UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 24) Nigeria had enacted the following laws to incorporate the international human rights instruments to which Nigeria is a party: (a) Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP);
Para 38) 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. In addition, the following legislative measures aim at combating harmful cultural practices. Legislative measures: (a) Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015;
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.
Para 64) Section 42 of the Constitution guarantees and protects the rights of women from discrimination. Under section 46 (1) of the Constitution, women who are victims of violence and discrimination may apply to a High Court for redress by way of fundamental rights enforcement proceedings in the event of the application of any law that allows violence and discrimination against them. In addition, government enacted the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act.
Para 65) The Act seeks to eliminate violence in private and public life, prohibit all forms of violence including physical, sexual, psychological, domestic, harmful traditional practices, discriminations against persons and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders. Under the ACJA, women can now stand as sureties for any applicant or defendant for the purpose of admitting the person to bail. Hitherto this was not possible.
Para 98) The challenges contained in the second cycle UPR report remain the same, though the current federal and state governments are working very hard to overcome these challenges and several reforms and initiatives are yielding positive results. Some of the main challenges are: … (e) Difficulties in breaking through entrenched mind set on harmful traditional practices affecting the human rights of women and children.

UN Compilation:
Para 8) Referring to the relevant recommendations from the previous review, the United Nations country team stated that Nigeria had given effect to some of its treaty obligations by adopting … the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act (2015).
Para 14) Referring to the relevant recommendations from the previous review, the United Nations country team noted that in March 2016, the eighth Senate had rejected the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill and that a revised version of the Bill was currently under consideration. The country team considered the implementation of those recommendations to be ongoing.
Para 39) The Special Rapporteur on minority issues was concerned that, despite the relevant role played by women, particularly minority women, in civil society initiatives, during her visit in 2014, she had encountered hardly any women participating in Government and political leadership. Para 40) CEDAW remained concerned that women were still underrepresented in the National Assembly, in senior leadership positions in the diplomatic service and at the ministerial level. ….
Para 41) The Special Rapporteur on minority issues noted that minorities, particularly minority women, were poorly represented in political life at all levels, especially in state and local governments.
Para 51) [CEDAW] noted the efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment and social welfare, including through the adoption of the Social Insurance Trust Fund Act, in 2012, and the Pension Reform Act, in 2014.
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.
Para 69) UNFPA stated that the humanitarian emergency in insurgency-affected states in north-east Nigeria had significantly impacted on the lives of women and girls with increased displacement, threats of and exposure to gender-based violence, challenges obtaining and utilizing life-saving services and rising incidence of domestic violence. The Government had established a gender-based violence coordination mechanism to address those issues.
Para 70) The Special Rapporteurs on health, on sale of children and on slavery stated that, while all women and girls who experienced sexual violence during the insurgency faced stigmatization, the stigma and rejection from families and communities was greater for those who were perceived to have been associated with Boko Haram as abductees, those living in Boko Haram controlled areas or those who had been compelled and forced to become “wives” of Boko Haram insurgents. Often referred to by communities as “Boko Haram wives” or “Sambisa women”, they were shunned and marginalized, even in camps for internally displaced persons.
Para 72) [CEDAW] was concerned that section 55 of the Criminal Code permitted wife battery as chastisement as long as no grievous bodily harm was inflicted.

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.
Para 51) … JS16 stated that, despite several efforts, the legislation for gender equality in political participation had not been followed-up by any effort for implementation.
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 77) Referring to relevant supported recommendations from the previous review, JS1 stated that in 2015, the laws on gender-based violence had been consolidated into the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, which broadly covers physical, psychological, economic, and sexual violence, including rape, as well as harmful traditional practices. However, the Act was only in force in the federal capital and that several states did not have specific laws prohibiting sexual and gender based violence. Moreover, Section 55 of the Penal Code, which was in force in the North, specifically allowed husbands to discipline their wives.
Para 78) WRAHP stated that domestic violence and gender-based violence had been on an increase and that the relevant authorities had not given adequate attention to the issue. JS16 stated that domestic violence remained underreported for reasons that included the existence of a culture of silence and the turning away of victims at police stations on the grounds that such a matter was a family affair.
Para 83) CITAD expressed concern by the persistent threats, harassments, intimidations and attacks on women internet users. It expressed alarm by the failure of the government to protect women from gender-based violence on line.

National Report:
Para 49) … Schools for the girl-child under construction are almost 90% completed.

UN Compilation:
Para 62) CEDAW noted with concern that many women and girls in north-east Nigeria had dropped out of school owing to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 74) … JS16 stated that Nigeria had not given any attention to the education of girls in remote parts of the country.

National Report:
Para 14) ... The strategy adopted in the blueprint for promoting gender equality and women empowerment is by systematic gender mainstreaming in all policies and programmes of government, through the incorporation of the principles laid out in the newly revised National Gender Policy, national laws and other regional and international human rights instruments that support gender equality and women empowerment. There are various gender related bills, currently pending in the National Assembly and government is deploying resources to expedite their passage into law.

Para 60) Since the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Women and Social Development and its equivalents in the States, efforts have been made to consolidate and strengthen policies and programmes which will eliminate violence against women and provide support for victims. A product of these efforts is the Violence Against Persons Bill being considered in the National Assembly.

Para 62) Under section 46 (1) of the Constitution, women who are victims of violence and discrimination may apply to a High Court for redress by way of fundamental rights enforcement proceedings in the event of the application of any law that allows violence and discrimination against them. Nigerian courts have on several occasions declared null and void all laws and customs that are not in the spirit of the Constitution in this regard.

Para 64) The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is engaged in continuous advocacy to legislators, policy makers and other stakeholders on the imperative to pass the CEDAW bill currently pending before the National Assembly. Government has taken necessary steps also to engage traditional and religious leaders on the importance of eradicating negative cultural practices from their communities. Some States of the federation have passed laws eradicating some of these practices, including Female Genital Mutilation and harmful widowhood rights.

Para 65) Various actions are being taken, including strengthening of laws and policies as well as their implementation, strengthening of human resources and police institutional reforms to eradicate negative cultural practices at the Federal and state levels.

Para 66) Nigeria in its efforts to improve the rights of women and ensuring that all administrative and policy bottlenecks that hinder women from exercising their rights as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other international instruments of human rights, adopted a Gender Policy by approving the establishment of Gender Desks in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government with a view to mainstreaming gender issues in all their activities.

Para 67) The National Orientation Agency organizes sensitization programmes for the public on the harmful effects of traditional practices against women, especially widows. Government will continue to intensify efforts to raise awareness as well as disseminate information on the value of human rights among traditional and religious leaders in order to curb negative traditional practices.

UN Compilation:
Para 3) In 2012, Nigeria reported in follow-up to the concluding observations of CEDAW, that the Convention was yet to be incorporated into national law, but that there were ongoing consultative efforts to pave the way for such incorporation.

Para 15) In 2012, Nigeria reported in follow-up to the concluding observations of the CEDAW that, despite the socio-cultural practices and discriminatory policies against women, proactive measures had been taken to ensure the progressive realization of improved access to health care and social services.

Para 52) In the framework of the follow-up to CEDAW concluding observations, in 2012, Nigeria reportedly informed that there remained a need to ensure budgetary allocations for gender- oriented intervention programmes and activities, particularly for combating maternal deaths.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 53) JS 2 stated that while there was no legislation at the federal level prohibiting female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM), a number of states have adopted legislation in this regard. However, enforcement of this legislation has been a challenge.

National Report:
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.

Stakeholder Summary:
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.