THE PREVALENCE OF RAPE CASES

The courts need to speed up trial process and impose the full weight of the law on offenders

Against the background that majority of victims of rape in Nigeria would rather keep silent, it must worry the authorities that no fewer than 2,250 of such cases were reported in Lagos within a period of two and a half years. According to the manager, Mirabel Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Juliet Olumuyiwa-Rufai, the centre recorded less than 20 convictions in all those cases.

While rape is regarded as the most unreported crime globally, it has assumed an epidemic proportion in Nigeria due largely to several factors. The challenge, in the words of Olumuyiwa-Rufai, was that many of the victims “face stigmatisation and they are not free to come out. Also, they don’t want to press charges because of pressure from families, religious institutions and landlords”. She added that “the factors reinforcing rape is impunity. If we have enough convictions, it will serve as deterrence to others.”

While rape, the act of sexual assault against a person (male or female) comes in different forms, the most common in our country is against girls and women. But statistics of the number of victims are very difficult to come by, essentially because in our country, insensitivity and the fear of stigma (or persecution) discourage targets of sexual violence from formalising the reports of incidents involving them. This reluctance, however, has only contributed to the rise in a culture of impunity on the part of the perpetrators.

The policy brief of the National Crime and Safety Survey once highlighted how prevalent sexual violence was, as well as the fact that our society seemed to be living in denial about the issue. The study particularly revealed that victims of rape hardly lodge reports for fear that their cases would not be treated seriously, that they would be stigmatised or that corruption would hinder effective investigation.

Even though human rights violations of this nature occur everywhere in the world, as the sick, the evil and the deranged exist in all societies, the only manner in which citizens can feel safe and secure is where the response to crime is swift, efficient and effective. That is what the current situation demands from the relevant authorities. Our courts must therefore be more proactive and stringent in applying sanctions, as some of the verdicts, for the few that have actually been successfully prosecuted, were ridiculous. Our private network providers should readily donate help-lines with free calls for victims of violence, while our hospitals and the legal profession should be prepared to offer pro bono services to the victims

However, the society also needs to be alive to its responsibility. A point of safe, protective and comforting recourse must exist for victims of sexual violence to address their immediate needs as well as to enable them summon the courage to pursue the ends of justice. While better training on a wider scale, diligent prosecution and swift and exemplary sanctions would certainly send a strong signal to the perpetrators to desist, the media remains a necessary partner in sustained efforts to curb these wanton acts of evil.

Rape is a violation of the most demeaning kind that scars many victims for life. But having created a society in which the seemingly strong are seeking ways to display their superiority over ‘weaker’ people, rape may be a more blatant manifestation of a deeper deviation in our social psychology. It goes without saying that when positive means of personal identification and legitimate expression are suppressed, the devil finds work. But no society should condone rape which regrettably is fast becoming a social epidemic in Nigeria today.

THE ONLY MANNER IN WHICH CITIZENS CAN FEEL SAFE AND SECURE IS WHERE THE RESPONSE TO CRIME IS SWIFT, EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE