ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
The Chief Registrar, High Court, Bauchi, Barrister Emmanuel Sublim, has disclosed that no fewer than five cases of rape and other gender based violence are recorded daily in Magistrate Courts in the state.
Sublim who disclosed this at the opening of a one-day programme on Women, Peace and Security in Nigeria, organized by United Nations Women which held at the Command Guest House on Tuesday, lamented that most of the cases do not end up in convictions.
He said that apart from cultural problems, parents of victims refuse to make statements to coroborate some of the cases that come up in Court.
Sublim said: “Gender based cases are on the rise in Bauchi state and they seem to be alarming because from the reports that are usually sent to the Magistrate Courts in Bauchi, I discovered that on a daily basis, we have not less than five cases coming to the courts”.
“The unfortunate thing is that the cases don’t end up in conviction. This is either that there are problems in the course of investigation or problems in the course of prosecution or problems when case files are sent to the Ministry of Justice for legal advice.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have anybody to put an eye on some of these things that are happening from the time arrests are made up to the time the accused persons are taken to Court.
“We are really worried and I think this programme is a forum where we begin to sensitize ourselves and those we live with to see that gender based violence are not just things we can sweep away, we should try as much as possible to see that women are given due protection by our laws.”
In his opening remarks, a Programme Coordinator with UN Women, Peter Mancha, said that already 15 states including Bauchi have keyed in to the implementation of the UN Women Programme and have gone ahead to launch the implementation plans.
He added that, the UN Women has been working with various partners including, Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN) and International Alert in the implementation process of the programme under the support of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Mancha also said that the various States of Assembly across the country have collaborated in the passing of the Child Rights Act and the VAPP laws which he said will reduce the challenges facing women and children particularly the girl child, if implemented.
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