Malami, Tallen bemoan rising gender-based violence cases

• Published date: 18 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and his counterpart in the Women Affairs Ministry, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, have expressed concerns over the rising cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) across the country.

Malami and Tallen noted that although the Federal Government has evolved measures to curb the crime, the challenge was how to enhance the capacity of the judiciary to exercise improve access to justice for victims and ensure swift prosecution of the perpetrators.

They appealed for the support of all stakeholders, particularly the Judiciary to urgently address the alarming trend.

The AGF and Women Affairs Minister spoke in Abuja at a capacity building workshop for judges on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), use of Practice Direction and Guidelines on trial of SGBV cases and ancillary procedures, organised by the Federal Ministry of Justice.

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Malami, who co-chairs the Presidential Inter-ministerial Gender-based Violence Management Committee with Mrs. Tallen, identified the various initiatives put in place by the Fed Govt to address this challenge.

He noted that for the efforts against SGBV to yield meaningful results, the Judiciary must increase its capacity to ensure access to justice and prompt disposal of cases.

He said: 'The Federal Government will continue to seek ways to support the Judiciary in developing its capacities, particularly to invest in technologies that are necessary to automate vital aspects of court operations and implement a digital justice delivery system.

'The expectations are that the judiciary must innovate and grow with the times.

'Part of this expected innovation entails imbibing dynamism in the application and adjudication of our laws and cases.'

Malami said the workshop was intended to aid judges in developing insights into the emerging trends in SGBV, which include Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and School Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV).

He noted that while CRSV cases were prevalent in conflict prone parts of the country, SRGBV are perpetrated in schools.

'SRGBV is highly pervasive in schools in Nigeria across all region today. It has resulted in massive human rights violation and increased the number of out of school children particularly, the girl child.

'There is therefore the need to bring our judiciary and other law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities to the knowledge of these...