UPR Sexual Rights Database

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 7) WRAHP stated that Nigeria had ratified CEDAW in 1985 but was yet to fulfil its obligations arising from the Convention. JS10 stated that the incorporation of the provisions of the Convention into the national legislative framework through the enactment of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill had made little progress.

National Report:
Para 26) Section 34 (1) (a) of the Constitution protects the dignity of human person by stating that every individual is entitled to respect to the dignity of his or her person and accordingly no person shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment. Nigeria has implemented this recommendation through the enactment of the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015(VAPPA). This Act eliminates violence in private and public life; prohibit all forms of violence including physical, sexual, psychological, domestic violence; harmful traditional practices; discrimination against persons and provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders.
Para 40) … d) The Launch of a Campaign to End Child Marriage in Nigeria and a National Strategy to End Child Marriage in Nigeria 2017-2021.
Para 54) Government has the developed the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) 2010-2015. … The only indicator of the first plan that was met in 2015 was the adolescent birth rate which dropped from 126/1000 to 74/1000 adolescent women.
Para 56) The second plan takes a more comprehensive, inclusive and the holistic approach. It is organized along five strategic pillars; … (ii) Increased Utilization of Essential Package of Health Care Services which covers RMNCAH …
Para 57) Further, to improve exclusive breast feeding rate, the Federal Ministry of Health is collaborating with Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to fast track the implementation of paid extension of paid maternity entitlement from 16weeks to 18weeks and continue advocacy to 24weeks (which is 6months) in line with the resolution of the 59 National Council on Health Resolution.

UN Compilation:
Para 55) CEDAW noted with concern the high rate of maternal mortality, which was partly attributable to the lack of access to skilled midwives and the high number of unsafe abortions, which itself resulted from the restrictive laws that permitted abortions only in order to save a pregnant woman’s life. UNFPA stated that in 2017, the Government had pioneered an innovative initiative to scale up the capacity of midwives.
Para 57) [CEDAW] noted with concern reports of high rates of infertility and miscarriage in Zamfara State owing to lead contamination.
Para 58) [CEDAW] noted with concern the limited use of modern forms of contraception by women and girls, the fact that Nigeria had one of the highest HIV rates in the world, which disproportionately affected women and girls, especially women in prostitution, and the prevalence of malaria.
Para 65) The Special Rapporteurs on health, on sale of children and on slavery noted that the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act prohibited all forms of violence and criminalized marital rape, female genital mutilation, forceful ejection from home and harmful widowhood practices. The Special Rapporteurs recommended that Nigeria ensure that the Act was adopted in those states that had yet to do so.
Para 67) Referring to the relevant recommendations from the previous review, the United Nations country team stated that the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act prohibited female genital mutilation, which had been banned in 12 of the 36 states. The country team considered the implementation of those recommendations to be ongoing.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 67) JS1 stated that maternal health remained underfunded. Since the Abuja Declaration in 2001, Nigeria had not attained the pledged funding benchmark of 15 percent of the annual budget.
Para 68) JS16 stated that there was a lack of access to adequate healthcare, family planning services, counselling and education for rural women. ADF stated that Nigeria must focus on helping women to get through pregnancy and childbirth safely. Women should be provided with access to knowledge-based education about their bodies, healthy behaviours and responsible decision-making.
Para 69) JS1 stated that the maternal mortality rate had remained high. Accessibility and availability of quality maternal health care had been impeded by the cost of services, the distance to health facilities, and the inadequate and long waiting times at public health facilities. JS10 stated that maternal health had become a major challenge for “community women” in the Niger Delta, who had depended on traditional birth attendants for maternity services. WRAHP stated that untrained traditional birth attendants were responsible for over 35 percent of the deliveries, which contributed to the high rates of maternal mortality.
Para 70) JS1 stated that women and girls in conflict zones had continued to face numerous reproductive rights violations, including child and forced marriage, sexual and gender based violence, unsafe abortions and lack of access to family planning information and services.
Para 71) JS1 stated that access to safe legal abortion and post-abortion care had remained lacking. Abortion laws had remained restrictive and had resulted in clandestine and unsafe abortions. Low contraceptive usage had been a leading and contributing factor to the high rates of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.
Para 80) PRAWA stated that female genital mutilation was a common practice in many states in Nigeria. Such a practice was an abuse of the rights of victims to reproductive health and in severe cases could lead to their death. The Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act (2015) recognizes female genital mutilation as an offence. However, according to PJ, the legislation had not been effectively implemented. JS10 stated that there had been a low rate of prosecution for alleged acts of female genital mutilation.
Para 88) JS12 expressed concern about the high rates of child marriage and the need to address the underlying factors that contributed to early marriage. JS16 stated that state legislation on the minimum age of marriage varied from state to state.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 64) JS13 stated that LGBT persons had been subjected to forced, violent and arbitrary evictions.