Worried by large number of stalled and unsuccessful prosecution of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, SGBV, cases in Benue state, Lawyers Alert, Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, has commenced a campaign for the activation and implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition, VAPP and the Administration of Criminal Justice, ACJ, Laws across project states.
As part of the campaign, Lawyers Alert and her SGBV Justice Network, SJN cluster members, on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, launched a SGBV campaign hashtag “#IMPLEMENTSGBVLAWS” in Makurdi the state capital.
The Next Edition reports that the SGBV Campaign Hashtag launch is a seed propagation by Lawyers Alert and her SJN cluster members in partnership with Palladium under the USAID Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) project to complement efforts and further build synergy with other SGBV and human rights actors/activists in six project states of Bauchi, Benue, Enugu, Kaduna, Osun and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Speaking to journalists during the launch and sensitisation rally in Makurdi, Director of Programmes for Lawyers Alert, Jerome Uneje, who said it is not enough to have the VAPP and ACJ Laws passed and domesticated with beautiful provisions without implementation.
She explained that the campaign was to galvanize support of partners and the media towards the activation and implementation of the laws for speedy justice service delivery for SGBV survivors in project states.
While acknowledging that the VAPP and ACJ Laws exist to provide redress for survivors and victims of SGBV who are mostly the poor and vulnerable women and girls, Uneje noted with displeasure that even though the laws are not fully implemented, a good number of Nigerian citizens are not aware of them and their provisions.
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She noted that while the ACJL prescribes six months and one month as the period to commence and end criminal and SGBV trials, respectively, in practice, a case of SGBV when reported to authorities takes an average of five to 10 years for decisions making, a situation, she observed, is making perpetrators go free and motivating other perpetrators.
She stated that there was need for all hands to be on deck to ensure the laws are effectively implemented in a manner that would serve and resolve SGBV cases, adding that they hope that advocacies galvanized through the newly launched hashtag will push policy actors, the private sectors and the government towards implementation of the laws.
State Chairman of League of Women Voters Nigeria, NILOWV, Barr. Irene Awuna-Ikyegh who cited the rape case involving late Miss Elizabeth Ochanya and her caregivers, as one of the numerous SGBV in Benue said most high profile case are swept underground.
“We are going to do more of advocacy engagements with relevant agencies and government to ensure that these laws are not just domesticated and dumped but implemented to get desired results which is convictions.
In their separate remarks, some of the SJN cluster members, Benue state Chairman of Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, Elizabeth Achagh, and Barr. Solumtochukwu of Lawyers Alert, all hailed the campaign saying it will go a long way to push for implementation of the VAPP and ACJ laws in Benue.
