents’ generation when even with a school certificate education they could conquer the world!
Is there need to reform the present modality for legal education/ qualification in Nigeria? There have been agitations for various forms of reform of legal education in Nigeria. I have also been an advocate of the study of law as a second degree, maybe because I read law as a second degree and realized the benefits of doing same with a more mature mind even appreciating better the importance of the knowledge of law as a human being in society. It is also important in the fast changing world in which we live that even after qualification, a lawyer endeavors to embark on continuing legal education.
Finally, what advice do you have for young and aspiring lawyers? My advice to young lawyers is to be patient and focused. Rome was not built in a day. Neither do short cuts pay in the long run. Most important is to consistently work hard and success will be there for the taking. It would not always be easy but perseverance pays off. It is also imperative to go through some form of proper pupilage before breaking out on your own in this profession. Above all, put God first. He is the ultimate guide. Gender inequality does exist. In some cases, it might not be obvious but we cannot deny that we all live in societies where culturally, traditionally and otherwise, and despite all the talk about equal opportunities, it is still an issue.
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Protecting the rights of migrants in the wake of xenophobic attacks in south africa Emeka Amechi PhD*
I
n April 2015, the entire world particularly African nations were once again shocked by violent xenophobic incidents in South Africa which reportedly led to the death of about 7 persons including 2 South Africans with scores injured and displaced, and several foreign owned businesses ransacked. The violence was reportedly incited by a statement attributed to the Zulu King, Goodwill Zwelithini that “foreigners must pack their bags and go home�.1 Prior to that, in February 2015, xenophobic violence broke out in Soweto and other surrounding 10
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townships in Gauteng such as Kagiso, Alexandra and Langlaagte, and claimed the lives of six people, including a one month old child. The latter was as a result of the fatal shooting of a South African teenager by a Somali shop owner allegedly on the ground of attempted robbery. These violent incidences which were widely reported re-echoed the horrors of the May 2008 xenophobic attacks, which were unprecedented in their ferocity, intensity and rapid geographic spread. This is evident from reports showing that in less than a month (mid-May to midJune 2008), 135 separate violent incidents were reported, with at least 62 fatalities (including 21 South Africa citizens) and 670 or more wounded; dozens raped; more than 100 000 displaced; and millions of rand worth of property looted, destroyed and/or appropriated by local residents.2 Even at that, prior to and after the May 2008 attacks and before the recent attacks, reports have shown that violence against migrants has been a long-standing and increasingly prominent feature of post-Apartheid South Africa.3
The persistence and severity of these xenophobic attacks have raised questions regarding whether there are laws protecting the rights of migrants in South Africa and the consistency and adequacy of such legislative measures with South Africa’s obligations under international instruments protecting the rights of migrants? This is very pertinent as South Africa operates under arguably one of the most admirable constitution in the world and pursuant to that, has adopted a wide corpus of legislative measures dealing with human rights. If the answer is in the affirmative, the next question is, why then the persistent xenophobic attacks? In essence, for a nation that prides itself on its corpus of progressive human rights instruments, why are the basic rights embedded in these instruments not extended to the migrants in the country? In this paper, it will be argued that the persistence of xenophobic attacks and subsequent violation of the human rights of migrants in South Africa is not due to lack of legislative measures, but rather is occasioned by the combination of two factors vis-a-
vis institutionalised apathy towards the protection of rights of migrants by government agencies, and latent hatred of foreigners by most poor black South Africans. Migrants as used here denote not only the foreigners with permanent or temporary residential status, but also asylum seekers and the so-called undocumented foreigners (semi and unskilled workers).
LAWS REGULATING MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA The Constitution As earlier noted, South Africa operates arguably one of the most admirable constitutions in the world. This may not be unconnected to the fact that the Constitution provides inter alia for a comprehensive Bill of Rights, which is generally seen as one of the most progressive in the recent decades that have witnessed an explosive growth in the number of new constitutions, many with expansive and relatively novel rights protections.4 The adoption of such comprehensive Bill of rights was no fluke as “[t]he internal evidence of the Constitution itself suggests that the drafters were well informed regarding provisions in international, regional and domestic human and fundamental rights”.5 Subsequently, South Africa ratified or acceded to important international and regional human rights conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and most recently, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). These human rights instruments imposed obligations on state states to protect
“the rights and freedoms of aliens as well as nationals”.6 Most importantly, these instruments now “serve as the ultimate standard in determining the obligations of states for protection foreign nationals in its territory”.7 Usually, the provisions of these human rights instruments must be considered in the interpretation of the Bill of Rights and other national legislation in South Africa.8 The Bill of Rights which is the cornerstone of democracy in South Africa “enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom”.9 In addition, it entrenches the rights of “everyone” in South Africa to inter alia equality before the law, human dignity, life, personal freedom and security, privacy, due process of law, freedom of expression and association, fair labour practices, adequate housing, health care, sufficient food and water, property, culture, environment, and social security. The persistence and severity of these xenophobic attacks have raised questions regarding whether there are laws protecting the rights of migrants in South Africa and the consistency and adequacy of such legislative measures with South Africa’s obligations under international instruments protecting the rights of migrants? The reference to “everyone” implies that the enjoyment of these particular rights is not limited to South African citizens but also, extends to all migrants in South Africa irrespective of their residential status.11 Hence, illegal immigrants are entitled to these rights including fair labour practices,12 until lawfully deported from South Africa.13 This is in contrast to some specific rights that the Bill of Rights expressly limits to South African citizens such as; the right to vote, to form a political 10
party, to stand for public office, to obtain a passport, to enter into the country, to freely choose a trade, occupation or profession, and to benefit from state measures to foster conditions that enable access to land.14 These fundamental rights can only be limited “only in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom, taking into account all relevant factors….”15 The implication is that actions by the state or private individuals promoting violent incidents such as murder, rape, assault, stealing, and damaging of properties of migrants are contrary to the provisions of the Bill of Rights.
The Refugees Act No 130 of 1998 As earlier noted, by virtue of the inclusion of a comprehensive Bill of Rights in its constitution, South Africa set a very high benchmark for promoting human rights and human dignity through state action. Such a standard is reflected in the Refugees Act of 1998 which deals with the movement of refugees in search of asylum that accounts for a sizable proportion of migration in South Africa. The Refugees Act contains a very generous and broad definition of a refugee. It fully encompasses the definition of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees,16 and it broadens that definition by incorporating the definition of the 1969 OAU (now AU) Convention governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa.17 It also provides for a derivative status for family members of the principal applicant. Furthermore, the Act provides extensive basic rights to refugees same as those afforded to South Africans in terms of its Bill of Rights (except for those citizenships rights such as voting and standing for political office). Unlike most African
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countries that have encampment policies restricting the freedom of movement and limiting possibilities for self-reliance, South Africa allows refugees and asylum seekers to move freely throughout the country. In fact, as soon as an asylum seeker applies for asylum, they are allowed to seek employment and access housing. They are also granted rights to primary and emergency health care and basic education same as is afforded to South Africans citizens. As aptly stated by Naseema Fakir, the regional director of the Johannesburg office of the Legal Resources Centre, “South Africa’s Constitution allows protections that many First World countries don’t have. We do allow refugees and asylum seekers to work and access social grants. And so, those in South Africa certainly have better rights that those in many other countries”.18
That the persistence of xenophobic attacks in South Africa is not due to the absence of laws guaranteeing basic human rights to migrants. It is therefore apparent from the Act that the democratic South African government was intent on establishing a law which treats refugees as human beings with rights rather than simply housing them for protection. Hence, for refugees, South Africa has legislated and done so in a very progressive manner. Despite this, refugees face huge obstacles when they attempt to convert their legal rights into effective protection.19
Immigration Act No 13 of 2002 Unlike the Refugees Act, the Immigration Act of 2002 which deals with the admissibility of foreigners into the Republic promotes a highly restrictive immigration policy.
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Under the Act, immigrants who are in a position to contribute to the broadening of South Africa’s economic base are welcomed to apply for residence. Similarly, applications by skilled workers in occupations for which there is a shortage in the country are encouraged but particularly applications by industrialists and other entrepreneurs who wish to relocate their existing businesses or establish new concerns in South Africa. Anybody who intends to retire in South Africa may stay if they can show a net worth of an amount to be determined by the Minister of Home Affairs. In terms of its immigration policy, South Africa has noticeably prioritised and the rule is clear; any immigrant coming to South Africa for work will have to show that it is not in an occupation in which there are already sufficient people available to meet the countries needs. This type of immigration accounts for a small number of migrants entering South Africa. It is a type of migration that is encouraged by South Africa. If you can contribute to the economy and if you have exceptional skills you most welcome to migrate to South Africa. While South Africa is therefore willing to take in skilled and professional people, it is clearly disinterested in un-skilled workers.20 It should be noted that as legal migrants, they are entitled to the rights highlighted above.
IF NOT LAW, WHAT THEN? The discussion in the preceding section shows that the persistence of xenophobic attacks in South Africa is not due to the absence of laws guaranteeing basic human rights to migrants. Indeed, these laws if adequately respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled by all organs of the state as required under the South African constitution would guarantee that the rights of migrants in South Africa will be upheld by all and sundry.21 However, the reality as evidenced
by the violent manifestations that have characterised expressions of xenophobia in South Africa is that these rights have mostly not been extended to foreign nationals and particularly not to undocumented migrants. This is principally due to a combination of two factors:
State Apathy towards the Rights of Migrants Available evidence points to the fact that although migrants are granted these rights under the applicable laws in South Africa, most government agencies are just simply dismissive of such constitutional protection. Such ambivalence towards the protection of the rights of migrants in South Africa is apparent in the recent case of Okonkwo v Minister of Home Affairs and Another, in which a Nigerian citizen, legally resident in the country, was wrongfully and unlawfully arrested and detained by the employees of the first defendant department for a period of seventy five (75) days without being taken to Court or dealt with in terms of the applicable law. In arguing against the submission that the plaintiff was entitled to a sum of R800, 000.00 for contumelia embarrassment, deprivation of liberty and arrest and detention for seventy five (75) days, the defendant submitted that “the plaintiff’s standing in society has also to be considered when the Court has regard to make an award in this case”.22 Commenting on this, Carmel Rickard pointed out that “[t] he implication of the second part of the argument was that he was a nobody, a mere Nigerian trader, and he should therefore be satisfied with less compensation than would be awarded to an important person. Such an argument speaks volumes about the department’s understanding of the Bill of Rights and the guarantee of equality in our Constitution”.23 Happily for the Nigerian citizen whose rights were abused, the judge did not subscribe to the above
Amongst South Africans particularly in the township noncitizens are not equal before the law and hence, you can rob and murder foreigners and get away with it. argument. In fact, the judge while upholding the submission of the defendant stated that “[i]n my view, this is one of the worst treatments that had been endured by a human in our country since the dawn of our democracy”.24 Particularly as it concerns the various xenophobic attacks, such apathy towards enforcing the human rights of migrants is evident from
the fact that despite reports showing that in almost all cases where such attacks occurred in 2008, they were organised and led by identifiable local groups and individuals— primarily official or self-appointed community leaders—who used the attacks to further their political and economic interests, only few have been held accountable for these
hate crimes.25 The convictions were mostly for theft and assault, and the most common sentence has been direct imprisonment with the option of a fine. There were no reported convictions for rape or murder despite the frequency of these violations during these attacks.26 Such lack of convictions when coupled with the fact that the South African Human Rights Commission and other official bodies did little to ensure that perpetrators of the 2008 mayhem are held accountable, reinforces the notion amongst South Africans particularly in the township that non citizens are not equal before the law and hence, you can rob and murder foreigners and get away with it. This perhaps explains the
persistence in violent xenophobic attacks in South Africa as evidenced by the 2015 incidents.27 At the root of the state’s apathy towards the protection of migrants rights is the anti-immigrant sentiments within and by governmental institutions which hinder efforts towards the development of progressive and developmental migration policies as
official discussion continue to dwell and emphasize on the possible risks migration may present to the citizens’ economic and physical security.28 As pointed out by Michael Neocosmos in his analysis of the state’s discourse of xenophobia in South Africa, “Government departments, parliamentarians, the police, the Lindela detention centre, the law itself have all been reinforcing a one way message since the 1990s: We are being invaded by illegal immigrants who are a threat to national stability, the RDP, development, our social services, the very fabric of our society. Moreover African migrants are fair game for making a fast buck by those with power, (police, state bureaucrats, employees at Lindela)”. 29 Such sentiment is much evident in the statement attributed to the exhome affairs minister, Mangosotho Buthelezi (uncle of King Zwelithini) that “if we as South Africans are going to compete for scarce resources with millions of aliens who are pouring into South Africa, then we can bid goodbye to our Reconstruction and Development Programme”.30 Other xenophobic statements attributed to Buthelezi included the suggestion that all Nigerian immigrants are criminals and drug traffickers. So entrenched is the culture of xenophobia amongst public officials that by 1998, the Human Rights Watch concluded that: “in general, South Africa’s public culture has become increasingly xenophobic, and politicians often make unsubstantiated and inflammatory statements that the ‘deluge’ of migrants is responsible for the current crime wave, rising unemployment and even the spread of diseases.”31 Indeed, the 2015 xenophobic incidents especially the ones that started earlier in Soweto was preceded as well as accompanied by xenophobic statements attributed to various Ministers in the current President Zuma’s administration. For instance, in January 2015 before the Pivot
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Soweto incident, the Water Affairs Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, used her Facebook page to lament the spread of foreign-owned spaza (small provisions) shops in townships around the country by stating that township communities “cannot be a site of subtle takeover and build up for other situations we have seen in other countries”.32 While at the height of the looting of foreign-owned spazas in Soweto and other Gauteng townships in January 2015, the Small Business Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu reportedly said that “foreigners who managed spazas could not expect to live peacefully in townships unless they integrated themselves into the communities in such a way that allowed them to share trade expertise with their local counterparts”.33 Even during the April 2015 violent incidences, neither the President nor any member of his cabinet issued any condemnation of the obvious xenophobic statement attributed to
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King Zwelithini. Rather, the Police Minister re-echoed the remarks that “foreigners in South Africa who were undocumented should leave the country”.34 In addition, just like in the 2008 attacks, there are indications that some police officers supported or passively tolerated the 2015 violence while others were involved in looting of foreign owned shops.35
South Africans’ Xenophobic Attitude to Migrants The majority of South Africans are generally seen to be negative to issues that relate to non-South Africans and xenophobia. A study carried out by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) concluded that most South Africans are “latent xenophobes”.36 It should be noted that although xenophobic sentiments are not unique to South Africa, the South African experience is unique due to ‘the extreme and widespread
hostility in attitudes and the violence accompanying this intolerance’.37 It should be noted that several other studies have investigated the causes of xenophobia with varied reasons emerging as evident in the recurrent themes that portray foreign nationals as primarily an economic threat, taking up job opportunities and social services meant for the locals; the perception of foreigners as a threat to physical security; racism, isolation and nationalism; political scapegoats for the public’s unrealised socio-economic expectations of post-apartheid South Africa due to the failure of the African National Congress (ANC) to alleviate poverty and redistribute wealth since the end of white-minority rule twenty years ago; and a lack of knowledge about foreign nationals and their rights.38 Such negative perceptions when coupled with the xenophobic sentiments of state officials, “siege mentality” encouraged by the media, and a culture of violence cultivated by the apartheid regime, have made migrants to be soft targets for frustrated South Africans. In giving vent to their frustrations, some of the responses in the SAMP study portray citizens as willing to take even unconstitutional measures to ensure that foreign nationals are kept out of the country come from a citizenry “that feels under siege from the outside”.39 Remarkably, South Africans’ intolerance towards foreigners is not uniform, applying to all foreigners in the same way and to the same extent. Nationals from countries in Africa bear the brunt of harsher negative attitudes but even within this category, there are differences. With the exception of Zimbabweans, who entered South Africa in masses due to the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, it is fairly noticeable that foreign nationals from SADC countries are generally more favourably perceived than other Africans.40
(Endnotes)
CONCLUSION The horizontal (individuals or groups of individuals,) and vertical (within and by institutions of government) manifestations of xenophobic sentiments in South Africa are the most important factors in the promotion of xenophobic attacks and subsequent violation of the rights of migrants in South Africa. Such attacks have not only made nonsense of the various fundamental rights guaranteed to migrants under both the South African constitution and other relevant legislations, but also, have tarnished South Africa’s post-apartheid image as a country for the oppressed, as encapsulated by Nelson Mandela’s vision of a unified “Rainbow Nation”. In addition, the state’s ambivalence towards preventing or stopping xenophobic attacks and providing effective remedies to victims of such attacks is in violation of its obligation in international human rights instruments to respect and protect all persons resident within the country from violations of their fundamental rights. It should be noted that in order to give effects to the provisions of these human rights instruments, states are required to adopt legislative, judicial, administrative, educative and other appropriate measures.41 Considering the various manifestations of xenophobic sentiments, the requirement to adopt educative measures may be the most important factor in the prevention of xenophobic attacks in South Africa as several studies have debunked several of the factors influencing xenophobic sentiments in South Africa as myths.42 These independent studies have been supported by the findings of the South African Human Rights Commission that many of the xenophobic sentiments are based on a lack of information on foreigners and their rights.43
1 See Lisa Steyn, ‘Migrant policy in the crosshairs’ Mail & Guardian, 24 April 2014. Available at http://mg.co.za/ article/2015-04-23-migrant-policy-in-the-crosshairs. 2 Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seeker and Immigrants in South Africa (Johannesburg, 18 June 2009) 40. 3Ibid. 4 See Heinz Klug ‘Five Years on: How Relevant is the Constitution of the New South Africa?’ (2002) 26 Vermont L. Rev. 805, 806; and John Cantius Mubangizi ‘The Constitutional Protection of Socio-Economic Rights in Selected African Countries: A Comparative Evaluation’ (2006) 2 African Journal of Legal Studies 1, 2-3. 5 See Justice Ackermann in Bernstein and Others v Bester and Others NO 1996 (4) BCLR 449 (CC). 6 See R. CholWewinski, Migrant Workers in International Human Rights Law: Their Protection in Countries of Employment (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997) 47. 7 The Centre for Human Rights, The nature of South Africa’s legal obligations to combat xenophobia (Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, 2009) 55. 8 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, ss 39(1) (b) and 233. 9 Ibid, s 7(1). 10 Ibid, ss 9-18 & 23-29. 11 See Louis Khosa v Minister of Social Development, Case CCT 12/03 and Saleta Mahlaule v Minister of Social Development, Case CCT 13/03; and Okonkwo v Minister of Home Affairs and Another(EL 464/2012, ECD1164/2012) [2015] ZAECELLC 8 (30 June 2015), available at http://saflii.org/za/cases/ZAECELLC/2015/8. html. 12 See Discovery Health Ltd v CCMA & others (CLL Vol 17, April 2008). 13 In theory, people staying in South Africa illegally can be deported but only if this is done in a way that would comply with the rights in the Bill of Rights and the supporting legislation – including the right to a fair hearing – before any decision is made to send them back. See Ulde v Minister of Home Affairs (320/2008) [2009] ZASCA 34 (31 March 2009), para 6-7, available at http://www.saflii.org/_za/cases/ZASCA/2009/34. pdf; and Jeebhai v Minister of Home Affairs (139/2008) [2009] ZASCA 35 (31 March 2009), paras 22-23, 25 & 29-34, available at http://www.saflii.org/_za/cases/ ZASCA/2009/35.pdf. 14 See SA constitution (n 8) ss 19, 21(3), 21(4), 22 & 25(5). 15 Ibid, s 36. 16 “… the term “refugee” shall apply to any person who: …owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” 17 “…owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination, or events seriously disturbing the public order...is compelled to leave...to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality.” 18 Quoted in Steyn (n 1). 19 Fatima Khan, Patterns and policies of migration in South Africa: Changing patterns and the need for a comprehensive approach (University of Cape Town Refugee Rights Project, 2007). 20 Ibid. 21 See SA constitution (n 8) ss 7-8. 22 Para 8. 23 See Carmel Rickard, ‘A sad indictment of heartless Home Affairs…’ Legal Brief, Issue no: 1, 8 July 2015. 24 Para 12. 25 See CoRMSA (n 2) 10. 26 Ibid 35. See also Beauregard Tromp, ‘SA’s xenophobia shame: ‘burning man’ case shut’ Times Live, 19 February, 2015, available at http://www.timeslive. co.za/local/2015/02/19/sa-s-xenophobia-shame-burningman-case-shut. 27 Ibid. 28 CoRMSA (n 2) 27. See also David Cote, ‘Agreed: SA flouting immigration laws a concern…for foreigners’ Mail & Guardian, 20 April 2015, available at http://www. thoughtleader.co.za/lawyersforhuman rights/2015/04/20/ agreed-sa-flouting-immigration-laws-a-concernforforeigners/. 29 See Michael Neocosmos, ‘The politics of fear and the fear of politics’ Pambazuka News, 12 June 2008, available at http://www.pambazuka.net/en/category. php/%20features/48712. 30 Ibid. 31 Ibid. 32 See Khulekani Magubane, ‘Minister’s foreigner remarks reckless and ill-considered, says DA’ Business Day, 13 April 2015, available at http://www.bdlive. co.za/national/2015/04/13/ministers-foreigner-remarksreckless-and-ill-considered-says-da; and Khulekani Magubane, ‘Reveal trade secrets, minister tells foreigners’ Business Day, 28 January 2015, available at http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2015/01/28/revealtrade-secrets-minister-tells-foreigners. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35CoRMSA (n 2) 36 & 41-42. See also Alec Hogg, ‘Xenophobia victim dies – SA police accused of complicity’ BizNews.com, 13 April 2015, available at http://www.biznews.com/briefs/2015/04/13/xenophobiavictim-dies-sa-police-accused-of-complicity/. 36 See J. Crush ‘The dark side of democracy:
Immigration, xenophobia and human rights in South Africa’ (2000) 38 International migration 103-133. 37 Ibid. 38 Centre for Human Rights (n 7) 18-20. See also Kenichi Serino and Stella Mapenzauswa, ‘What Constitution? Xenophobia highlights SA’s double standards’ BizNews.com, 19 April 2015, available at http://www.biznews.com/undictated/2015/04/20/ what-constitution-xenophobia-highlights-sas-doublestandards/. 39 Crush (n 36)110 40 Centre for Human Rights (n 7) 29. 41 Human Rights Committee General Comment No 31 para 7. 42 See Centre for Human Rights (n 7) 18; and CoRMSA (n 2) 28-29. 43 South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) ‘Report of the Open hearings on xenophobia and problems related to it’ (2004), available AT http://www. sahrc.org.za/sahrc_cms/publish/cat_index_41.shtml
*Dr. Amechi is an environmental and sustainable development consultant, a lecturer in the Department of Private and Property Law, University of Lagos and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Africa.
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CASE REVIEW of JOEL ANODE v SAMUEL MMEKA (2008) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1094) 1 CA Mrs. Esther Bashorun*
s t c a F
t f o
Facts of the Case: (i) Declaration that the plaintiff’s mother, Nnemuwa having been left at home in accordance with Ndiukwu Umuiyi Akabo custom to rear children for the continuance of the Mmeka Akabuisi lineage and the plaintiff having been begotten by her at home is entitled to inheritance of Mmeka Akabuisi property as the sole, surviving male in the Mmeka Akabuisi family lineage on the death of Chibuo Mmeka without an issue. (ii) An Injunction restraining the defendant, his servants or agents from trespassing into the following properties of late Mmeka Akabuis.
At the trial the parties exchanged pleadings. Whereas the respondent
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testified and called five (5) witnesses, the appellant on the other hand, also gave evidence and called two (2) witnesses.
At the conclusion of hearing of the counsel’s submissions, the learned trial Judge delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiff (respondent) on issue 1, while he was non-suited in issue 2. Dissatisfied with that judgment, the appellant filed a notice of appeal. The respondent joined issues with the appellant and also filed a respondent’s brief wherein the two issues raised by the appellant were adopted by the respondent as same were “mutatis mutandis” to wit;
1. Whether the respondent is entitled to the declaration made in his favour by the court. 2. Whether in view of the order of declaration, the issue of non-suit is a proper order in the circumstance. The Court of Appeal in its judgment dismissed the appeal and affirmed the judgment of the lower court. The case of the plaintiff/respondent is premised on the fact that his mother Nnemuwa was not given out in marriage but left at home by her father in accordance with Ndiokwu Umuiyi custom of Imo State to rear children for the continuance of Nmeka Akabuisi lineage. According to the respondent, since he was born by Nnemuwa at home he was entitled to inherit Nmeka Akabuisi property as the sole surviving male in that lineage, on the death of one Chibuo Nmeka without an issue.
not marry, the purpose of such arrangement is for her to produce a male successor for her father and thereby save his lineage from threatened extinction .Thus, any child she bears while remaining with her parents is considered the child of her father at birth. Any male child so produced has full right of succession to the grandfather’s title this custom is known as Idegbe in western Ibo custom. We also have such custom in Akoko, the Oka people of Ondo State.
e h t On the contrary, the appellant contended that the respondent’s mother was actually married to one James O. Chukwu, the evidence in this regard was sufficiently discredited during cross-examination.
Concerning the claim for injunction with regards to the property in issue the evidence before the court is to the effect that the parcels of land originally belonged to one Nwagbara whose two sons inherited the land and that Mmeka Akubuisi descended from one of the two sons. On appraisal of the evidence the court was of the view that the respondent did not show conclusive and sufficient evidence of partitioning of the parcels of land between the lineages of Nwagbara’s two sons and consequently non-suited the respondent in that regard. In Ibo custom, a man who has no male child may persuade one of his daughters to stay behind and
e s a C
Whereas, the customary courts in nearly all jurisdictions have unlimited powers to determine cases of custody of children in respect of marriages under customary law; Joel Anode v Samuel Mmeka CA/PH/72/2003, raises the issue of custody of a child born out of wedlock.
It should be noted that “custody is the rights over a child; the legal right and responsibility for raising a child and personally supervising the child’s upbringing, especially a person’s right to keep the child in his or her home” according to English dictionary definition .
In any of the cases where an order of custody is made, the interest
Under customary law, an order of custody enables either of the parents to take possession of the child or children for the purposes of their care and maintenance. and welfare of the child shall be of first and paramount consideration. See s 16(1) Customary Courts Law Enugu State, 2004. See also- s 22 (1) Customary Court Law Ondo State, 1978.
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- S 70 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1970 provides that a child who has attained the age of 21 is not entitled to maintenance. There is however no provision in the Act as to age limits with regard to custody. In England s 42 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1973 empowers courts to make order, as they think fit for the custody and education of a child who is under the age of 18. This power notwithstanding it is not usual for the courts in England to make custody order in respect of a child who has reached the age of 16. See Hale v Hale (1945) 63 T.L.R.151 CA; where the order for the custody of a child of the age of 17 was discharged.
Note however, that the provision of our Matrimonial Causes Act 1970 by s 69 thereof do not apply to marriages contracted under customary law. In such absence, of any specific relevant provision, guidance is sought under the provision of other laws such as the children and young person’s law. It is trite law that custody cannot rationally be made in respect of children and young who can be said to have reached the age of manhood/ womanhood or an adult by virtue of s 29 CFRN 1999 as amended which is 18 years old. “The custody of a child born out of wedlock, as in the instant case, follows that of his mother in the absence of any person claiming custody of the child on the basis of being the natural father of the child. This is necessarily so because a child must belong to a family and should not be abandoned and left homeless for a situation he did not create”. The Court of Appeal rightly applied the principles as enunciated above as held in Enwonwu v Spira (1965)
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2 All NLR 233 and Muojekwu v Ejikeme (2000) 5 NWLR (Pt. 657) 402. Moreso, the above principle accords with the express provision of S. 42 of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which guarantees freedom from discrimination. It should be noted that the court of appeal took a swipe at the obnoxious custom of the Umuiyi Ndiukwu Community that permits a father to keep his daughter at home to procreate out of wedlock due to lack of a male child as being repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. Illegitimacy determines the status of a child in relation to the society, while a legitimate child is conferred with the rights and duties of a legitimate child, which includes right to maintenance, succession among other rights, an illegitimate child is denied of these right by virtue of the fact of his illegitimate birth and he remains so, with the resultant social discrimination that will be meted out on him by members of the larger society. A community consideration of theabove provisions vis-a-vis the case under review clearly indicates that the issue of custody does not arise; it is clearly that of inheritance of a deceased’s estate and status of a child born out of wedlock. It is my humble opinion that the Honourable Court misdirected itself by considering the issue of custody rather than inheritance. The court ought to have made a finding of fact on the applicable rule of inheritance in the “Lex situs” (where property situate) and whether same is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. S 42(2) states, “No citizen of Nigeria shall be subjected to any disability or deprivation merely by reason of the circumstances of his birth.” The
Constitution is the foundation of all legalities in Nigeria (grundnorm) and any rule or custom inconsistent with the above section is to the extent of the inconsistency null & void and of no effect whatsoever. It is the duty of the court not only to protect it but also to promote its operation to achieve its objective of social engineering through articulate and purposeful interpretation of the law. Furthermore, provisions in America and Europe provide for equal rights for children born in or out of wedlock. Though the European Convention does not contain any explicit provision to this effect, the European Court of Human Rights held in Marckx v Belgium (European Court of Human Rights. 13 June 1979) and Page 212 Human Rights Laws and Practices in Nigeria) that no objective and reasonable justification existed for denying the illegitimate any entitlement on intestacy in the estate of members of the mother’s family. The position of the court of appeal in Joel Anode v Samuel Mmeka (2008) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1094) 1 CA is in accord with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly (1948) Article 1 which provides that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and by Article 2 “everybody is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration. In particular Article 25(2) affirms that “Motherhood and Childhood” are entitled to special care and assistance and, all children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. By Nigeria being a signatory to these covenants and international instruments they are binding on us. *Mrs. Bashorun is with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL LAW IN NIGERIA: THE OPEN SEASON OF MALPRACTICE SUITS ‘La-olu A. Osanyin, LLM, mCLM
H
istorically, the Nigerian Doctor was equated to the status of a healera sophisticated herbalist who could do no wrong. The Doctor appeared immune from liability. Negligent mishaps from the treatment of patients were seldom ever linked to the actions of the Doctor1.
The Reasons for the ‘Perceived Immunity’ of Nigerian Doctors
Hence the Nigerian Doctor, practiced unfettered, with patients hardly instituting malpractice actions against them.
Apathy for the courts leading to lack of faith in judicial process.
This assertion is evident in the fact that until recently, very few malpractice cases were reported in Nigerian Law reports , with less than fifty malpractice cases decided by the Nigerian courts between 19602005. Also the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria Tribunal (MDCN Tribunal) which is the disciplinary organ that sanctions professional misconducts of medical practitioners presided over only 92 petitions from 1963-19992.
Patients’ ignorance due to large illiterate population. The years of military dictatorship in the country restricting access to justice. Belief in “Act of God”3.
The reverence Patients had for their doctors. There are existing statutory provisions, codes and ethical principles regulating medical practice in Nigeria. The primary law regulating medical practice in Nigeria is the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, 2004, other sources regulating medicine in Nigeria are the Code of Medical Ethics 2008, the Criminal and Penal Codes and other laws regulating other allied professions relevant to medical practice in Nigeria4. It was shocking to discover that regardless of the existing laws
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regulating medical practice in Nigeria, there was a paucity of malpractice suits in contra-distinction to the plethora of allegations of malpractices by Doctors from patients.
THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT In recent years, there has been a steady and consistent increase in litigations and petitions against the Nigerian Doctor, with a total of 190 judgments of professional negligence between year 2000 and 2007 representing a 200% increase from the previous records5. It is strongly believed that this official record is indeed outdated as there is evidence of far more petitions currently before the MDCN Tribunal6.
Some Reasons for the Increase in Patients’ Awareness The Nigerian patients’ sudden consciousness of their rights has brought about a new medicolegal environment. Some of the reasons for this new trend include:
The increase in literacy level and the advent of internet and telecommunications is making the average patient better informed of his medical condition with fewer notions of negligent treatments being ‘Acts of God.’ Democratic dispensation and access to the courts had rekindled the belief in the judicial system.
readiness to challenge infringements of their rights. The establishment of the SERVICOM which gives Nigerians including hospital patients the right to demand better service8.
Very few malpractice cases were reported in Nigerian Law reports, with less than fifty malpractice cases decided by the Nigerian courts between 1960 - 2005.60-2005
Medical Tourism: About 30,000 Nigerians spend $1 bn annually on medical Tourism into other jurisdictions7. Hence the comparative analysis of treatments received from both home and abroad, has empowered patients to demand better treatment and assert their rights.
Pecuniary considerations with respect to litigious patients anticipating monetary compensation. The re-invigoration and restructuring of the MDCN to decisively and effectively sanction erring practitioners. The increase in the living standards of middle class Nigerians and their
A REVIEW OF RECENT MALPRACTICE CASES IN NIGERIA The case of Navy Capt/Dr. Olowu9: who failed to personally examine the patient having complications in pregnancy for 15 hours, he merely wrote a letter of referral when the situation had already become bad as she was already bleeding profusely. She was later operated upon in another facility where it was discovered that the baby died about 24 hours earlier with several complications resulting in the inability to conceive
in the future. The Federal High Court, Lagos, awarded N100 million ($900,000) damages against the Nigerian Navy and Captain C.T Olowu, for negligence. The case Of Dr. Samuel Wokoma10: who neglected to see and monitor the management of the patient who was in a severely ill condition, thus conducted himself infamously in a professional respect contrary to Rules 29 and 43 of the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria 2008 he was subsequently suspended from practice for a period of three(3) months . R v Ozegbe11: a nursing orderly paraded himself as a doctor and proceeded to surgically excise a lump. The court convicted him for manslaughter. The case of Dr. Robert Akintade: who carried out a major surgery on a 65 year old patient who was obese without testing the patient for diabetes. The patient developed post-operation complication arising from her diabetic status and died shortly afterwards. The Doctor was suspended from practice for
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displaying inadequate knowledge and skill.
Sanctions Without Double Jeopardy
The case of Dr. Vital Eseihien Uhomoibhi: Who in the process of attending to a female patient related indecently with the said patient in the consulting room and on several other occasions in the Teaching Hospital had related indecently with other female patients. He was also reported to have conducted vaginal examination on several female patients in the same Teaching Hospital with un-gloved fingers. He was found guilty of professional misconduct and his name struck-off the register of Medical and Dental Practitioners in Nigeria.
How the Nigerian Doctor can be sanctioned severally without the defense of double jeopardy being applicable:
The case of Dr. Afam Ezendiugwu: who did a caesarian section on a patient without the necessary Consent Form. The tribunal held amongst other things that payment of surgical fee and knowledge of operation are not enough evidence for consent. He was suspended from practice for 6 months.
Administrative Organizations
Panels
of
can
award
The civil courts compensation.
MDCN disciplinary organs can sanction practitioners. Criminal Prosecution.
CONCLUSION Nigerian Patients have become aware of their rights and are willing to assert them particularly with prospects of monetary compensation. Recommendations: Compulsory professional indemnity insurance for Doctors. Continuous Medical Education for Nigerian Doctors with focus on Medicolegal and quality care issues.
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The introduction of Medical Law into the curriculum of Teaching Hospitals and Colleges of Medicines in Nigeria. (Endnotes) 1 Osanyin (2013) Medical Law Seminar Series presented Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Nigeria (SOGON). 2 Medical and Dental Council In-house Journal Vol. III 2006 3 Osuagwu, E.M (2010) Ethics and Medicolegal Aspects of Medical Practice P. 276. 4 Alakija, (2010) Hand Book on Medical Ethics & Medical Jurisprudence page 65 5 MDCN In-house Journal Vol. III 2006 6 Osanyin (2014) Medical Law Seminar Series presented to Association of Resident Doctors. 7 Uche Orji, Chief Executive Officer Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority at World Economic Forum on Africa. See more at: http://www.vanguardngr. com/2014/05/nigerian-spends-1bn-annually-medicaltourism/#sthash.kEiGp3OG.dpuf 8 Oluboyede A (2009) Strategies for improving service deliveries in hospitals- presented at National workshop on Medicolegal Practice in Health institutions. 9 http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/supreme-courtupholds-naval-doctors-demotion-over-negligence/104780 10 CHARGE NO MDPDT/Â 49 /2013 11 Osuagwu, E.M (2010) Ethics and Medicolegal Aspects of Medical Practice P. 253
Mr. Osanyin is a Member, Global Panel of Health Law Experts of American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM); President, Resource Center for Medical Law Research & Development ; Director of Medicolegal, Medical Tutors Ltd (Accredited Continuous Professional Development Provider by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria); Member, World Association for Medical Law (WAML); Member, NBA Committee on Medical & Health Law; Organizer, Medical Law Seminar Series and Head of Chambers, 1st Counsel Solicitors.
News and Developments On Human Rights
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Goodbye MDGS, Welcome Sustainable Development Goals
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
These universal goals and targets, codenamed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aimed to achieve sustainable development for humanity and a well safeguarded planet earth by the year 2030, would replace the now moribund Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global pursuit ended September 2015, after 15 years.
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Thus, the world keenly awaits the collective pronouncement of the 193 global leaders at the end of their parley which would hold from September 25 to 27 2015. That collective pronouncement the SDGs by 193 global leaders in September 2015 served as catalyst to governments of the world and key stakeholders to embark on the 15year development marathon race to destination 2030 when development, in all its ramifications would have pervaded the entire globe with poverty and hunger gone into extinction and the planet earth fully protected, secured and safe for the upcoming generations. A group of wise men and women, acclaimed and famed in their respective endeavors, including economists and Nobel laureates assembled by the UN, collectively referred to as the UN Open Working Group came up with 17 goals and 169 targets under the new agenda which have already sparked debates by governments and policy makers on which goals and targets are going to make the most difference to individual countries and to the world. The 17 SDGs, which will came into effect on 1 January, 2016, are: Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
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Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Goal 6; Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions
at all levels Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development It is hoped that if these goals and targets are realized by 2030, the world in which we live would be transformed for the better. Although the Eight MDGs launched in the year 2000 were adjudged to have provided an important framework for human and infrastructural development world-wide, an assessment of country-by-country performance and achievement of those goals and targets 15 years after, reveals only minimal success in some areas by a few first world countries. The same cannot be said of most second and third world countries, especially those of Africa and Asia where success rates could be best described as abysmal. The fact that the goals set out in the post-2015 development agenda are not significantly different from the MDGs, points to the general failure of the later across the globe. Thus, in presenting the repackaged MDGs now in the form of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), world leaders have resolved to commit themselves to the full realization of the unachieved MDGs within the framework of the new set of goals and targets. The SDGs crafted to balance the three crucial dimensions of human existence, namely, the economic, the social and the environmental may not be vigorously pursued or realized if their import, essence and relevance were not fully understood by the human race through copious media reportage, expositions and public enlightenments. It was in line with this understanding and the essentiality of arming journalists with the necessary
information and tools required to provide quality media coverage of the post-2015 development process that the Denmark-based Copenhagen Consensus Center through its Nigerian Representative, Ms Amuta Okwute, in collaboration with some of the world’s top economists, organized a seminar for journalists from different media houses on 15 May, 2015 at the Shehu Musa Yar, Adua Center in Abuja.
discussion on the benefits accruable to the country if it leverages on the phenomenal targets.
The main thrust of the seminar was to educate journalists on how to distinguish the really great SDGs and targets from the poor ones based on a country-to-country Strengths Weakness, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) analysis as the SDGs do not hold equal priority, relevance and benefits for all countries of the world given their individual unique challenges and peculiarities.
George Psacharopoulos, in his paper titled, ‘Post-2015 Education in Nigeria: What are the Priorities?’ posited that all countries of the world face continuous educational crisis but some countries are doing worse than others and Nigeria is one of them. He listed Nigeria’s educational problems to include low pre-school coverage; low primary school coverage; low education quality; and severe inequalities.
The Copenhagen Centre in concert with some of the world’s finest brains in economics, Nobel Laureates, NGOs, UN Agencies and international think-tanks had already carried out a comprehensive review of the 169 targets of the SDGs; categorized them into 4 major compartments, namely, (1) Phenomenal (2) Good (3) Fair and (4) Poor; and recommended 19 targets that are expected to produce the greatest benefits to all countries of the world. This seminar, held in Nigeria, was the sixth in a series of 10 seminars to be held around the world before the UN meeting in September 2015, where the 169 SDG targets would be formally debated. The targets eventually agreed upon at the UN will guide the global spending of $2.5 trillion of development aid as well as domestic budgets over the next 15 years. The seminar also brought international economists and other experts on the Nigerian socioeconomic sectors for a robust
Papers presented at the seminar revolved around three major themes: education, energy and tuberculosis. Each resource person highlighted the areas within each theme that would yield the greatest benefits for Nigeria, if vigorously pursued over the next 15 years.
He noted that inasmuch as education is important for economic and social development, Nigeria could not hope to solve its education problems by riding the SDGs wagon. He regarded the setting of SDG targets for 2030 as a pointless exercise, noting that education should be a continuous process. Psacharopoulos insisted that the UN targets are not feasible, especially in the face of paucity of state funds and limited international aids, he advised Nigeria to invest more in the most profitable type and levels of education such as the pre-school education and make it a continuous process, noting that education holds great potential for the country’s socio-economic development over the next 15 years. In her presentation on the topic: Energy in Nigeria, Isabel Galiana from McGill University, did a comprehensive assessment of Nigeria’s energy/power sector in which she underscored the importance of power and energy
in the country’s socio-economic development. She charged Nigerian government to vigorously pursue the following targets under the SDGs: Remove energy (fuel) subsidies; Improve access to electricity to 100 percent; and improve access to modern cooking gas. Anna Vassal, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics Department of Global Health and Development, speaking on the topic: The Economic Case for Investment in Tuberculosis Control in Post-2015, stated that officially, TB treatment is provided for free but studies in Nigeria consistently shows that having TB can be catastrophic to poor households. She maintained that if Nigeria hopes to achieve the health-related SDG targets, it must (1) Intensify efforts to prevent more TB cases and reduce deaths from TB by 90 per cent by 2030 and ensure that no family is burdened with catastrophic expenses due to TB; (2) Expand access to TB services through strengthening of the health system, particularly at the primary care level; (3) Provide access to preventive treatment for persons living with HIV; and (4) Ensure that those with the drug-resistant for mof TB are identified and treated. Dr. Gidado Mustapha, who presented a paper on ‘Nigerian TB Programme: Journey so Far’, noted that Nigeria ranks third among 22 countries with high TB prevalence. He listed the challenges facing the country in its fight against TB to include: inadequate government funding for TB at all levels; weak health system; weak community involvement; weak integration; low media coverage; and sub-optimal private involvement. Dr. Mustapha listed areas Nigeria should concentrate on with respect to TB issues under the post-2015 Agenda SDG to include: health
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system strengthening; integration; community awareness; private sector engagement; partnership with the media; improved government commitment and financial support; and establishment of ‘Stop TB Partnership Forum’. Achieving the 169 UN targets by 2030 by any country of the world is a tall order and their vigorous pursuit would amount to a wild goose chase if individual countries do not mobilize efforts at sifting the most relevant, beneficial and practicable targets that would produce the greatest good within the limits of available indigenous resources and foreign aids. Rosemary Nwaebuni, The Pointer, 28 January, 2016 <http://thepointernewsonline.com/?p=39981> accessed 28 January, 2016
Nigeria’s Ban on Female Genital Mutilation is a Big Win for Women’s Rights In a move welcomed as a step in the right direction by international advocates, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill officially banning the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). The
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providing financial support. The United Nations defines FGM (also sometimes referred to as female genital cutting, or FGC) as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons.” Globally, an estimated 100 million to 140 women and girls from nearly 30 countries have undergone the procedure, with the highest rates concentrated in Africa and the Middle East. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, UNICEF reports that around 27 percent (almost 20 million) of women and girls ages 15-49 have been cut. Although at times inaccurately characterised as a specifically Muslim custom, FGM actually pre-dates Islam and carried out by followers of a variety of religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Practitioners often defend the practice by arguing it is traditional rite of passage, but opponents such as Amnesty International consider it a form of violence against women, and have linked it to a variety of medical problems. So far women’s advocates have generally expressed optimism in the wake of Jonathan’s 11th hour action, but they caution that legislation alone will not be enough to eradicate a practice so deeplyrooted in familial and ethnic customs. Real change must be cultural, not merely political. “We welcome this ban as we
welcome any ban on FGM, in any country,” Tarah Demant, senior director for Amnesty International USA’s identity and discrimination unit says. “But it’s unclear whether other countries will do the same.” Demant said that any legislation that recognizes violence against women as unacceptable is a move in the right direction, but it remains to be seen how the new law is implemented and enforced, which may ultimately determine its effectiveness. “We are hopeful this ban will be [coupled] with educational outreach to ensure women have access to their health rights, and are free from violence,” she said. Meredith Benneth-Smith, Quartz, June 1, 2015
<http://qz.com/416627/nigerias-ban-on-female-genitalmutilation-is-a-big-win-for-womens-rights/> accessed June 3, 2015
China’s Anti-Domestic Violence Law: Landmark Step in Protecting Women’s Rights Yang Huanying sobbed as she recalled her experience of being abused by her husband. “You could never imagine what I have gone through,” said she. “The weather was freezing that day. He poured cold water over me one basin after another,” she recalled painfully. “I was not a cruel person, but I want to cut him with a knife, not because I was cruel,” she stressed, turning her head to wipe the tears on her collar. Yang is not the only woman to have sought revenge after enduring abuse from her husband. Liu Wanling, sentenced to 15 years in prison for premeditated murder, suffered violence from her husband for six years until she finally took the extreme action, which inevitably left a shadow over her son.
She recalled the scene when she was allowed to meet her child from behind bars. “I sat there with manacles and handcuffs when my brother brought him in. I called him. He looked at me fearfully without daring to step forward,” she said. “I stood up, took him into my arms and kissed him. I told him not to be afraid and that I will be back in a few years. I said to him: ‘If others say you don’t have a mum or dad, don’t be angry. You have a mum and she will be back’. Then he nodded,” she continued with a seemingly calm tone. Not every one of the sufferers of domestic violence goes so far as Yang and Liu to commit murder. Yet the social impact is so alarming they cannot be ignored. According to figures released by the Supreme People’s Court in 2014, almost 25 percent of Chinese women had experienced violence in their marriage, yet it received only 40,000 to 50,000 complaints from women each year. Nearly 10 percent of cases of intentional murder were related to domestic violence, according to officials. Traditional concepts that physical or verbal abuse among couples are a private matter, not to be intervened with by outsiders, have discouraged witnesses to lend a hand, for example, by calling for the police. Even when the police do get a call, they may feel embarrassed to take action as there is a Chinese saying that «Even an upright official finds it hard to settle a family quarrel». Now that China has adopted its first anti-domestic violence law, to be effective on March 1, 2016, there is legal basis for witnesses and the police to intervene. According to the 3rd paragraph of Article 13 of the law, “entities and individuals have the right to dissuade [offenders] when finding domestic
violence is happening.” In Article 15, it is formulated that “When receiving the call for a domestic violence case, the public security bodies shall dispatch staff to stop the violence, investigate and obtain evidence by relevant regulations, and assist the victims in seeking a doctor to identify the injuries.” The public security bodies are also authorized to issue a warning statement to the abuser, according to Article 16. “The law has opened the channel for public power to intervene in domestic violence, breaking the confinement of the traditional concept that laws should not be applied to deal with family disputes,” said Li Mingshun, vice-President of the Academy of Marriage and Family Law with the China Law Society. Another highlight of the law is the adoption of a writ of “habeas corpus”, which protects the victims from further violence after they report the case, an important measure that is believed to ease the victims’ worries about filing a lawsuit against the abuser. According to Article 28, the people’s court shall issue or reject the application of a writ of habeas corpus within 72 hours after accepting the case and within 24 hours for emergency situations. For the vulnerable groups including minors, the elderly, the disabled, and women in pregnancy and breastfeeding periods, special protection shall be provided, according to the 3rd paragraph of Article 5. Furthermore, in Article 14 it is specified that schools, kindergartens, medical institutions, neighborhood communities, village communities, social relief agencies, welfare institutions and their staff shall
report to the public security bodies upon finding a person suffering or being suspected of having suffered domestic violence. With these provisions executed effectively with the concerted efforts of government bodies, law enforcement agencies and society, it is hoped that more tragedies like Yang and Liu’s can be prevented in the future. Kate Wu, Women of China, December 30, 2015
<http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/ features/rights/1512/2227-1.htm> accessed January 4, 2016
Sierra Leone Urged To Ban FGM After Backing Women’s Rights Treaty Sierra Leone’s decision to back an international treaty on the rights of women in Africa could lead to a new law banning female genital mutilation (FGM) in a country where the practice is rife. The Ebola-hit country recently became one of the last West African nations to ratify the Maputo Protocol, which addresses a range of issues including FGM, violence against women, child and forced marriage, and women’s economic empowerment. The treaty, which was first adopted by Mozambique in July 2003 and has been ratified by 37 African states to date, should compel Sierra Leone to introduce a law banning FGM nationwide, according to rights group Equality Now. Sierra Leone, along with West African neighbors Liberia and Mali, are among a handful of FGM-affected countries in the continent which have not yet banned the practice. Campaigners say FGM is particularly difficult to eliminate in Sierra Leone because of the influence of secret women’s societies which back the practice and wield significant political clout.
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“This (ratification) is important because it demonstrates a political commitment to protect the rights of girls and women in Sierra Leone, and provides a legal framework for them to access justice,” said Equality Now program officer Kavinya Makau. “It is a critical first step towards making FGM illegal,” Makau said. FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia and is seen by many families as a gateway to marriage and a way of preserving a girl’s purity, with uncut girls ostracized in many communities. It affects an estimated 140 million girls and women across a swathe of Africa and parts of the Middle East and Asia.
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the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, signed the ban into law as one of his final acts as leader. Kieran Guilbert, Reuters, July 7, 2015,
<http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-urged-ban-fgmbacking-womens-rights-175210495.html> accessed July 13, 2015
Saudi Arabia Elects Its First Female Politicians At least 18 women elected to municipal councils in Saudi Arabia’s first poll open to female voters and candidates At least 18 women have won seats in Saudi Arabia’s municipal polls, the country’s first-ever elections open to female voters and candidates, local
give its women the right to vote. More than 900 women ran for seats. They were up against nearly 6,000 men competing for places on 284 councils whose powers are restricted to local affairs including responsibility for streets, public gardens and rubbish collection. “I am happy for having voted for the first time in my life,” a woman, who declined to give her name, told the DPA news agency after leaving a polling station in the capital Riyadh. Another female voter, Najla Harir, said: “I exercised my electoral right. We are optimistic about a bright future for women in our homeland.” Hatoon al-Fassi, a Saudi womens’
While the practice is legal in Sierra Leone, where nine in 10 girls and women have been cut, the government has introduced fines for FGM as part of its efforts to stamp out Ebola. Sierra Leone has also imposed restrictions on travel and gatherings, which would prevent people congregating for the festivals that accompany cutting ceremonies. The protocol, which still needs to be enshrined with the African Union before it is implemented in Sierra Leone, will only have an impact if it involves all levels of society, according to FGM campaigner and survivor Alimatu Dimonekene. “The FGM crackdown needs to reach out to people on the ground and women in villages across the country, and a government-led outreach program may be required” she said. “Sierra Leone must take a blanket approach to include politicians, health workers and communities, and even consider how to involve the cutters in the discussions to eliminate the practice,” Dimonekene told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Nigeria became the latest African nation to outlaw FGM in May when
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reports said. The women who won hail from vastly different parts of the country, ranging from Saudi Arabia’s largest city to a small village near Islam’s holiest site. Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi was elected to the council of Madrakah, a region in Mecca, the official SPA news agency reported, citing election commission president Osama al-Bar. The municipal poll, which was hailed by many as historic, saw a turnout of about 47 percent, according to Saudi officials. Women are banned from driving and must cover themselves in public in the conservative kingdom, which was the world’s last country to
rights activist and writer, said in a tweet: “This is a new day. The day of the Saudi woman.” Fahda al-Rwali, a female voter, explained why the election was significant for her. “As a woman, I need some services, some needs in my neighbourhood, like nurseries. I need social centres for youth and retirement, like this. So maybe the woman can concentrate more than the man on those needs.” Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from Riyadh after the polls closed, described the elections as
“momentous”. “People here are hoping this is a significant step on the path towards having a more inclusive society, not only for women but also for youth because the voting age has been reduced from 21 to 18,” he said.
Landmark elections A strict separation of the sexes in public facilities meant that female candidates could not directly meet the majority of voters - men - during their campaigns. Women also said voter registration had been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, a lack of awareness of the process and its significance, and the fact that women could not drive themselves to sign up. One-third of council seats are appointed by the municipal affairs ministry, leaving women optimistic that they will be assigned some of them.
Not running to win Electioneering was low key, with rules preventing photographs of candidates applying to both men and women. But win or lose, the female contenders said they were already victorious. “We have legal controls, which forbid the publication of women’s photos - during elections and in all our work. And if women’s photos are not allowed, it would only be right, fair and equal to ban photos of all candidates”, Jadie al-Qahtani, the head of the election’s executive committee, said. “What’s more important are the programmes of candidates from both sexes,” he was quoted by the Okaz newspaper as saying. Speaking to Al Jazeera hours before polls opened, several women said they felt excited and positive that
women were participating, with the hope that society as a whole would benefit from more diversity in public affairs leadership. “Women here are doctors and engineers - it’s not like women aren’t there,” Lama al-Sulaiman, a candidate in Jeddah, told Al Jazeera. “The international media sometimes has narrow views; they only report the bad stories. We have them, we have weaknesses and every citizen goes through challenges - those shouldn’t be belittled. “But to think that 50 percent of the population is going through those challenges is also ridiculous.” Mona Abu Suliman, a media personality and consultant in Riyadh, said that even if women don’t win many seats, just going through this process is important. “Recognising women’s votes in decision-making is a step towards equality,” she said. “There are people who see women voting and running in the election as another step towards Westernisation. They dislike seeing women in publicfacing roles. But I don’t think they are in the majority. The majority is either neutral or accepting.” Al Jazeera and Agencies, December 14, 2015
<http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/ women-win-seats-landmark-saudi-arabiaelections-151213054750832.html> accessed December 15, 2015
Southern Africa: Revenge Pornography - a New Form of Gender-Based Violence? Former Miss Zimbabwe, Emily Tatanga Kachote was stripped of her crown as Miss World Zimbabwe 2015, after nude pictures believed to be hers were leaked to the public via social media. The publicly available photos were
deemed unbefitting to a beauty queen who is supposed to lead by example. Not only was her career in the cat walk industry damaged, she also received a plethora of attacks from the public for ‘immorality’. Luckily she is amongst the few that have been able to pick up the pieces by participating in a campaign against revenge pornography which petitioned the Zimbabwean government. Revenge pornography, defined as sexually explicit media of an ex-partner distributed online in a deliberate attempt to humiliate them, has added itself to the long list of emerging cybercrimes. Social media has made it easy for any sex tape to go viral across the globe, leaving the victim open to abuse and attack from the public. These private keepsakes are either posted on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter or on porn sites that specifically cater for revenge porn, which has gained a niche of its own in the porn industry. Revenge pornography perpetrates gender based violence and is fuelling an industry that deprives human beings, especially women of their dignity. Revenge pornography is used as a tool to humiliate, intimidate and dehumanise women as it is mostly released by men. The victims are left traumatised, distressed and labelled as outcasts of society. Ultimately, revenge pornography removes the trust element from relationships. Many women have fallen victim of revenge pornography when their so called trusted partners have dished out sex tapes to the public as part of revenge and blackmail especially after a breakup. During the Sixteen Days women’s rights activists in Zimbabwe called on Parliament to enact a law that prohibits the distribution of pornographic material taken privately Pivot
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without the subject’s consent. Led by Katswe Sisterhood, the activists called on Parliament to enact a law that prohibits the distribution of pornographic material taken privately without the subject’s consent. Legislators Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Tabitha Khumalo who took part in handing a petition for onward transmission to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, joined the campaign. The activists have called for the elimination of leaking sexually explicit material as it is degrading to women. They decried the absence of criminal laws protecting the privacy of private communications involving sexual expression from publication without the subject’s consent. Freedom of expression allows the production and consumption of pornography, though there are laws of general application, such as the Sexual Offences Act, which limit the type and nature of pornography. It is a criminal offence in a number of Southern African countries to be in possession of pornography. But the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) cannot by law ban the production
partners. Although many have filmed themselves willingly at the time, such videos all too often fall into the wrong hands. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr depend on the goodwill of their clientele to report any sexually explicit postings but this is not enough as it does not provide remedies to victims whose jobs and family lives have been wrecked as a result. Blocking a perpetrator from a social media site does little to stop the abuse as the image is still out there destroying reputations. Women should have the freedom of express themselves sexually in private. Yet the deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes in Southern Africa point fingers on women in the revenge pornographic tape. The woman is left to deal with picking up pieces of her life and also counteracting rejection from the society. Images of revenge pornography can be used as grounds to dismiss the victims from work, not hire them in the first place, refuse to rent housing to them, or investigate them as unfit parents, among other things. There is need for empowerment programmes to enable victims of social media abuse to reclaim their voice and freedom over their bodies. The law should protect women’s private spaces so that women can enjoy intimate moments with their partners. It should evolve as social media and new technology continues to impact society.
and consumption of pornography. This weakens efforts to protect thousands of women from revenge pornography. Social media is awash with videos of unsuspecting victims filmed during trusted private interactions with their
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Avoiding dialogue on pornography and sexual expression will not end cyber abuse. There is need to raise awareness, develop policies and programmes to protect would- be victims. Sifisosami Dube, Gender Links News Service, December 9, 2015 <http://allafrica.com/stories/201512090486.html> accessed December 17, 2015
December 10: World Human Rights Day Every December 10, the world commemorates the International Human Rights Day. It is a day set aside by the international community to reaffirm the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as a foundation of freedom, justice and peace of the world. It is also the celebration of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which provided common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations to strive to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is now 67 years since this declaration was made by the United Nations General Assembly. However, down the line, the dynamic development in the international human rights law and increasing number of instruments have reshaped the frontiers of human rights architecture making it one of the topmost issues in international relations. Today, human rights stand out as a prerequisite for judging the development or otherwise of any nation. As a nation, you are considered either civilised or uncivilised on the basis of your human rights records. Those countries with good human rights credentials are adjudged as civilised while those with poor human rights records are considered uncivilised and in most cases treated as “lepers” in the comity of nations. The World Conference on Human Rights convened in 1993 played a fundamental role in shifting the UN focus to concentrate more specifically on mechanisms and strategies to promote and protect human rights at national levels. Otherwise known as the Paris Principles, the conference recognised the role of national institutions in the promotion and protection of human rights in advisory capacity to competent authorities, their role in remedying human rights violations and on dissemination of human
rights information and education. According to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, “Building strong human rights institutions at the country level is what in the long
run will ensure that human rights are protected and advanced in a sustained manner.” It was within the framework of the Paris Principles that the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria was established in 1995 by the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha. The establishment of the commission expectedly provoked reactions from different quarters. A regime of dictatorship with the worst human rights credentials establishing a human rights institution? Can it be trusted? The killing of Ken SaroWiwa and his Ogoni human rights compatriots during this period never helped matters. Nigeria was descending into the abysmal depth of despair and isolation as a result of her poor human rights records. Will the setting up of the NHRC change the tide? Well, it is 20 years now since the commission was established and without sounding immodest, one can confidently say yes it has considerably changed the tide though much remains to be done. Between 1995 and 2015, the commission has worked assiduously through seminars, workshops, public lectures and many other activities to entrench the norms and values of human rights
in Nigeria. The initial scepticism and distrust which beclouded its emergence have sufficiently been dispelled. Today, the commission has an excellent working relationship with NGOs, who now have greater understanding and appreciation of its work. A turning point in the status of the commission came in 2010 when the Act establishing it was amended giving it more strength to achieve its mandate. The amended law gives the commission wideranging powers including the power to summon witnesses and equating her decisions at par with the decision of the High Court. The commission has taken advantage of this development and has increased the capacity of the workforce in terms of quantity and quality. Nigerian Bar Association, December 11, 2015
2016 said. But legal obstacles to women working stretch around the world, said the report, which studied laws in 173 economies.
Of those, 90 percent have at least one law impeding women’s economic opportunities, it said. Women are legally barred from certain factory jobs in 41 economies, and in 29 economies they cannot work at night. In 18 economies, women cannot get a job without permission from their husband, it said. The consequences affect only not women but their children, their communities and their nation’s economies, the report said. “We can’t afford to leave their potential untapped – whether because laws fail to protect women against violence, or exclude them from financial opportunities, property ownership or professions,”
<http://www.nigeriabar.com/2015/12/as-the-worldcelebrates-human-rights-day#.VnBHTUorK00> accessed December 15, 2015
Many Nations’ Laws Hinder Women’s Access to Jobs, Credit: World Bank Study Laws in many nations persist in keeping women from working in jobs of their choice, block their access to credit or leave them unprotected against domestic violence, according to a World Bank report released in October, 2015. Women in the Middle East and North Africa face the most obstacles, with laws prohibiting married women from applying for a passport or getting a job without their husband’s permission, the World Bank Group’s report Women, Business and the Law
said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. When there is inequality under the law, fewer girls attend secondary schools, fewer women work or run
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businesses and the gender wage gap is higher, the study said. Among the barriers to women working, in Russia women cannot hold an array of jobs from freight train conductor to deckhand and woodworker, the study said. In 10 economies, it is more difficult for women than men to acquire the documentation that allows them to borrow from financial institutions. Forty-six economies do not have laws against domestic violence, including Haiti, Myanmar and Russia, and nearly as many, 41, have no laws against sexual harassment, it said. The United States and only three other economies - Tonga, Suriname and Papua New Guinea - have no paid maternity or parental leave, it said. Progress has been made, nevertheless, with reforms over the past two years particularly in Europe, Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. East Asia and Pacific economies improved women’s access to credit, while Croatia, Hungary, Kenya and Nicaragua improved women’s property rights and Egypt and Mozambique passed laws protecting girls from sexual harassment in school, it said. Just 18 economies have no legal restrictions that impede women’s work - Armenia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Malta, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan, China, it said. Ellen Wulfhorst, Reuters, September 9, 2015
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/09/us-womenlaws-employment-idUSKCN0R92IL20150909> accessed October 16, 2015
33% of Turkish marriages involve underage brides – women’s rights advocate Almost one-third of all marriages in Turkey involve child brides, according to a women’s rights advocate, who spoke at a conference tackling the issue. She said the figure is likely too low, as many marriages to underage girls aren’t officially registered. “There are 181,036 child brides in our country, unfortunately...nearly 20,000 parents filed applications to marry off their under-16 girls in 2012,” Nuriye Kadan, an Izmir Bar Association central executive board member and women’s rights advocate said during the conference citing data from Turkey Population and Health Research, the Hurriyet Daily reports. The conference was organized by Gediz University Law School and Women and Family Research Center. lthough the number of child brides cited by Kadan sounds shocking, she stressed that the actual number is likely far higher, because
many child marriages are performed with only the presence of an imam, and are not officially registered with the government. Kadan stressed that “child marriages are a major violation of children’s rights,” adding that Turkey›s patriarchal and traditional mindset has led many to legitimize the processes that force young girls into
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marriage. She also noted that “some 97.4 percent of the students who do not further their education for marital reasons are female,” and that problems resulting from pregnancy were common reasons for the deaths of girls aged 15-19. Also speaking at the conference was former state minister Isilay Saygin, who said during the opening ceremony that “we must all share the burden of responsibility to fight child marriages. We must wage a comprehensive campaign to create awareness of this.” He added that child marriages should be prevented through education. Yasar University law professor Mustafa Ruhan Erdem stressed that child marriage is not defined as a criminal act in Turkey. Girls under 16 are allowed to marry in Turkey with Sharia Court permission. “Marriage should be based on free will according to international law. The Council of Europe Convention on preventing a n d combating violence against women and domestic violence T u r k e y s i g n e d in 2011, mandates t h e enactment of laws which regard to intentional acts forcing any adult or child into marriage as a ‘crime.’ Forced marriage should not be left unpunished,” he said, as quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News. According to the non-profit organization Girls Not Brides, the influx of refugees from Syria and other countries in the region has
increased the number of underage marriages in Turkey. A 2014 UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) survey revealed that the average age of marriage for Syrian refugee girls in Turkey is between 13 and 20 years, with many respondents saying that if they were financially stable, they would not have married their daughters off at such a young age. Reuters, December 8, 2015
<https://www.rt.com/news/325136-turkey-childunderage-marriage/> accessed December 15, 2015
The dossier claims other youths have been the victims of an uptick in police and army violenceas a result of a struggling favela pacification program that is part of the city’s efforts to prepare for mega-events. Some have been shot and killed, many wounded and countless others psychologically scarred by gunfights and tension.
Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, December 8, 2015
Terre des Hommes, the NGO that contributed the chapter on children, has produced video testimonies from some of those affected, including
David Beckham, a global soccer icon, model and UNICEF goodwill ambassador, addressed the United Nations about highlighting the need to protect children around the world and let their voices be heard.
Brazil: Rio Olympics linked to widespread human rights violations, report reveals Residents, including thousands of children, are victims of violence and evictions stemming from building projects for 2016 Games, Exclusion Games report says The 2016 Olympics have prompted widespread violations of children’s rights and other civil liberties, according to a new dossier of alleged abuses compiled by academics and nongovernmental organisations. Evictions, police violence and poor labour conditions top a long list of problems linked to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, claim the coalition of activists led by the Comité Popular who are calling on the International Olympic Committee to pay greater heed to human rights. Their report – Exclusion Games – claims that at least 4,120 families have lost their homes and another 2,486 are threatened with removal as a result of infrastructure projects associated with last year’s World Cup and the upcoming Olympics. As a result, they say, thousands of children have been displaced and left – at least temporarily – unable to access education, healthcare and other social services.
Naomy, a 12-year-old girl who sees swaths of her community Vila Autódromo demolished to make way for the Olympic Park, and Gabriel, a 13-year-old boy who was hit by a bullet while playing marbles after the army moved in to the Complexo da Maré favela complex ahead of the World Cup. “With the IOC on its back foot, perhaps we’re actually witnessing a propitious moment for human rights groups to press for meaningful change,” said Jules Boykoff, a professor of political science at Pacific University. “The Olympics have long provided local developers and politicians with an alibi to steamroll already marginalized communities … The IOC absolutely needs to start taking human rights more seriously. This is a no-brainer. The IOC tendency to foist plausible deniability on us has become undeniably implausible.”
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/08/rioolympics-2016-human-rights-violations-report> accessed December 15, 2015
Soccer Star David Beckham Highlights Children’s Rights at the U.N.
Beckham spoke alongside U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Anthony Lake, UNICEF executive director, in the lobby of the U.N.’s General Assembly building in front of the newly launched Assembly of Youth, an installation created by Google that delivers and displays messages from children from around the world. Beckham, Ban and Lake were joined by Noor Sammee, 16, and Rodrigo Bustamente, 17, two people from UNICEF’s Voices of Youth initiative. They spoke the day before the U.N. adopted the new Global Goals, 17 benchmarks on issues such as gender equality and sustaining marine life, for nations to achieve by 2030 as a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals of the past 15 years. “As a UNICEF ambassador and as a father, it breaks my heart to see children continue to suffer,” Beckham said during the press conference. “I want a world where children can grow up safe from violence, free from poverty and protected from preventable diseases,” he said. He encouraged those present to ask “the world leaders to put children, especially the most disadvantaged, at the heart of the new global goals.” According to UNICEF, more than 6 million children under the age of 5 die every year from mostly preventable
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causes and more than 120 million children and adolescents are out of school. Conflict in the Middle East and Africa has driven 13 million children out of school this year. In war-torn Yemen, an average of eight children are maimed or killed every day by violence. Beckham, described by Lake as “a hero to children all over the world,” spoke about his work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, including a recent visit to Cambodia, where he met children affected by severe violence, and a trip to South Africa. He choked back tears when discussing his trip to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan and the experience of speaking with a family who lost one of their daughters to the storm. “This was one of the most devastating stories that I had heard,” said Beckham, who became a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2005. “That story will never leave me.” Beckham told Newsweek that he came to the U.N. to «shine a light on certain situations» involving children and said that it was «one of the most important speeches I›ve made.» The former soccer star also spoke about the distressing photos of Aylan Kurdi, a 3-year-old KurdishSyrian refugee whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach, which have highlighted the plight of children in Europe’s refugee crisis in recent months. 34
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“The images [of refugee children] have been so powerful over the last few weeks and unfortunately they’re images that no one wants to see. No one wants to see children suffering the way they’re suffering,” Beckham said “I’m not a politician, politics is definitely not my strong point, but what I am is a father. To see images like this is definitely something we never want to see.” Asked about the biggest problem facing children today, Beckham said it’s difficult to pick just one global crisis, but he is considering visiting Nepal, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan in his role as a UNICEF ambassador, though no trip has been confirmed. To celebrate a decade as an ambassador, Beckham launched 7: The David Beckham UNICEF Fund in February 2015 to help millions of vulnerable children in danger around the world and pledged to continue his role for another 10 years. Beckham talked about his own four children, saying that when he goes on trips for UNICEF he likes to take photographs of the people he meets and the places he visits, so he can explain them to his children when he returns home. “It does hit home,” he said. “They understand.” His children, he added, are “very proud of their daddy.” Lucy Westcott, Newsweek, September 24, 2015 <http://www.newsweek.com/soccer-star-david-beckhamhighlights-childrens-rights-un-376173> accessed October 2, 2015
68 million children at risk of dying by 2030, UNICEF warns As more children suffer from violence and poverty in war-torn, poor and impoverished countries, 68 million children under 5 are at risk of dying, UNICEF has warned the global community As the most disadvantaged victims of violence and conflicts, an estimated 68 million children younger than 5 are at risk of dying due to poverty, malnutrition, and violence, the U.N.’s children agency said in a final report on the childrelated Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The report urges the global community to make efforts to improve living conditions for children in the 15-year development road map, noting “the most disadvantaged children should be at the heart of the new goals and targets.” “The MDGs helped the world realize tremendous progress for children – but they also showed us how many children we are leaving behind,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “The lives and futures of the most disadvantaged children matter – not only for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, their communities and their societies.” In the UNICEF report, it is estimated that “119 million children will still be chronically malnourished in 2030. Half a billion people will still be defecating in the open, posing serious risks to children’s health in 2030. It will take almost 100 years for all girls from sub-Saharan Africa’s poorest families to complete their lower secondary education,” unless the global community provides them with “stronger local health, education and social protection systems.” The report also highlights the current situation in order to reveal the continued failure of the global community to reach children living
in the poorest households. “Nearly 6 million children die every year before their fifth birthday, 289,000 women die every year while giving birth and 58 million children don’t go to primary school.” In addition to global development plans, many children in conflictridden areas are subjected to violence, abduction, lack of education and displacement. More than half of the refugees are children, the U.N. refugee agency reports. As almost 60 million people have been displaced by conflict and violence in Middle East, Africa and Asia, children become the most vulnerable as they risk their lives to reach better living conditions in wealthier and more peaceful countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) said.
recorded as reaching Greece in 2014 by risking their lives in perilous sea crossings, according to figures released by UNHCR. “Of these, about 1,100 were registered as unaccompanied or traveling without family members. Actual numbers are almost certainly higher, as many children traveling alone claim to be 18 or over to avoid prolonged detention while authorities find space in shelters for unaccompanied children,” HRW stated. HRW also called on European governments not to detain children on the basis of their immigration status in accordance with the Committee on the Rights of the Child. “Children forced to flee abuse or life-threatening danger and who encounter even more danger along the way shouldn’t find more abuse and neglect when they arrive,” said the HRW director. “Their own countries, the countries where they land, and other countries should be doing a lot more to protect and help them.” Begüm Tunakan, Daily Sabah World, June 2015
<http://www.dailysabah.com/ world/2015/06/23/68-millionchildren-at-risk-of-dying-by2030-unicef-warns accessed> June 25, 2015
“Thousands of children risk perilous journeys on their own because they believe they have no choice,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The least that neighboring countries and the EU should do is to make sure they aren’t abused or denied their rights when they arrive.” HRW reports that human rights abuses against children in war-torn countries are the driving factor for increasing the number of asylum seekers or migrant children seeking safety in Europe. Over 6,100 migrant children were
Uganda’s Bride Price Ruling Marks Women’s Rights Milestone, But Clashes With Customary Laws When she was just 14 years-old, Florence Abbo found herself trapped in an abusive marriage with no way out other than death. She was forced to work on her husband’s farm under the hot sun every day from dawn till dusk. If her day-long labor did not satisfy him, she suffered beating and verbal abuse. Abbo’s husband also demanded she give birth to as many children as he wished. And when she
could not get pregnant right away, he mistreated her further and married a second wife. For Abbo, a young women in rural Uganda, divorce or running away was not an option. Abbo’s husband had paid her parents a full bride price of cattle and shilling to marry their daughter and they could not afford to refund the payment, which the bride’s parents were obliged to do if the marriage ended. If she ran away, she would have no money and no place to go. Bound to her violent husband by a customary practice of Ugandan wedding culture, Abbo saw suicide as her best choice. Abbo was one of many Ugandan women who were locked in unhappy marriages because of bride price, which remains entrenched in cultural tradition among various ethnic groups across sub-Saharan Africa. But a court decision this month hailed by activists as a milestone for women’s rights has given hope to Ugandan women like Abbo. By a 6-1 majority ruling, Uganda’s Supreme Court in August 2015 banned the practice of refunding a bride price in the dissolution of marriage. The judges fell short, however, of declaring the practice itself unconstitutional and legal experts said the court ruling will be difficult to implement at the local level in rural communities, where clan elders enforce the customary norms. “It’s still a tradition that carries a lot of weight. I think it differs from place-to-place, because there’s real symbolic value to bride price and some people will hold onto it,” said Aparna Polavarapu, an assistant professor at University of South Carolina School of Law who has done rights-based advocacy in Uganda. “In at least some places, there’s going to be some resistance.”
‘No Equality in Marriage’ For generations, men across sub-
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Saharan Africa have paid a bride price, often in cows or money, to the parents of young women and girls in exchange for marriage. The customary laws or norms of some ethnic groups in several African nations, including Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa, require paying bride price upon marriage or the union is not deemed valid by the bride’s family. The amount can range from a small token to a great sum. The bride price was initially seen as a gift of appreciation and a beloved part of traditional marriage ceremonies in African cultures. But in recent years, the practice has become a business that can lead to child marriage and force young women and girls into unhappy unions, experts said. “Bride price had a fairly benign meaning but it’s been so commercialized and commodified over time,” said Johanna Bond, professor of law at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia whose research has focused on women in Uganda. “Customary law can evolve in very positive ways. In this case, it’s been regressive.” Bond said the bride price practice is one of the many factors that fuels child marriage, which is prevalent in rural pockets throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Women are often viewed as property that can be bought and sold, and daughters are sources of income for the family. In Uganda, which has some of the world’s worst poverty levels, the bride price has become an economic incentive for some impoverished parents to pull their young daughters from school so they can get married. An estimated 40 percent of girls in Uganda are married before they turn 18, with eastern and northern Uganda recording the highest number of child marriages,
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according to the United Nations. “The bride price parents would receive for a girl is compromised if she is sexually active,” said Bond. “One strategy parents use is to marry girls earlier so there’s less risk they’ll get pregnant. They’ll have a higher bride price.” Prior to this ruling, married Ugandan women and girls could not divorce their husbands unless they refunded the price paid for them, which many families cannot afford because they often use a daughter’s bride price to pay for a son’s wife. Local women’s rights group Mifumi, which first launched the court case in 2007, said the court decision to outlaw the refund has set a precedent in subSaharan Africa and will empower women in Uganda. “I was over the moon. No country has ever ruled in sub-Saharan Africa against culture,” said Felicity Atuki Turner, executive director of
Mifumi, which is based in Tororo, Uganda. “It’s a huge cultural blow. The practice is now far more likely to die out.” When Turner and her mother started the Mifumi organization in eastern Uganda in 1999, they immediately noticed a high-level of domestic violence cases linked to the bride price practice. A United Nations survey conducted that same year in 16 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America found Uganda had
the highest incidence of domestic violence. “I remember my mum telling me, ‘If you really want to address domestic violence, you’ve got to look at this issue of bride price.’” Turner said. “It opened my eyes. There was no equality in marriage.”
‘My Husband Was Trying To Kill Me’ Abbo, who lived in a remote village outside Tororo, once fled her husband’s house and sought refuge from her parents. But her father refused her because he did not have the cows to refund Abbo’s bride price. Abbo’s brother had used the family’s cattle to pay bride price for his own wife, she said “My father would not let me step into his compound, even if I came with bruises and in tears. He would shout, ‘Get out of here, this is not your home, this is not your clan, you do not belong here anymore!’” said Abbo. Bruised and battered from years of an abusive marriage, Abbo decided the only way to end her suffering was to end her own life, even though she had mothered five children. So she took rat poison, which was cheap and readily available at the village kiosk. “My husband knew that if I left, he would be entitled to a refund. He did not care if he beat me to death,” Abbo said. “So I thought since I did not belong and my husband was trying to kill me anyway, I would end it myself. Then it would be on my terms. I would make sure it was peaceful and painless.” A neighbour discovered Abbo unconscious and called for medical attention. She survived the suicide attempt and later received counseling from Mifumi. Upon her full recovery, the local organization helped Abbo refund her bride price and divorce her violent husband after
13 years of marriage. Abbo, who is now in her 30s, resettled with her relatives and gained custody of her children, who range in age from 12 to 21 years-old. Today, Abbo is a rice farmer and a renowned women’s rights activist in the village of Rubongi, where she runs a domestic violence survivor support group. She also chairs the Village Savings and Loans Scheme in Rubongi, which helps poor households save and borrow money. Abbo lives happily with her children and said she does not wish to marry again. The bride price practice also has an emotionally and financially crippling impact on men. Those who cannot afford to pay bride price cannot be legally married. There are also other ramifications of the practice. In 2006, Ugandan resident James Jagwere lost his wife, with whom he had three children. His wife’s relatives demanded a hefty payment because Jagwere never paid her bride price. Customary laws in Uganda, which vary by region and clan, often require the bride price be paid before a dead female spouse can be buried. Because he could not afford the payment on his own, Jagwere said he desperately sought to borrow the amount in cows and shillings from friends, family and neighbors for weeks while his wife’s body decayed in his home. In 2014, the Butalegja district in eastern Uganda passed a by-law that prohibits blocking the burial of a dead female spouse over nonpayment of bride price by the husband. The law, which was initiated by Mifumi, also prohibits the demand for or payment or refund of bride price, according to Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor.
‘Tears of Victory’ Over Supreme Court Ruling Abbo said she cried “tears of victory” when Uganda’s Supreme Court in the capital Kampala outlawed the mandatory refund. The court ruled the refund was “dehumanizing to women” because it infringed on a woman’s right to divorce and suggested they were in a marketplace. One justice said it was “unfair” for the bride’s parents to be asked to refund the bride price and it was unlikely the family would still have the money or property after years of marriage. While the judges rejected the argument that requiring bride price for a valid traditional marriage was unconstitutional, the ruling’s rhetoric marked a breakthrough for women’s rights in Uganda. “The return of [the] bride price connotes that the woman in marriage was some sort of loan. But even in sale, the cliché is that goods once sold cannot be returned or goods once used cannot be refunded,” said Ugandan Justice Bart Katureebe, one of the six judges who consented to the ruling, according to the Guardian. “If that cannot be done in respect to common goods like cows, why should it be applied to a woman in marriage?” But the ruling in Kampala, an urban city, might not effect the customs enforced by local leaders in remote regions that are miles away from the nearest courthouse. Residents in rural areas typically rely on their local council or clan elders to settle personal matters, including marriage, and the leaders might uphold the traditional practice of refunding bride price despite the Supreme Court decision, experts said. “Depending on where you are in Uganda, customary law is more legitimate,” said Polavarapu. “If you’re in a far out rural area, there’s
a good chance the customary institutions will have much more legitimacy to you.” Mifumi, which has long sought to make bride price optional and nonrefundable in Uganda, plans to open another case in the country’s Constitutional Court to challenge the constitutionality of demanding payment for marriage, which activists said remains a barrier for the women’s rights movement. “Girls are still viewed as property rather than children with rights,” Turner said. Morgan Winsor, International Business Times, August 20, 2015
<http://www.ibtimes.com/ugandas-bride-price-rulingmarks-womens-rights-milestone-clashes-customarylaws-2059128> accessed August 26, 2015
Series of Assaults on Children Spark Outrage in Bangladesh ‘Uncle, please stop now, or else, I am going to die,” the 12-year-old boy reportedly cried. But his former employers at the motor garage shop in Bangladesh were infuriated at him for working for someone else. In their rage, they stripped him naked and inserted an air pump nozzle into his rectum and pumped air into his body. After they were done torturing Rakib Hawlader, he started to throw up and faint. His tormentors took him to a local hospital but it was too late. According to reports, his intestines had torn apart and his lungs burst. He died that same night. This horrifying incident occurred just days after another young boy Samiul Alam Rajon - was tied to a pole and beaten to death by a group of men, for allegedly stealing a rickshaw cycle. The entire scene was captured on a mobile phone and went viral on social media. Recently, another young boy named Robiul Alam was struck on the head with a crowbar and died from his injuries after being accused of Pivot
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stealing fish. And these are just the cases that made the headlines. The public responded with large demonstrations across the country, demanding justice. But children’s rights advocates say decades of inaction have led to these crimes, and even today, not nearly enough is being done to protect the rights of children in the impoverished nation Bangladesh is not an easy place to be a child. According to the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum, a child advocacy group, 292 children were murdered in 2014. In addition, millions of children in Bangladesh are exploited in broad daylight, much of it is accepted by society. Children, seen as cheap labor, are widely employed - from working as domestic help, to selling trinkets on the street, to working in hazardous jobs. “I have seen everything from children being used as sex workers, children as the carrier of drugs,
children as informal factory help and children being used in political demonstrations and to carry arms,” said Shahana Siddiqui, a children’s rights advocate based in Bangladesh. “We do not see poor children to be little persons who need care and protection.”
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Bangladesh is a tiny country that won its independence from Pakistan in 1971. In its existence, the country has made significant strides on several social issues: life expectancy has risen, the typical family size has shrunk and two of their largest nongovernmental organizations (NGO) - BRAC and Grameen Bank- have helped many poor families escape poverty. But experts say that even though Bangladesh ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, there is much to be done. Siddiqui, who works for BRAC University and is the co-founder of Maya, a website that delivers legal and medical advice to young women and girls, says that a poor child is seen by most struggling families as just another mouth to feed. Young girls have it especially hard - many are married off early or get lured into sex work. Working children often live away from their families. Those employed as domestic workers usually live with their employer and can endure scoldings, beatings, sexual abuse and economic exploitation. Many children who work in hazardous jobs lack appropriate safety gear and end up suffering from long-lasting health and respiratory problems. Child workers are also prime targets for traffickers. According to UNICEF, many sexually exploited children worked across various sectors before being lured into prostitution. At the heart of the issue is the wider view of a child’s place society that resonates across social strata.
A report by Odhikar, a human rights organization in Bangladesh, claims that though children are welcome in adults’ personal lives and family lives, they are not viewed as having a legitimate voice in society. Children in Bangladesh, the report found, do not get the opportunity to share their feelings or thoughts on matters that have direct or indirect impact on their lives. “In Rajon’s case, the fact he was a poor boy that allegedly stole something made the violence acceptable both because he is poor but also because children are not supposed to be heard,” said Chaumtoli Huq, a human rights attorney who has researched labor issues in Bangladesh, including the collapse of Rana Plaza, a garments factory that employed children. Many people in Bangladesh also have a hard time looking at a working child as a child, and view them instead as adults. “Most of the children under our coverage are street children, who face violence from the police, fellow street children, from everybody,” said Michael McGrath, Country Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh. McGrath suggested appointing police officers specifically for women and children in every police station to protect them from acts of violence. “Bangladesh is not a country where people are evil or hard-hearted,” said McGrath. “We must never have people standing while children are beaten and killed.” Siddiqui believes that until Bangladesh can safeguard the future of its children, its economic advancements are moot. “A country advances not only by its GDP per capita,” said Siddiqui, “but by the kinds of social safety nets they have for their vulnerable communities.”
Farah Akbar, NBC News, August 17, 2015 <http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/seriesassaults-children-spark-outrage-bangladesh-n411061> accessed August 26, 2015
Colombia confronts femicide, the ‘most extreme form of violence against women’ Colombia’s new law on femicide is a key step to combat violence against women, but forensic experts and prosecutors will need to change the way they investigate gender-related killings to win convictions, officials said.
laws in recent years that define and punish femicide as a specific crime. “The law sends a very direct and emphatic message to perpetrators of femicide,” said Martha Ordonez, Colombia’s presidential advisor on women’s rights. Colombia’s macho culture, and a lack of awareness among women about their rights and laws passed to protect them, are reasons for the widespread violence against women, she said.
In this Latin American country of 47 million people where on average one woman is killed every two days, the issue of femicide - defined as the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender - is under the spotlight.
“Femicide represents the most extreme form of violence and discrimination against women. It’s quite a concern in Colombia. Some women don’t know their rights, that they have the right to be treated with respect and not be abused,” Ordonez said.
The law, which came into effect July 6, 2015, makes femicide a distinct and legally defined crime, with jail sentences of 20 to 41 years.
Victims of femicide often have a long history of domestic violence, and perpetrators are often current or former partners.
The challenge now is enforcement of the law and ensuring that police, prosecutors and forensic experts are trained to identify and investigate cases of femicide. The prosecutor’s office needs to “change the way femicides are investigated from the scene of the crime to the court room”, Miguel Emilio La Rota, head of public policy and planning at Colombia’s attorney general’s office, told officials and women’s rights campaigners at a conference in Bogota on Wednesday. Experts say new protocols and techniques for autopsies on murdered women and guidelines on clues to possible femicide - such as torture, rape, genital mutilation - need to be implemented. Colombia follows 15 other countries in Latin America that have passed
“Femicide doesn’t just happen from one day to the next. There’s a history of threats, of psychological and physical abuse that gets worse, which often starts from the first boyfriend a girl has,” Ordonez said. IMPUNITY IS THE NORM Latin America has the highest femicide rates in the world, says the United Nations women’s rights agency.
femicides is more the norm than the exception,” said Belen Sanz, head of U.N. Women in Colombia. Costa Rica, which in 2007 became the first country in Latin America to pass a law on femicide, has made progress in raising awareness about gender crimes. “Before the law, nobody was talking about femicides in Costa Rica. It made violence against women more visible,” said prosecutor Eugenia Salazar, head of the sex crimes and domestic violence unit at Costa Rica’s attorney general’s office. “We’ve found the biggest challenge in implementing the femicide law is cultural. There’s still resistance towards investigating crimes of violence against women.” Anastasia Moloney, Reuters Foundation, August 20, 2015
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/20/us-colombiawomen-murder-idUSKCN0QP0CM20150820> accessed August 26, 2015
The Abuse Women Face During Childbirth Around the world, women giving birth are facing physical and verbal abuse, neglect, and discrimination, largely because of health system failures, a new study suggests. “Every woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to dignified, respectful health care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, as well
More than half of the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates are in the Americas, according to a 2012 report by the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project in Geneva. The report says worldwide 66,000 women were victims of femicide between 2004 and 2009, a problem fueled by few criminal convictions. “In many countries, impunity for
as the right to be free from violence and discrimination,” said Meghan Bohren, the study’s lead author, in an email.
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Mistreatment during childbirth can amount to a violation of a woman’s fundamental human rights, said Bohren, a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Strategies for reducing maternal mortality include encouraging women to get good prenatal and pregnancy care, and to deliver their babies in healthcare facilities, Bohren and colleagues write in PLOS Medicine. But those goals are challenging because of cultural and physical obstacles, they write, and require “efforts to improve the coverage and quality of care provided to women at health facilities, including women’s rights to dignified and respectful care.” The first step in improving the quality of care is documenting the problems, the researchers say. “One key gap that we identified was that there were no standardized and agreed upon classification systems of how women are mistreated during childbirth,” Bohren said. “This complicated efforts to measure how often this mistreatment was occurring and to develop interventions to prevent its occurrence.” The analysis reviewed childbirth experiences as reported in 65 earlier studies from 34 countries. Women complained of being beaten, pinched and slapped by health providers during childbirth, and being physically restrained. Healthcare providers spoke to them harshly or rudely and “shamed” them with inappropriate comments about their sexual activity, especially adolescents and unmarried women. Healthcare providers also threatened to withhold care or not offer good care because of misbehavior. Many women felt discriminated against based on their ethnic, racial or religious backgrounds, socioeconomic status, age and having HIV, making them feel alienated from health care workers.
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Women also reported painful or excessive number of vaginal exams, staff who refused to offer pain relief, lack of informed consent and breaches of confidentiality. Women felt scared of some medical procedures because of poor communication with health providers. Some women said their companions weren’t allowed to stay with them during childbirth and they were forced to deliver lying down, rather than squatting or kneeling. Overworked healthcare workers and staff shortages led to long patient waits and feelings of neglect. Medication, gloves and blood could sometimes be scarce. In some facilities, women said they had to pay bribes to receive adequate treatment. Women complained about a lack of privacy during vaginal and abdominal exams. They also said they were afraid to complain about mistreatment or didn’t know their rights.
help them feel good and help them (want to) bring their children back for pediatric care and for them to get postnatal care,” Raja told Reuters Health. Raja, who was not involved in this study, said her own research on dehumanization in the health care system showed lack of privacy, poor rapport with health care providers and feeling judged or demeaned because of their socioeconomic and insurance status were also issues for lower income women in the U.S. “There’s a lot here that applies not only across the globe but to our healthcare system, as well,” she said. “Thankfully we have some good rules in place about the need to explain things but I think we can work more at doing some of that.”
And many women said their negative experiences made them want to deliver their next child at home rather than in a healthcare facility. “Providing quality care during pregnancy and childbirth should be tantamount to any efforts to reduce mortality and morbidity, and this care must be provided in a respectful and woman-centered way,” Bohren said.
Reuters, July 10, 2015,
Sheela Raja, a clinical psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the results were striking because childbirth was a time when women were often at their most vulnerable. “They don’t know what to expect and what the outcome will be and to have a supportive environment can
Poverty, cultural practices and a shortage of primary healthcare services are forcing women in Nigeria to seek the help of untrained traditional birth attendants, despite the serious risks involved.
<https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/the-abuse-womenface-during-childbirth-123744481242.html> Accessed July 13, 2015
Traditional Birthing Practices Still Flourish in Nigeria Despite the dangers, many women shun trained medical help during childbirth
According to the World Health
Organisation’s figures for 2013 on maternal mortality, 560 women die per 100,000 births in Nigeria. That figure includes women who die during or within 42 days of giving birth. Figures for Nigeria published by the World Bank in 2011 show that 49 per cent of births were attended by trained healthcare workers. Didikankide Joseph is a traditional birth attendant in the Bomadi area of Nigeria’s Delta State. He has a good reputation in his community and he is always ready to help women to give birth.
for a while. When I am through with the first woman, I will come back to others.” Joseph has been practising as a traditional birth attendant since 1991, and his business is growing. He says he has never received any formal training from anyone “except God”. If complications occur, his normal response is to use mysticism or appeal for divine intervention. In any tough situation, Joseph prays to God for assistance. There are times when a woman’s labour ceases by the time it is her turn. In such a situation, Joseph says he commands
In an interview with TELL magazine, he recalled how he once helped a woman who had been told by doctors that she needed a Caesarean section that would cost 40,000 naira. Unable to afford this, the woman came to Joseph’s makeshift clinic where he charges no more than 10,000 naira to deliver a child. Joseph’s clinic is in a small hut at his home. It has no mattresses or any equipment besides a pair of gloves and needles. There is no ventilation, and the hut is so small that two pregnant women can barely squeeze in at once. Expectant mothers have to wait outside for their turn even if they are already in labour. In the first nine months of 2014, Joseph delivered 68 babies. “Sometimes [women coming to the clinic] are so many that I don’t have chance to attend to them,” he said. “I tell some of them to leave my house, but they choose to wait. If any one of them starts experiencing labour pains, I command the baby to wait for its turn, and the labour will stop
She described her methods to TELL magazine. “When a woman is in labour, I take her to the back of my house, where I have a plantain farm. [The woman] would sit on a [log] facing the river where her blood would be flushed during delivery,” she said. “Then I will start some incantations. When the baby is ready to come out, I will cut the leaves of the plantain and place them on the floor. That would be where I would keep the baby when it is delivered. I will then dig a small hole in the ground where I would bury the placenta.” Like Joseph, Jubril believes that no woman should give birth by Caesarean section because she can ensure a delivery without this. When there are complications, Jubril mixes a drink from some local herbs and gives it to the mother. After that she gently pushes a stick into the woman’s mouth three times. On the third push, she claims that the woman will deliver her baby naturally.
the woman to start labour again. Over the years, he has attended successful births, while others have been very problematic. He recalled a case of a mother who gave birth to twins, and the firstborn died after it was delivered legs first. The second twin survived. Joseph is just one of many traditional birth attendants who operate in Nigeria. Salamotu Jubril, 47, is a birth attendant in Idah, in Nigeria’s northern Kogi State. She practices from home and has been delivering babies for more than 20 years.
Carol Nwankwo, a birth attendant in Anambra State, south-east Nigeria, has a different way of working. Following a successful delivery, she cuts off the placenta with a razor and massages the mother using herbs. She then gives her a herbal drink which she says helps the body to heal quickly. Despite the dangers that surround traditional births, some women prefer them to going to local medical facilities. Some say they trust traditional attendants to help them give birth without complications. For others, traditional birth attendants are simply the most affordable option. While some antenatal services are free in Pivot
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Nigeria, women have to pay to give birth at a medical centre. Victoria Emmanuel, 22, got married at 19, and has lost three children while in the care of traditional birth attendants. However, she delivered her fourth child alive at Joseph’s clinic. Her subsequent children have also survived. Emmanuel says she has the option of giving birth at the local healthcare centre in nearby Kpakiama, but it lacks adequate equipment. The facility is also a long way from where she lives, and she cannot reach it by car. Other women in the area said the centre closed early and did not cater for women who gave birth at night. Emmanuel says her husband, too, is opposed to using the health centre. “My husband is always scared that I might die if I give birth in the primary healthcare centre in our village,” she said. “He said women are abandoned in pain to die, so he vowed never to have his babies in any hospital.” Blessing Avwotu, 30, from near the city of Sapele in Delta State, gave birth to all seven of her children at traditional birth clinics because she cannot afford to use the local hospital. She would rather go to a family friend who is a traditional birth attendant. She can also pay her fee in instalments. Other women cite cultural reasons for using traditional birth attendants. Mariam Ibrahim, a 30-year-old mother from the capital, Abuja, gave birth to all five of her children at home. Ibrahim said it was against her culture for another man to see her naked, so her husband arranges for an elderly female birth attendant to deliver her babies at home. Chenemi Idris, a 24-year-old housewife and a mother, also from Abuja, was forced to go to a traditional birth attendant because
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her community does not have a properly equipped healthcare centre. She delivered her first son with help from an elderly woman who was introduced to her by her mother-inlaw. “[This woman] is very good at birth delivery,” she said. “My mother-inlaw said she delivered most of her babies and she wants me to always deliver my babies with her too.” Rilwan Mohammed, executive secretary of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board, blames women’s preference for traditional births on on Nigeria’s health system, which he says is not working. He believes that primary healthcare centres are not a priority for the government, which is instead focusing on improving general hospitals. “In FCT, we have 250 primary health care centres and only 12 general hospitals, and [the hospitals] are working very fine while the primary healthcare centres are not working at all,” he said. “They are not in order in terms of equipment, in terms of facilities, in terms of essential drugs, in terms of electricity. They are closed by four pm. They are not working 24 hours’ service like most of the primary healthcare centres in this country.” According to Mohammed, a new national health law signed by President Goodluck Jonathan last year [2013] will lead to funds being made available by the federal government to strengthen local health facilities. Realising that many people in rural areas prefer traditional birth attendants to the local health centres – even in places where there are some health facilities – the federal authorities and some state governments have acted. In states like Lagos, Ogun and
Ondo, the state health authorities are certifying and giving training to traditional birth attendants. The state regulates their activities and links them to the nearest general hospital so that they can refer women who suffer complications during childbirth. In Anambra state, the authorities are educating traditional birth attendants about when it is unsafe for them to conduct deliveries, and about the dangers they and their clients face. But Ebere Anene, reproductive health coordinator at the Anambra State health ministry, says one of the challenges is that traditional birth attendants in the state practice in secret. Anambra state is also providing better equipment to the public healthcare centres. “Anambra State government has donated 2,000 safe motherhood kits – that is what we call “mama kits” – to about 14 health facilities in the state,” Anene said. However, she notes with regret that there are not enough kits for all mothers. Rukevwe Ugwumba, special adviser to the governor of Delta State on health affairs, says that the state government’s efforts to improve services at public healthcare centres have so far been unsuccessful. She says some women have continued to use traditional birth attendants in spite of the fact that the Delta State government is providing free antenatal services. “Some people believe in [traditional birth attendants] no matter what they do,” Ugwumba said. “They will come to our antenatal class, yet they will go and deliver at the traditional birth attendants just because their great-grandmother and their families delivered there.” Chinyere Eseke, 19 February, 2015, Institute for War & Peace Reporting <https://iwpr.net/global-voices/traditional-birthingpractices-still-flourish> accessed June 4, 2015
SDG 4: Educationists doubt Nigeria’s ability to achieve quality education for all by 2030 As the curtains drew on 2014, and the lights shone on 2015, it became obvious to Nigeria and the international comity that the world’s most populous black nation would not meet quite a number of the Millennium Development Goals postulated by the United Nations in 2000. At least, not the Education For All goal. The country still holds the highest record for Out of School Children, accounting for a staggering 10.5 million of the 57 million in the world. With such a poor record, it is no wonder that stakeholders doubt whether Nigeria will be able to meet up with the Sustainable Development Goal four recently adopted by the UN to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. In detail, world leaders are working to ensure that by 2030, all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes; that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education. SDG 4 also seeks to ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university; Substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship; Eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
Governments at various levels are not acquainted enough with the global urgency and exigency for meeting the SDG Goal 4; there does not appear to be any concerted focus on the part of governments to take the SDGs seriously. As at yet the efforts made in that direction are so feeble they can only pass for lip service. Mr. Chizo Aomugha, President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics told Saturday School Life that Governments at various levels are not acquainted enough with the global urgency and exigency for meeting the SDG Goal 4. His words: “There does not appear to be any concerted focus on the part of governments to take the SDGs seriously. As at yet the efforts made in that direction are so feeble they can only pass for lip service.” Continuing he said: “There are enduring deep systemic ruptures that have serially hindered the country’s achievement of global targets, not only in education, but in all spheres. These intense fissures are manifest in the endemic corruption, lukewarm patriotism, poor service delivery, abnegation of rule of law, disregard of justice, dearth of accountability, generally the dysfunctional national system. Unless and until the government in power musters the will to put the nation on course for national rebirth, the half-hearted efforts at achieving the SDG Goal 4 will continue to return sub average results.” National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, ERC, Mr. Hassan Soweto is also not to hopeful about Nigeria’s chances in this regard. “On the basis of current trend of pro-capitalist education policies and the lackluster attitude to funding,” he said, “I do not think it is feasible for Nigeria to achieve the
SDG goal 4. Every bit of Nigeria’s education policies contravenes the spirit and aims of the SDG goals. Our education policies promote exclusion instead of inclusion. The economic system of Nigeria is still capitalism which means social services including education are seen not as government responsibility but as business and students are seen as customers.” Continuing, he said, “I see no reason for optimism. However, if the Buhari government is serious, the first step is to declare free education at all levels and
devote public resources to providing the required facilities needed to ensure that education is not only free but also qualitative. How do we accommodate all of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in the same number of schools available now? That is impossible! The available schools are already overcrowded. So we need a public works programme funded by the state to build new classrooms and establish new schools equipped with all of the latest modern gadgets and facilities to make learning an educative and fun-filled experience children would love to have again and again. All over the country, at least 220, 000 additional teachers are needed to bridge the yawning teacher-pupil ratio. If the government is serious, there must be a provision to employ
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more teachers and also see to the improvement in teacher training through the improved funding of the colleges of education and provision for regular in-service training.” Laju Iren, Vanguard Newspaper, 21 November, 2015 <http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/sdg-4educationists-doubt-nigerias-ability-to-achievequality-education-for-all-by-2030/> accessed 28 January, 2016
Care The group further tasked and encouraged Nigerians to show care for those who are displaced. World Refugee Day is set aside every year to among other things, raise awareness on the plight of displaced persons who are forced by crisis to leave their homes and homelands in order to save their lives. According to UN statistics, there are 19.5 million refugees, in the world, 38.2 Internally Displaced Persons, and 1.8 million citizens seeking asylum--60 million displaced persons; that is 1 out of every 122 people on earth. Of these, half are children.
Tanzania: Over 12,000 Children Rescued From Illegal Gold Mines More than 12,000 children as young as eight have been rescued from smallscale gold mines in Tanzania in the last three years, but the government admits the issue remains a “serious problem” in Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer country. According to children’s rights group Plan International the successful mission was possible thanks to coordinate efforts of police, government social welfare officers and NGO workers. Since 2012 a total of 12,187 children aged between eight and 16 have been withdrawn from working in gold mines in Geita and Nyang’hwale districts in the north of the east African country, Jorgen Haldorsen, Plan’s country director said. The practice of employing children to perform dangerous mining work is considered among the worst forms of the illegal labour, according to
Liz Ahua, the Regional Representative for West Africa to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says there are 1.4 million citizens displaced in Nigeria, currently mainly living in refugee camps in Cameroon, Chad and Niger; and various IDP camps and settlements in Nigeria. 5.4 million citizens are traumatised indirectly as a result. Available records reveal that 49 071 IDPs are in Moukola, Cameroon; 16 781 in Lagos state, and 16 798 in Abuja and Nasarawa states. Hauwa Anaja Abu, Voice of Nigeria, June 20, 2015 <http://www.voiceofnigeria.org/nigeria/world-refugeeday-group-wants-adequate-assessment-of-internallydisplaced-persons.html> accessed June 23, 2015
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to ensure parents understand the importance of education for their children,” he added. A 2013 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the precarious conditions faced by children employed at illegal mines. The document claimed boys were being used to “dig and drill in deep, unstable pits” for shifts as long as 24 hours, while girls were subject to sexual harassment and were often forced to become prostitutes. The practice of child labour in dangerous mining work is considered among the worst forms of the practice, according to several international agreements signed by Tanzania. In June 2015, another report by the same organization revealed that Ghana’s mining industry has also been benefiting from child labour in unlicensed mines. Cecilia Jamasmie, MINING.com, June 30, 2015
<http://www.mining.com/over-12000-children-rescuedfrom-illegal-gold-mines-in-tanzania/> accessed July 2, 2015
Europe: Child Victims of Violence Rarely Have Access to Justice, UNICEF Says
several international signed by Tanzania.
agreements
“Child labour is a serious problem in small-scale mines,” Azaveli Lwaitama, a political analyst and retired professor at the University of Dar es Salaam said. Lwaitama noted that minors would continue working in risky environments as long as poverty persisted. “More advocacy is needed
Most child victims of violence in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia find themselves unable to speak up and file charges in court, according to a new UNICEF regional report. The report, Children’s Equitable Access to Justice in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, sheds light on the tremendous barriers children face in seeking fair and effective solutions to put right the injustice and discrimination in their lives. However, it also cites notable progress in the administration of
justice. Governments in the region are increasingly adjusting their procedures in courts and police stations to protect the rights of children, in line with international standards. Legal, paralegal and social support to children going through justice processes is increasingly being provided. Through child rights centres or legal clinics, children and their families can obtain information on the avenues for redress, receive legal and social advice, be referred to a lawyer, doctor or psychologist or other services. In some cases, they can receive direct legal assistance to initiate a judicial process. Speaking at a policy discussion where the report was presented, Susan Bissell, UNICEF Global Chief of Child Protection, said: “Everywhere
Other child rights violations in the region are also unreported or unchallenged in court. These include: • Denying children with disabilities the opportunity to go to school or forcibly separating them from their parents; • Denying children from Roma or poor families in rural areas health care, identity cards or social welfare benefits. • Disregarding the best interests of children during custody issues in divorce proceedings. Judicial or administrative decisions on these and other rights violations can set a precedent for other children and have a life-changing impact on their future. Deeply entrenched social and cultural beliefs have made it unacceptable for children in the region to confide in an adult outside of the home about rights violations within the home, in school or in their community, much less bring a complaint through the judicial system citing fear of retribution for themselves and their families, the report says. The regional study, focusing on Albania, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Montenegro, was conducted with the International Development Law Organization.
around us, every day, children are affected by violence and abuse, yet only a fraction of them have access In all the countries in the study, the to a fair justice system able to make decisions in their best interests.” majority of children said they were not aware of any specific services and resources for remedy that they “The right to access justice still seems, can turn to if they are in difficulty. in the minds of many, inconceivable Among the most vulnerable groups when it comes to children. We urge are children born into poverty, governments and key partners to children from Roma communities include children’s specific rights and and children with disabilities. needs in justice reforms at all levels.” The discussion was co-organized by the UNICEF Regional Office and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in partnership with the European Parliament’s Intergroup on Children’s Rights.
When finding themselves in the judicial process, children said they were not accompanied by specialized legal assistance and faced complex and lengthy procedures.
UNICEF Press Center, June 3, 2015 <http://www.unicef.org/media/media_82166.html> accessed June 4, 2015
China Abandons One Child Policy And Raises Limit To Two China has abandoned its one child policy, allowing two children for all couples, state news agency Xinhua reported. The policy was introduced in 1979 to slow the birth rate. The announcement of the end of the three-decade-old policy comes at the conclusion of the Communist Party’s four day annual summit in Beijing. Xinhua did not report when the new two child policy will be implemented. There has been speculation recently that the Communist Party would drop the policy, to boost the population and fend off an economic slowdown. There are concerns that the country’s ageing population could slow economic growth, with the UN estimating that by 2050 there will be nearly 440 million people over 60. At the meeting, the party said that it would aim for “medium high” growth for the next five years. The government is aiming to focus growth on the country’s expanding middle class, rather than the investment and export led model that has delivered 10% annual GDP growth for the last decade. Tom Porter, IBTimes UK, October 29, 2015 <http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/china-abandons-one-child-policyraises-limit-two-1526251?utm_campaign=%5bfirstitemtitle%5d&utm_content=Oct_29_2015_1005_205006&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email&utm_term=China+abandons+one+child+policy+and+raises+limit+to+two&tm_campaign=Oct_29_2015_1005&tm_keyword=9UG8jKVh0yEYvXhE6rubW8x> accessed 29 October, 2015
Drc Child Soldiers: Children Grow Up ‘More Comfortable With Weapons Than With Books’ Millions of people have been killed during conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1996 with the eruption of the First Congo war, ended in 1998, and the Second Congo war, also known as
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the Great War of Africa, that erupted in 1998 and officially terminated in 2003.
face stigma, depending on the role they had while they were part of a group, according to Eldebo.
However, hostilities and frequent attacks on civilians, especially in the northeast, have continued since and there are at least 50 different armed groups currently operating along DRC’s eastern and western borders. As a result, children − who are often displaced and unaccompanied − are likely to become part of these groups, the majority of which have been accused of committing war crimes.
He said: “In some places, you have very brutal groups, such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which make children commit terrible atrocities to make sure they are not able to go back to their communities after that. In these situations, both from the perspective of the community and the children, integration might be difficult.
Johan Eldebo, senior humanitarian policy adviser at World Vision UK, told IBTimes UK that there are many factors that lead to child soldier recruitment in DRC. In several cases, children choose to join groups as a result of unrest, poverty, lack of education and long-term solutions to achieve peace. “Children who are unaccompanied will sometimes join an armed group to protect themselves and find security,” he said. “Some join for financial reasons, and they might join not necessarily as front-line soldiers but, for example, to work in the kitchen or with food supplies.” Eldebo went on to explain that children might join groups, or are more likely to be recruited, because they feel they do not have other possibilities. “They might do that because there is no real other option,” Eldebo said. “Joining a group might seem a normal thing to do to earn a living.”
“In other cases, children who were part of groups that, to a certain extent, were respected by the community might not experience the same level of stigma,” he continued. World Vision UK runs rehabilitation programmes for former child soldiers in DRC and other countries across the world. However, the NGO believes that the international community should step up efforts to prevent child soldier recruitment and create long-term programmes to successfully help former child soldiers re-integrate into society. “Children need to experience normality,” Eldebo said. “In many places, such as DRC, Central African Republic and South Sudan,
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Former child soldier speaks Chirak is a former child soldier. He was recruited by rebel forces during the Second Congo war. When interviewed by World Vision UK, Chirak warned of the dangers that emerge when children are involved in armed conflicts. He said: “When children come out of the army, they are corrupted and change their thinking. The adults teach them to use cannabis, they become persuaded to become like adults.” Of his personal experience, he said: “I feel it − it follows me. I feel much older than others.” Chirak now lives in Beni, 250km from Goma, with his family. He is the Second Chair Person in the Children’s Parliament, composed of children who aim to promote human rights and protect children from violence and abuses. Ludovica Laccino, IBTimes UK, October 30, 2015
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/drc-child-soldiers-childrengrow-more-comfortable-weapons-books-video1526518#slideshow/343854> accessed 5 November, 2015
Forced Child Marriage in Burkina Faso
Former child soldiers need to experience normality Former child soldiers might be affected by stigma and discrimination from the rest of the community, which might not accept them back. Former child soldiers in DRC can
sufficiently addressed,” he added. “Short-term interventions have to be substituted with long-term solutions to successfully heal children’s traumas and build stable countries and healthy communities.”
children are growing up feeling more comfortable with weapons than with books. “Child soldier recruitment is certainly a problem that is not
Across Burkina Faso, thousands of girls and young women, some as young as 11, are being forced into early marriage. Often this means an end to their education and choices. Many will have their first child before their own adulthood. Maria escaped her forced marriage by walking for three straight days to seek refuge at a shelter for young girls. Several shelters, many run by nuns and volunteers, have been attacked for taking these girls in.
The situation for Burkinabe girls is so dire that Amnesty International has identified these forced marriages as a priority human rights case in our 2015 Write for Rights campaign. Forced and early marriage is actually banned by Burkina Faso’s constitution and international law, but the law is not enforced across Burkina Faso. The violations of these girls’ human rights are serious and have far-reaching consequences for them. Once married, many are denied an education and cook, clean, fetch water and work in the fields, from dawn to dusk. Most have their first child before the age of 20 and lack information and meaningful choices about pregnancy and birth control. Tarah Demant, Amnesty International on 9 December, 2015
<https://act.amnestyusa.org/eaaction/ action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign. id=42762&ac=W1512EAW4R2&ea.url.id=504605> accessed 9 December, 2015
Africa: Strengthen Steps to End Child Marriage (Nairobi) – African governments should coordinate action to improve laws, education, health care, and public awareness to end the scourge of child marriage, Human Rights Watch said on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2015. Forty percent of girls in sub-Saharan Africa marry before age 18, and African countries account for 15 of the 20 countries with the highest rates of child marriage. A new 20-page Human Rights Watch report, “Ending Child Marriage in Africa: Opening the Door for Girls’ Education, Health, and Freedom from Violence,” shows how child marriage has dire lifelong consequences, often severely reducing a girl’s ability to realize a wide range of human rights. Marrying early often ends a girl’s education, exposes her to domestic and sexual violence, increases
serious health risks and death from early childbearing and HIV, and traps her in poverty. “Government leaders across Africa often say the right things about child marriage, but have yet to produce the political commitment, resources, and on-the-ground help that could end this harmful practice,” said Agnes Odhiambo, senior Africa women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that without progress to prevent child marriage, the number of married girls in Africa will rise from 125 million to 310 million by 2050. In September 2015, African leaders joined other governments to adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include a target to end child marriage in the next 15 years. Africa’s human rights treaties on women’s and children’s rights, agreed to by African states, explicitly state that the minimum age of marriage should be 18. On November 26 and 27, the African Union held the first African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage to highlight the devastating effects of child marriage, call for legal reform, and share information about good practices. Other continent-wide initiatives, including the campaign to end child marriage, which began in 2014, and the appointments of an African Union special rapporteur on child marriage and of a goodwill ambassador for the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage, are all steps in the right direction, but could be more effective with better coordination, Human Rights Watch said. Human
Rights
Watch
research
in Malawi, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe has shown that the absence of comprehensive national strategies on child marriage and poor coordination among government ministries and agencies undermines the effectiveness of government efforts. “There is no single solution for ending
child marriage,” Odhiambo said. “African governments should make a commitment to comprehensive change that includes legal reform, access to quality education, and sexual and reproductive health information and services.” Many factors contribute to child marriage. Poverty is commonly cited by family members who may see marrying their daughter early as a means to economic survival, with one less child to feed or educate. Many African countries have multiple legal systems, in which civil, customary, and religious laws overlap and in many cases contradict one another. Traditional beliefs about gender roles and women and girls’ subordination underlay many customary practices, such as payment of a dowry or bride price, which perpetuate child marriage. At least 20 African countries allow girls to marry below the age of 18 through their minimum age laws or exceptions for parental consent or judicial approval. Weak enforcement
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has meant that there has been little impact even in countries that have established 18 as the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls. Police may not have adequate training on dealing with these cases, do not see it as their job to prevent child marriages, or defer to the parents’ wishes. Poor access to education can also contribute to child marriage. When schools are too expensive or distant or are of poor quality, many families may pull their daughters out, leaving them at greater risk of marriage. Inadequate water and sanitation facilities can deter girls from attending school, especially once they begin menstruating. “Governments should set the minimum age of marriage at 18 and make sure it is fully enforced, including by training police and officials who issue marriage certificates,” Odhiambo said. “Since government officials can’t bring about change alone, they should work with religious and community leaders who play an influential role in shaping social and cultural norms.” Adolescent pregnancy outside of marriage, or the fear that adolescent girls will get pregnant, also helps fuel child marriage. Limited access to reproductive health information and services for both unmarried and married adolescents contributes to this situation. Complications resulting from pregnancy and childbirth are the second-leading cause of death globally among girls ages 15 to 19. The stress of delivery in other cases can cause obstetric fistulas, a tear between a girl’s vagina and rectum that results in constant leaking of urine and feces. Girls suffering this condition are often ostracized by their families and communities. Child marriage exposes girls and young women to violence, including marital rape, sexual and domestic
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violence, and emotional abuse. “Girls and boys need information about their bodies, pregnancy, family planning, and healthy relationships,” Odhiambo said. “Adolescent sexuality is often a taboo topic, but equipping young people with information and access to services is essential for tackling child marriage and gender-based violence.”
Selected testimonies from Human Rights Watch research: “I faced a lot of problems in marriage. I was young and did not know how to be a wife. I was pregnant, had to look after my husband, do housework, deal with in-laws, and work on the farm. My worst time was when I was pregnant; I had to do all this and deal with a pregnancy while I was just a child myself.” –Elina V., 19, married at age 15 to a 24-year-old man; Mangochi district, Malawi; September 2013 “This man went to my uncles and paid a dowry of 80 cows. I resisted the marriage. They threatened me. They said, ‘If you want your siblings to be taken care of, you will marry this man.’ I said he is too old for me. They said, ‘You will marry this old man whether you like it or not because he has given us something to eat.’”
wives. His other wives did not want me – they chased me away but when I tried to go back to my family my aunt and mother also turned me away saying they had already accepted lobola (bride price) from him. He used to beat me and shout at me. He refused to let me continue with school. After two years of marriage, life was so difficult for me that I tried to kill myself by drinking rat poison. I was in hospital for one week after which my family finally took me back. Child marriage ruined my life. Now I do not work and cannot find a job because I stopped going to school.” –Confidence S., 22, married at age 14 to a 42-year-old man; Zimbabwe Human Rights Watch, 9 December, 2015
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/09/africastrengthen-steps-end-child-marriagehttps://www.hrw. org/news/2015/12/09/africa-strengthen-steps-end-childmarriage> accessed 5 January, 2016
Iran: Renewed death sentences for juvenile offenders show ‘contempt’ for children’s rights
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Iran cemented its shameful status as the world’s top official executioner of juvenile offenders after two young men were re-sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old, Amnesty International said. Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi, who had been granted retrials
–Aguet N., married at age 15 to a 75-year-old man; South Sudan “I got complications during delivery. I was unable to push and I was weak with no energy. The nurses said I was getting complications because my body was not fully developed. To pull out the baby, the nurses forced their hands inside my body and pulled the baby out. I felt so much pain that I was not able to walk for a whole month after delivery.” –Aisha S., married at age 17; Kahama, Tanzania; April 2014 “After me he married two more
because of their young age when the crimes occurred, will face execution
after trial courts presiding over their separate cases concluded they had reached “mental maturity” at the time of the crime. “This ruling lays bare the Iranian authorities’ contempt for the human rights of children, coupled with their appetite for the death penalty – a toxic combination that leaves numerous juvenile offenders facing execution,” said Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “Iran’s continued use of the death penalty against persons convicted of crimes committed while they were under 18 years of age is cruel, inhumane and blatantly unlawful. The death sentences of both these men, and all other juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, must be commuted immediately.” A provision on juvenile sentencing in Iran’s 2013 Penal Code allows judges to replace the death penalty with an alternative punishment if they decide that the juvenile offender did not comprehend the nature of the crime or its consequences, or that his or her “mental growth and maturity” are in doubt. However, the courts in these cases dashed the hopes of both defendants - and of human rights advocates who have long called for the abolition of the death penalty against juvenile offenders - by reissuing the two death sentences with little explanation. “The re-sentencing to death of Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi makes a mockery of a fundamentally flawed provision that gives judges the discretion to impose the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. No such discretion must ever be given under any circumstances. The assessment of their mental state years after the crime is an inherently defective way of determining criminal responsibility,” said Said
Boumedouha. “These retrial proceedings have been hailed as juvenile justice advances but increasingly we are seeing them turning into a cruel show that ends with juvenile offenders once again finding themselves on death row.” Sajad Sanjari, now aged 20, was first sentenced to death in January 2012 after being convicted of murder for fatally stabbing a man in Kermanshah Province. He was 15 years old at the time of the crime. Hamid Ahmadi, 24, was first sentenced to death in August 2009 in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young man during a fight between five boys in northern Gilan Province. He was 17 years old at the time. Iran is a state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which prohibit the imposition of the death penalty against persons who were below 18 years of age at the time of the crime, without exceptions. However, Iran continues to impose the death penalty against juvenile offenders and frequently defer the execution until after they pass the age of 18. “These cases highlight the continuing and urgent need for laws that will prohibit the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders, once and for all,” said Said Boumedouha. “Until such time, juvenile offenders remain at risk of the death penalty even when their applications for retrial are granted.”
months and weeks leading to the review session before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Iranian authorities shamelessly continue to sentence juvenile offenders to death and schedule and carry out their executions,” said Said Boumedouha. The Committee has already expressed deep concerns about the use of death penalty against juvenile offenders and asked Iran to provide information on the outcome and progress of the cases of juvenile offenders undergoing re-trial. Amnesty International, 8 December, 2015
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/12/iranrenewed-death-sentences-for-juvenile-offenders-showcontempt-for-childrens-rights/> accessed 7 January, 2016
Nigeria: 50,000 Children Born With Sickle Cell Anaemia Annually The President of Sickle Cell Club, Mrs. Ayo Otaigbe, has revealed that about 50,000 Nigerian children are born annually with symptomatic Sickle Cell Anaemia, just as several of them do not survive beyond infancy. Otaigbe, who said this at the 2015 annual celebration of the Sickle Cell Club Lagos Nigeria, explained that the high death rate from the disease was due to lack of information on how to prevent or tackle it, as well as inappropriate care of patients. Adding, she said the disease was still not understood fully, which makes it unresponsive to some drugs being marketed in the country.
Iran tops the grim, global table of executioners of juvenile offenders. In 2015 at least four juvenile offenders are believed to have been executed. They included Javad Saberi, Vazir Amroddin, Samad Zahabi and Fatemeh Salbehi.
“More research is needed to find a rational therapy for managing the crisis, beyond the use of analgesics, as sufferers still go through severe pain crisis. More importantly, we will continue to show and advocate that affected persons can live a normal and healthy life if they are well managed, thereby dispelling the myths, rumours and misinformation surrounding the condition,” she said.
“It is absolutely shocking that in the
On the issue of stroke in sickle cell
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children known to impede mobility, she called on families to benefit from the Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound scan procedure which holds at the centre during week days. “Although Sickle Cell Disease is not only an Africa condition, over 80 per cent of affected children are born on the continent, yet Africa had shown indifference in addressing the issue,” adding that Nigerians should make a difference and promote funding that will make meaningful research into the disease a reality. She said that the club had, through its activities, continued to increase public awareness and knowledge of the disorder especially through the establishment of sickle cell clubs, partnering with the SCFN and other stakeholders. According to her, the focus for 2016 would be to consolidate the successes recorded in 2015 and increase the level of awareness. Martins Ifijeh, Thisday Newspaper, 7 January, 2016 <http://allafrica.com/stories/201601070929.html> accessed 7 January, 2016
Africa: When the Menstrual Cycle Becomes a Question of Human Rights The onset of menstruation is a landmark event in the life of a young woman. Yet many complications and challenges accompany such an event. One in 10 adolescent girls miss school and eventually drop out due to menstruation-related issues. 2016 marks the start of the new Sustainable Development Goal’s target 6.2 and provides reason for optimism, recognizing as it does the need to provide “adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all” with “special attention to the needs of women and girls”. Figures from Kenya’s Ministry of Education show that a girl in
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primary school loses 18 learning weeks out of 108 weeks in a year during her menses. Within 4 years of high school the same girl losses 156 learning days equivalent to almost 24 weeks of learning. Overall, studies estimate that 61 per cent of girls miss school annually due to lack of menstruation hygiene facilities in their primary schools, and approximately 3.5 million learning days are lost every month due to menstruation. The beneficial link between female education and lifetime health has never been in doubt; a bettereducated girl takes better control of her life. She has healthier and fewer children. Moreover educated women participate in the labour market and eventually lift households out of poverty, with these benefits transmitting across generations. Conversely,low education, poor health and nutrition have a magnified impact on the next generation, as malnourished girls become mothers at higher risk of maternal mortality, and of bearing low birth-weight babies. One of the reasons the benefits to society of educated girls are not accruing is because communities have been slow in removing manacles such as the inaccessibility of sanitary protection, the social taboos related to menstruation, and the culture of silence that surrounds menstruation, especially in schools. Lack of access to sanitary protection and towels disempowers girls, as they have to stay at home to avoid staining their clothes with blood in public. The cost of sanitary ware and towels is beyond the reach of many young women and girls, with most ending up missing school altogether during their menses. The government of Kenya is allocating resources towards providing sanitary towels in schools.
While the allocation to the Ministry of Education to purchase the towels in 2011 was Sh. 340 million, the current financial year’s allocation is Sh. 400 million. The government must act upon the 2013 resolution by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) urging partner states to waive taxes on sanitary pads so as to increase their availability and affordability for young girls. Poverty underpins many girls’ lack of access to disposable sanitary towels. These cost between 65 and 120 Kenyan Shillings (US${esc.dollar} {esc.dollar}0.79-${esc.dollar}{esc. dollar}1.45) and are unaffordable to families earning the average Kenyan daily income of just above US${esc. dollar}{esc.dollar}1 per day. A tax break would greatly help. We must see this as a violation of basic human rights when girls stay away from school because they fear the shame attributed to their menstruation or because they don’t have the means to maintain a healthy hygiene. Girls must no longer continue using old rags, towels, paper from their school books or even dirt or leaves to manage their bleeding.
For a phenomenon that societies know will repeat itself unfailingly every month, the prevarication in developing concrete responses is very disappointing.
always denied any wrongdoings and human rights abuses.
While adolescence is the time when girls should begin transiting into adults and shift from dependency to interdependency within their society, almost two out of three know nothing about menstruation until they start their menses, usually a traumatic experience. School-based sexual education programmes need to teach adolescent girls and boys about puberty and menstrual hygiene. These can be linked to other age-appropriate instruction about the risks of early marriage and preventing pregnancy, coupled with other life-skill-building exercises, to help them negotiate healthy adolescence. There’s no force more powerful for transforming a society than an educated girl. Any steps taken to eliminate circumstances that keep girls out of school can only be beneficial to our collective future. Gina Din and Siddharth Chatterjee, Reuters, January 5, 2016 <http://allafrica.com/stories/201601051305.html> accessed January 7, 2016
Sri Lanka accused of allowing continuing human rights abuses Sri Lankan authorities have been accused of allowing continuing human rights abuses, including torture and illegal detention, one year after Maithripala Sirisena took power on a reforming ticket in a surprise election win.International campaigners say they have documented 27 individual cases of serious human rights abuses. Freedom from Torture, a UK-based organisation offering medical aid to survivors of torture, said it had been involved with eight cases. The victim in each was from Sri Lanka’s largely Hindu Tamil minority and the alleged perpetrators were members of the country’s intelligence services or military, which are dominated by the island nation’s largely Buddhist
Sinhala majority. Sri Lanka suffered a crippling 26year civil war pitting government forces against violent Tamil separatists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ended in a series of bloody battles in 2009. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president during the final years of the war, was defeated after calling a snap poll. In his election, Sirisena pledged widespread reform and reconciliation between Sri Lankan communities. The veteran politician specifically promised an end to abductions in his maiden speech. Sonya Sceats, director of policy and advocacy for Freedom from Torture, said Sirisena’s repeated recognition that reconciliation in his nation required accountability for serious human rights abuses was a welcome change. “But having set a new tone, the president must match his rhetoric with a clear blueprint for rooting out torture from Sri Lanka’s security sector and putting perpetrators on trial, no matter how powerful they may be,” she said. The NGO says it has medical evidence of torture by the Sri Lankan military and intelligence services since Sirisena came to power which, it said, suggested that “an abusive ‘deep state’ is still terrorising communities and impeding Sri Lanka’s post-war revival”. Military authorities and the police have
Two of the survivors referred to by Freedom from Torture identified a well-known military camp in the northern town of Vavuniya as the site of their detention and torture. Others reported abuse at a makeshift jungle camp. Many have scars of branding with heated metal rods and have reported sexual abuse, the NGO said. A second group has also revealed new evidence suggesting ongoing torture and sexual violence by the Sri Lankan security forces and police, including alleged abductions by unidentified men driving white vans as recently as last month. These “disappearances” became notorious under the repressive rule of Rajapaksa. “Sadly, it’s very much business as usual,” said Yasmin Sooka, of the International Truth and Justice Project. The ITJP’s report, based on the testimony of 20 survivors of torture who are now outside Sri Lanka, also names the main military camp in Vavuniya as a site of torture. One case was investigated by both groups. Almost all the survivors interviewed by the ITJP were members of the LTTE, though almost all were forcibly conscripted as footsoldiers. Several were under 18 at the time of their recruitment into the organisation and, having spent only weeks within it, did not declare themselves to authorities as former combatants at the war’s end. Several were involved in political activities such as election campaigning as volunteers or campaigning for the disappeared before their abduction. Five of them are women. Several described torture chambers equipped with cables, rods and batons for beating victims, water barrels and a pulley system for hoisting them upside down. There were repeated and detailed accounts of severe sexual abuse of both male and female detainees. Many
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were accused by their interrogators of wanting to restart the LTTE – destroyed as an organisation by the end of the war. The ITJP said medical reports by court-recognised experts in scarring corroborate accounts of injuries, while the cross-referencing of details common to witness statements supported descriptions of individual locations of alleged torture. “Almost all the statements are taken by lawyers with deep expertise and experience in assessing a survivor’s credibility and if anything was doubtful it would be excluded,” said Frances Harrison, spokesperson for the organisation. Sirisena is already under pressure on human rights. In September the United Nations said it had found evidence strongly indicating that war crimes were committed in Sri Lanka in the closing phases of its civil war, and called for the establishment of a special “hybrid” international court to investigate individuals responsible for the worst atrocities. Unveiling a 220-page, two-volume report in Geneva, Zeid Ra’ad alHussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said it described horrific abuses including torture, executions, forced disappearances and sexual abuse by security forces, as well as suicide attacks, assassinations and recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE. The report found that both sides “most likely” committed war crimes. Pressure for an international investigation grew when it became clear that domestic inquiries set up by the then government of Sri Lanka were partisan and ineffectual. The recommendations of a “lessons learned and reconciliation committee” went largely unimplemented.
Jason Burke, The Guardian, January 6, 2016
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<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/06/srilanka-accused-human-rights-abuses-mathripala-sirisena> accessed January 7, 2016
Liberia: Female Genital Mutilation - Girls Alliance Accuses President Sirleaf The teenage based Girls Alliance for Future Leadership says the Sirleaf administration has over the years ignored the plight of the girl child in the country. The program officer of the teen based group Bendu Joseph accused President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of doing nothing to protect the girl child from the horrors of female genital mutilation. Speaking to parishioners at the A Word of Encouragement Ministries International in West Point, Bendu said the president has allowed politics to overshadow the national fight against female genital mutilation. The young activist noted that Madam Sirleaf and the Gender Ministry are more interested in appeasing their political allies, the traditional leaders who largely view FGM as sacred to their culture. She said because practitioners of FGM are finding it difficult to recruit adolescence girls and women, children as young as 9-year old are now the main victims of the the evil practice. Bendu believes the president and the Gender Ministry could have wiped out FGM if it were anything of priority for the government. She said with the 2017 election looming the ruling Unity party is more interested in keeping its allies the traditional leaders than to seek the safety of the girl child. We are appealing to all churches, the Islamic community and other religious organizations in the country, and the international community to help save the Liberian
girl child from FGM, she noted. Bendu said stories from some of their colleagues who are victims of the practice are harrowing and unimaginably fearful to relate to others without fears of been made a laughing stock. A situation in her words making lots of girls apprehensive to openly explain their ordeal. She said tougher legislation that will criminalize FGM, a national pscho-social counseling and rehabilitation program for victims, a private prosecutors office to
speedily prosecute all forceful FGM conscription and free primary and secondary education for girls victimized by FGM are few things that need to be considered in the fight against the menace. Girls Alliance for Future leadership was founded in 2010 by a group of students at the William Lee Bonner Schools on Front Street with the sole objective of training the next Liberian female leaders. The students were inspired by the Sirleaf presidency. Despite rejecting accusation in the media that she refused to meet the group after turning down invitation to attend their 2011-anti teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS campaign, Bendu said Madam Sirleaf has never met with them. We are capable partners not adversaries, she added. The Analyst, January 6, 2016
<http://allafrica.com/stories/201601061391.html> accessed January 7, 2016
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A CRITIQUE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST PERSONS (PROHIBITION) ACT, 2015
V
iolence in the Nigerian society is prevalent. A glance at some newspaper headlines will disclose news of violence committed by individuals or the State. There are two main actors in a violent act, the victim and the perpetrator. In some cases these perpetrators are persons who ought to take care and protect the victims.
Ifeoluwa Ojediran Associate, Summit Law Chambers (Nigeria)
“No account of time, no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”1 “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.”2
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When it comes to domestic violence, the security agencies have left much to be desired. They relegate the issue of domestic violence by terming it ‘a family/private matter’. It is no longer a family matter when a father uses plugged iron to torture his children or when a mother flogs the children with horse-whips and iron-rods on the guise of training and correcting them.3 Is it also a family issue when a woman is accused of killing her husband because he died before her and as a result, forced to go through various dehumanising rituals under the pretext of culture and tradition? It is certainly not a family issue when the future of a promising lady is hampered because she was forced to undergo female genital mutilation at a tender age under the semblance of ensuring she does not become promiscuous. In all these instances, these voiceless victims
are beckoning for the help of the State to deliver them from such detestable acts which some of the perpetrators have given a cultural undertone4. The State ought to interfere in the personal affairs of its citizens to protect the vulnerable members of society. It is a misnomer for the State to rely solely on its punitive powers by waiting until the insufferable act is committed first before enforcing punishment. The State should arise to prevent the commission of such acts because once the act is done against the victim; he/she will remain physically, mentally and psychologically traumatised for life. It is therefore better for the State to prioritise the prevention rather than punishment. A research undertaken by the British Council in 2012 revealed that violence has become endemic in some public institutions including the police force and schools. Sexual harassment, including demanding sexual favours in return for employment or grades, is widespread. In a survey conducted amongst obstetricians, it was shown that an estimated 70 percent of the cases of sexual violence against women have their husbands as perpetrators; this is what is popularly referred to as
‘spousal/marital rape’ even though the current state of criminal jurisprudence in Nigeria tends to suggest that a husband cannot rape the wife5. In 2013, the National Demographic and Health Survey6 showed that women who are divorced, separated or widowed are far more likely to have experienced physical violence than other women with 44 percent of them reporting experiences of violence since age 15, compared with 25 percent of women who are married or living with their male partners, and 33 percent of women who have never married. It also showed that women in urban areas are more likely than their rural counterparts to report having experienced physical violence.7
violence in private and public life, prohibit all forms of violence against persons and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victim and punishment of offenders; and for related matters.” The purpose of the Act is very commendable and it is interesting to note that the purpose is not for a particular gender. The Act is to prohibit all forms of violence against persons; notwithstanding whether the person is a male or a female, young or old, a citizen of Nigeria or otherwise. It is for all persons.
Without doubt, Nigeria has arguably become a hot-bed for genderbased violence, to the extent that, recent findings report that over 50 percent of women are abused in some form. It is more baffling that the perpetrators of these crimes in our society cut across social status, religious beliefs and educational qualification. This reality highlights the urgent need for legal reforms and access to justice for women and children whose rights have been violated. Though some states have enacted laws 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, there was no federal law specifically addressing domestic violence in Nigeria. The lethargy8 with which the Federal Government took this issue can be attributed to the various cultural undertones upon which the perpetrators of these heinous acts have based their arguments. On the 25th day of May, 2015, the then President of Nigeria9, signed the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Bill into law. From the long title to the Act, it is revealed that the purpose of the Act is “to eliminate
The Act prohibits all forms of violence against persons in public and private life. Meaning, the provisions of the Act is not limited by only what occurs in the public life but also delves into incidents of violence in the private life of a person. Some legal practitioners may argue that the State is not empowered to regulate the private and personal lives of its citizens based on the provisions of section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, where the fundamental human right to private and family life has been entrenched. As nifty as that argument may sound, some legal practitioners may also argue that section 45 of the Constitution, as amended, has whittled down this section by providing exceptions in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health and for
the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons. They will therefore assert that the issue of violence can come within the purview of these exceptions. This Act, will unarguably bring effective remedies to millions of victims who have suffered in silence without recourse to justice or rehabilitative psycho-social support for their recovery and reintegration.10 The Act affords access and better services for victims/survivors of violence, such as hotlines, shelters, legal advice, access to justice, counselling, police protection, and comprehensive health services. The only drawback in relation to this law is its limited application to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This is as a result of the nature of Nigeria’s federal structure and constitutional distribution of powers between the Federal Government and States of the Federation. It is expected that 36 states of Nigeria will take immediate and necessary action to adopt and enact similar laws on violence against persons. It is opined that the implementation of the Act is at the heart of what is necessary to reduce violence in Nigeria. Significantly, the Act, addresses forms of violence against women and girls that are often unacknowledged and accepted.
THE APPRAISAL One important aspect of this Act is the broad definition of ‘violence’ which seeks to cover the field and capture every form of an imaginable scenario. Section 1 of the Act defines violence as: “Violence in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires violence means any act or attempted act, which causes or may cause any person physical, sexual, psychological, verbal, emotional or economic harm whether this occurs in private or public life, in peace time and in conflict situations.”
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In a bid to critique some provisions of this Act, the writer takes a legal and practical look at some of the offences in this Act.
1. Inflicting Physical Injury: By virtue of section 2(1) of the Act, any person who wilfully inflicts physical injury on another by means of a weapon, substance or object is liable to imprisonment for not less than 5 years or a fine not exceeding N100,000.00. By virtue of section 4(1) of the Act any person who places a person in
parents because they corrected him/ her? In the opinion of the writer, the keyword in this section is “wilfully”. Thus, the physical injury must be inflicted i.e. wilfully, unreasonably or deliberately to inflict physical injury and not to merely correct the child.
2. Forceful Home:
Ejection
From
By virtue of section 9 of the Act, any spouse who forceful evicts his/her spouse from his/her home or refuses him/her access commits a crime. This offence attracts imprisonment ranging from one to three years with an option of fine. It is also a crime to abandon your spouse, children and other dependants without sustenance. Anyone guilty of this will face charges of imprisonment of not less than one year or a fine of not less than N100,000.00.
fear of physical injury commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to an imprisonment of not exceeding 2 years or to a fine not exceeding N200,000.00 or both. A good parent who wants to correct the child which in the process, can inflict injury with a cane. It is undoubted that if a parent spares the rod, he/she would be spoiling the child and consequence(s) of that might be catastrophic in the future. Can such an action be covered under the crime of inflicting physical injury? Is the Act insinuating a situation where a child can lodge a complaint against his/her
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I find this provision rather amusing. What makes this act a criminal one and not civil? At what stage can a spouse claim forceful eviction? These are some of the critical areas this section has failed to address and as a result, hamper its applicability.
3. Forced Financial Dependence or Economic Abuse and Forced Isolation and Separation from Family and Friends: By virtue of section 12, any person who causes forced financial dependence or economic abuse on another commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to imprisonment of not more than 2 years or a fine not exceeding N500,000.00 or both. Section 13 prohibits any person from
forcefully separating another person from his/her family and friends. It is an acceptable fact that life is not fair. It is also clear that various circumstances may warrant ‘forced financial dependence’ or create ‘economic abuse’ and not necessarily directly connected to a particular person. What is economic abuse? Although the definition of economic abuse was proffered in section 46, the interpretation section, of the Act, this definition is, in my humble opinion inadequate to capture what the term ‘economic abuse’ really posits. The non-payment of salaries should also be within the purview of economic abuse. The refusal of the government agencies to pay the pensioners as at when due is definitely economic abuse. The arbitral increase in the tuition fees of universities should be economic abuse. The increase in the electricity tariff and even the failure of electricity providers to give roundthe-clock power supply can also be a source of economic abuse. I believe, these provisions look more like policy statements or fundamental objectives and cannot fall within the purview of criminal law. It is baffling how such provisions were passed to law.
4. Emotional, Verbal Psychological Abuse:
and
This in the opinion of the writer is the “most amazing” criminal provision in history. By virtue of section 14 of the Act, any person who causes emotional, verbal or psychological abuse on another commits an offence and is liable upon conviction for imprisonment of not more than one year and a fine not exceeding N200,000.00 or both. Who can find a culprit to this offence? I dare say that most, if not all the legislators are guilty of this offence; just ask their domestic staff and personal
aides. These are the witnesses and victims of their ‘crime’. The Nigerian society is so full of emotional, verbal and psychological abuses that often go unnoticed. From the boss at work, to the petrol station attendant and to even fellow road users, it is rampant and the victim in one circumstance may be the perpetrator in another scenario. The interpretation section, section 46 of the Act, did not provide any clearer definition also. The keyword in the meaning of the emotional, verbal and psychological abuse is the word, ‘repeated’. It should also be noted that the list according to the section is not exhaustive, thus any action has evinces a pattern of degrading and humiliating conduct towards any person may be brought under this heading. The overall question is how can this ‘crime’ be punished?
5. Harmful Practices:
Widowhood
Gerard Vanderhaar in his famous quote declared: “We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it’s tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it’s still valid.” This captures the ‘culture’ of discrimination
meted against the widows who ought to be supported and not subjected to repugnant cultural practices. Section 15 prohibits harmful widowhood practices. There are certainly some widowhood practices
that can be easily categorised as being harmful but some are not and the adherents to that culture will vehemently argue that the practices are not harmful. It is quite surprising that this law doesn’t cover any harmful cultural practise against widowers.
6. Abandonment of Spouse, Children and Other Dependents Without Sustenance: By virtue of Section 16, any person who abandons a wife or husband or other dependents without any means of sustenance commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or to a fine not exceeding N500,000.00 or both. According to the Encarta English Dictionary11, to abandon means “to leave somebody behind: to leave somebody or something behind for others to look after, especially somebody or something meant to be a personal responsibility.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary12 defines it as “to leave and never return to (someone who needs protection or help).” It is therefore clear that this provision is aimed at making parents (or breadwinners) responsible to their children and other dependents by providing them with regular sustenance and not abdicating their responsibility and running away. Although, this provision raises a fundamental question where the person abandoning the home is not the breadwinner and the person has nothing to contribute to the sustenance of the home from the beginning; will such a person be liable to this criminal offence? The duration of the abandonment is a critical factor in ascertaining the certainty of the offence.
7. Female Circumcision or Genital Mutilation: Despite the cultural belief upon which this practise has been hinged upon for so long, the Act takes a bold step by
expressly prohibiting female genital mutilation or female circumcision.13 The crime now attracts four years imprisonment or an option of fine not exceeding N200, 000.00 or 14 both. While the ancillary offence of attempt, aiding, inciting, abetting or counselling another to carry out such female circumcision or female genital mutilation, will also attract two years imprisonment or a fine not exceeding N100,000.00.15
8. Spousal Battery: By virtue of section 19 of the Act, any person who batters his\her spouse commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding N200,000.00 or both. This is a commendable provision which will definitely reduce the incidents of domestic abuse by spouses. Research has it that two out of every ten women in Nigeria may have suffered from spousal battery; this shows the
high rate of this pandemic and thus the need to create a legal framework to forestall this menace. It will also make abusive spouses aware that what happens in the home is not merely a family matter but one that affects the State. The fact is that various domestic killings emanated from spousal battery. To stop the killings, we must stop the act of spousal battery which is the root of spousal killings. Recently, there was a report of a woman who stabbed her
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husband in Enugu State over money for noodles16; while a husband was equally accused of stabbing his wife to death in Lagos State17. These are just a few incidences of such acts of domestic violence precipitating into spousal murder. The only challenge in this provision is the question of reporting the crime. Will a wife be bold enough to report to the police that her husband is beating her? Will she want him to go to jail? It is also important to point out that marriage in African culture is not just between the couple but also between the families; therefore the attitude of the both families is also very key.
9. Harmful Practices:
Such criminal acts by virtue of section 20 of the Act now attract imprisonment not exceeding four years with fine not exceeding N500, 000.00. The confusion this section may generate is that the question of what can be termed ‘harmful traditional practices’ is very vague, thereby making it susceptible to
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The questions that must be answered are; when can a traditional practise be termed harmful? Who is the harm been caused to – the society who strive to preserve their culture or the victim who acknowledges the existence of such custom and may have advocated for it when she/he was not the victim? Though it is settled that the law is a product of the society, will the judge who sits to adjudicate
Traditional
There are various traditional and cultural behaviours which have the aura of violence in them. They are all traditional behaviour, attitude, practices which negatively affect the fundamental rights of women, girls, or any person and includes harmful widowhood practices, denial of inheritance and succession rights, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and forced isolation from family and friends18. These harmful traditional practices may also be extended to include shaving the head of widows, forcing the widows to drink water used to bath their dead husbands, forcing a new king to eat the heart of the previos king or killing the ‘abobaku’ of a king upon the burial of that king, preventing women from marrying the man they want to marry, etc.
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various judicial interpretations based on the subjective opinion of judges.
upon this harmful traditional practice view the practice based on a Western society who lacks cultural heritage or an African society who respects its cultural heritage?
By virtue of section 23 of the Act any person who commits the offence of political violence as defined under the Act is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or a fine not exceeding N500, 000.00 or both while any person who attempts, aids or abets the commission of political violence as defined under the Act is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or a fine not exceeding N300, 000.00 or both. It is also important to note that section 24 of the Act, expands the commission of political violence to state actors (security agencies) and such persons can be imprisoned for a term not exceeding 4 years or a fine not exceeding N1,000,000.00 or both. The Act also provides that the State is liable for the offences committed by his agents and the court shall award appropriate compensation commensurate with the extent of damage.19
The provision of section 21 of the Act prohibits any person from attacking another with any harmful substance whether chemical, biological or harmful liquid. Such a person who commits the offence is liable upon conviction to the sentence of life imprisonment without an option of fine while any person who attempts to commit the offence or who aids and abets the commission of the offence is sentenced upon conviction to imprisonment not exceeding 25 years without an option of fine.
This provision will prevent officers of the State, most especially the law enforcement and security agencies, from engaging in acts of violence and torture. Recently in Lagos State, a police corporal shot dead one Mrs. Ekpo while also causing grievous bodily harm to the husband of the deceased because the husband of the deceased refused to give them bribe.20 Although it goes without saying that these security agencies believe in court martial or police orderly room proceedings, therefore they will rarely allow their officers to be subjected to the normal court proceedings. But the victim may bring the application under the Fundamental Human Rights (Enforcement) Procedure Rules while also including the provisions of the VAPP Act.
11. Political Violence:
12. Indecent Exposure:
Max Stirner, a renowned philosopher in his famous quote stated “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.”
By virtue of section 26 if the Act, any person who intentionally exposes his/ her genital organs or a substantial part of it with the intention of causing
10. Attack Substance:
with
Harmful
distress to the other party or with the intention of inviting the other party to touch, massage or derive any sexual pleasure commits an offence as such a person is liable to imprisonment of not less than 1 year or a fine not exceeding N500, 000.00 or both. The keyword in this offence is there must be an intention. This intention is the mens rea (mental element) upon which this offence is predicated. Until the intention is ascertained, it becomes an uphill task to determine whether or not the person ‘intentionally’ exposed his/her genitals and more difficult to prove that the reason behind the exposure was to make another person commit an offence or soliciting for a touch, massage or derivation of sexual pleasure.
commission of the offence are also liable to various sentences.
14. Rape: From the reading of section 1(2) of the VAPP Act, it can be deduced that its definition has been broadened than that of the Criminal Code. The literal reading of the Act shows that a woman can be a rapist because the Section 1(2) uses the words “he/she.” A person charged with the offence of rape is liable to life imprisonment but where the offender is less than 14 years such a person is liable to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment23. The Act specifically frowns at group (gang) rape where such offenders are liable to a minimum of 20 years imprisonment.24
Genital organs are commonly referred to as external sex organs used in reproduction21. A genital organ is defined as “any of the organs of Recent findings report reproduction or generation, including, in the female, the that over 50 % of women vulva, clitoris, ovaries, uterine are abused in some tubes, uterus, and vagina, and in the male, the penis, scrotum, form. testes, epididymides, deferent ducts, seminal vesicles, prostate, and bulbourethral glands.22” With this definition, how many people really expose their ‘genital organs’ which this Act seeks to prohibit? In my The Act surprisingly in section 1(2)(b) opinion, the exposure which the Act states, should prohibit is the exposure of sexual organs and not genital organs. “in all other cases, to a minimum of twelve years imprisonment without an 13. Offensive Conduct: option of fine.” By virtue of section 5 of the VAPP What is the meaning of ‘in all other Act, any person who compels another cases”, when can a rape offender be to engage in any conduct which categorised under the heading, “in is to the detriment of the victim’s all other cases”? Are the other cases physical or psychological well-being relating to other offences other than commits an offence and is liable rape though the provision of section upon conviction to an imprisonment 1(2) deals specifically with rape? This of not exceeding 2 years and a fine is another effect of poor legislative not exceeding N500,000.00. Any drafting. It is a settled principle of person who attempts to commit the legislative drafting that the law must offence or who aids and incites the be clear, precise and unambiguous.
“ “
Though the award of compensation under section 1(3) is very commendable, the court has no condition or tests to conduct before ascertaining the amount of damages to be awarded. According to the Human Rights Network, the definition of rape is another controversial area of the Act. It argued that the provision was too wide with a potential for criminalizing even basic exhibition of affection between parents and children or siblings.
COMPENSATION Importantly, the Act contained provisions on effective remedies, including the rights of victims to assistance. According to section 38, “Every victim is entitled to receive the necessary materials, comprehensive medical, psychological, social and legal assistance through governmental agencies and/or nongovernmental agencies providing such assistance.25” Victims are entitled to be informed of the availability of legal, health and social services and other relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.26 Furthermore, it provides that: “Victims are entitled to rehabilitation and re-integration programme of the State to enable victims to acquire, where applicable and necessary, prerequisite skills in any vocation of the victim’s choice and also in necessary formal education or access to micro credit facilities.27” It is also noteworthy that the victims and survivors of these violent acts are also entitled to comprehensive medical, psychological, social and legal assistance by accredited service providers and government agencies, and the court is directed to protect their identities. In addition to the fundamental human rights stipulated in the constitution, victims of violence, have their rights protected
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under the Act. They are also entitled to compensation for harm done to them or to family members or for any loss incurred as a result of the violence by the perpetrators. The setting up a regulatory or implementation commission will ensure the full implementation of the Act. Part 14 of the Act makes provision for the establishment of a special trust fund for the victims. The fund is to provide all form of needed assistance to victims of violence in terms of legal fees. Hitherto, the lack of a fund for victims of gender-based violence has limited effective financial assistance that can be made available to the victims. It is quite obvious that this Act if matched with proper enforcement would go a long way in reducing incessant cases of abuses on women and others and also achieve the intended aims and purposes.
CONCLUSION The recent enactment of this Act was widely heralded as a pointer to the seriousness on the part of lawmakers to finally assume its lawmaking responsibilities in protecting violation of human rights, most especially against women, while also creating a framework to compensate the victims and punish the perpetrators. Undoubtedly, the purpose of the statute in many respects represents a legitimate advancement of human rights; the provisions are badly couched and poorly drafted and incoherent. As opined above, the provisions of the Act seem like a policy statement or a political manifesto which most often is so wide and difficult to implement. Obviously, the legislators that drafted this Act, as well as their supporters in the human rights community, are of the mindset that by inserting criminal provisions on some perceived abuses it will protect women from ‘violence’. The priority, in our opinion, is to enhance individual liberty as it
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ensues in other jurisdictions. The criminalisation regime risks breaching the fundamental tenet of human rights as captured under the Constitution, namely, that autonomously expressed wishes of individuals – adults or children (via their parents) – must be respected, regardless of what anyone else, including the government, thinks.28 Despite all the good motives behind the enactment of this Act, the Act will be ineffective without a continued system of public awareness. Until Nigerians get to understand that they have rights against some of the offences in this Act, the effect of this Act will be lost on us. The wheels of justice can only start turning if a case of violence is reported to the appropriate authority, the Act cannot act in vacuum. Awareness is critical to ensure effectiveness and uptake by those who stand to benefit from the provisions of the Act. Nigerians need to be educated about the potential benefits and dangers of violating any of the provisions of the Act. It is equally important that the law enforcement agencies, who will be receiving these reports, should be aware and properly educated on the provisions of this Act. Most often, these authorities have shown extreme reluctance in intervening in acts of sexual assault and domestic violence which although already criminalised partly under the provisions of the Criminal Code Act, but now has been ‘re-criminalised’ by the VAPP Act. The question this poses to us is what is the status of a conduct which is recriminalised? In the next edition, we will be exploring the enforceability of this Act, the issue of jurisdiction and the challenge of conflict or multiplicity of laws which this Act may have subtle created.
1. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651). 2. Mahatma Ghandi. 3 Section 55 of the penal code (applicable in Northern Nigeria) legalises corrective beating of a child, pupil, servant or wife as long as this does not cause grievous bodily harm and it is important to note that the provisions of the VAPP Act did not repeal any part of the Penal Code. 4 These cultures can be brought under the doctrine of repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. Although some others will argue that the repugnancy test should be one that is known to the Nigerian culture and not the European or American cultures. 5 Spousal rape is often overlooked or tolerated and yet to be codified as a criminal offence in Nigeria though other jurisdictions had since codified it and moved ahead of Nigeria. 6 < http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR293/FR293.pdf> 7 <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/attachment_ data/file/67333/Gender-Nigeria2012.pdf> Accessed 8/10/2015 8 The Act is the result of 14 years of activism by civil society. Starting just after the transition to democracy 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. The content of the Act is home grown; reflecting the realities of violence in Nigeria today, even as it incorporates provisions based on Nigeria’s commitment to international human rights principles. 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 harmonised with 8 other Bills on gender based violence in the National Assembly. It took another seven years for it to become law. 9 President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR. 10 WACOL “Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, Nigeria: The Synopsis by Women Aid’s Collective (WACOL)”. <http://www.law.utoronto.ca/utfl_ file/count/documents/reprohealth/ls_088vapp_act_2015_ nigeria_synopsis.pdf> accessed on 8/10/2015. 11 Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 12 © 2015 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated < http:// www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abandon> accessed 9/10/2015. 13 See section 6(1) VAPP Act. 14 Section 6(2) VAPP Act. 15 Section 6(3) (4) VAPP Act. 16 “Woman stabs husband in Enugu over money for noodles” August 26, 2015, Daily Post News. <http:// dailypost.ng/2015/08/26/woman-stabs-husband-inenugu-over-money-for-noodles/> Accessed 16/10/2015. 17 “Lagos Police Parades The Man Who Stabbed His Banker Wife To Death” PM News, Lagos <http:// saharareporters.com/2011/07/05/lagos-police-paradesman-who-stabbed-his-banker-wife-death-pm-newslagos> accessed 16/10/2015. 18 Section 46 VAPP Act. 19 Section 24(5). 20 Police Corporal Shoots Tricyclist, Kills Mother Of Four Over N100 (September 18, 2015) <http://www. informationng.com/2015/09/police-corporal-shootstricyclist-kills-mother-of-four-over-n100.html> Accessed on 16/10/2015. 21 WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 20032012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc., http://www. thefreedictionary.com/genital+organ. 22 The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary (2002, Houghton Mifflin Company). 23 Section 1(2)(a). 24 The Indian bus gang rape readily comes to mind. See section 1(2)(c). 25 Section 38(1)(a). 26 Synopsis by Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) <http://www.law.utoronto.ca/utfl_file/count/documents/ reprohealth/ls_088vapp_act_2015_nigeria_synopsis.pdf> accessed 9 October, 2015. 27 Section 38(1)(c). 28 Nnamuchi, Obiajulu, Nigeria’s Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act and Criminalization of Female Genital Ritual: Advancement or Violation of Human Rights? (June 17, 2015). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn. com/abstract=2619543.
Lifestyle
SKINCARE ROUTINES FOR BUSY PEOPLE
I
n our present world, when people hear about beauty routines usually the first thought that comes to mind is spa time, makeover session, extractions of comedones (blackheads, whiteheads), cleansing and toning of the skin etc. The truth is so many little things are being overlooked but play a large role in the beautification of our skin.
by Lillian Paul
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The first most important routine is BEAUTY SLEEP. Sleep is the time when the body’s cells have a chance to repair and regenerate but the deprivation of sleep stresses the body’s system, including the skin and can result in headaches, irritability, lack of energy, or inability to focus. The skin becomes less elastic and prone to outbreaks of acne or rashes.
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Exercise is also a routine not to shy away from. About 20-30 minutes of exercise in a day raises the heart rate which helps increase blood flow in the process bringing more oxygen to the skin and cleanses impurities from the body through sweat. Also with regular exercise, you can build lean muscle mass and raise your metabolism (which slows with age).
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Multitasking is a very common word in the dictionary of “busy people” but it’s a slow killer in the long run. Researchers discovered that when a task is given both frontal lobes of the brain is use to carry out the task; when two tasks are given each half of the brain was devoted in carrying them out. However when a third task was introduced it interrupted the second task, error rates shot up and results plummeted. These interruptions can make work
unsatisfied and stressful. Stress is very detrimental to one’s health, it affects other regions of the brain and the hormone it produces reduces the short-term memory which in turn increases memory loss. Stress related hormonal fluctuations can also cause adult acne and other skin problems. Carrying out one task after the other will prevent these occurrences and also reduce the production of stress hormones.
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Excessive exposure to the Ultraviolet Rays (UV rays) of the sun is one of the skin’s greatest enemies. UV rays cause premature aging which includes wrinkles, loss of skin elasticity, hyper pigmentation and gravely skin cancer. A good way to protect the skin from the excess sun exposure is wearing a sunscreen is high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) from 15OC and above; and also participate in less activities under the sun.
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The health of one’s skin begins with good nutrition. New, living cells continually replace the dead cells on the surface of the skin and the growth of new ones is dependent on vitamins, minerals, and hydration. Fruits and vegetables containing Vitamins A, C, and B help prevent aging of the skin,
promotes clarity and protection against the environment. Biotin is another nutrient needed for healthy skin, hair, and nails which is found in whole grains; it helps prevent to dermatitis and hair loss. Drinking about 8 to 10 glasses of water a day will help flush out toxin and keep skin clear; also drinking a glass of water each time you take any beverage that contains alcohol or caffeine helps promote hydration. No matter how busy you are, always be mindful that ‘health is wealth’. Without creating a healthy beauty routine for oneself, the danger of living a short life might be closer than one thinks. References
Bobbi Brown, Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro (2011), pages 24, 28 and 29. Impacts of Multitasking, 2011 <www.multitaskingtest. net.au/the-science/impacts-of-multi-tasking> accessed 29 April, 2014.
Lillian is a professional makeup artist and skincare specialist. Address: 6, Akanbi Damola Street, off Awolowo Road, S/W Ikoyi, Lagos Telephone: +234 802 367 5184, +234 805 557 5905 Instagram: @lillianpaul Twitter: @lpdaboss Facebook: Lillian Paul
Website: www.flarebeauty.org
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