ABUJA – International Federation of Women Lawyer (FIDA) Nigeria has launched the formative research report, urging legal practitioners, policy makers, Civil Society Organisations and general public to access this report and use it for the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria particularly in addressing the rights of women and children.
The Country Vice President/National President of FIDA Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Suzanah Agbaje stated this at the day two of the public presentation of a formative research on promising practices supported by MacArthur Foundation towards the implementation of the second phase project titled: “Strengthening collaboration among Criminal Justice actors and deepen the Criminal Justice architecture to ensure the effective imlementation of the ACJA/ACJLS.
According to the Mrs Agbaje, the event is part of FIDA’s strategy in improving access to justice for women and children.
Recall that FIDA Nigeria with support from MacArthur Foundation undertook informative research to ascertain how the rights of women and children are protected under the administration of Criminal Justice Act and laws in six states of Rivers, Bayelsa, Kano, Anambra, FCT.
Mrs Agbaje said the research is to track the challenges so that innovative ways can be used in the administration of criminal justice in accessing criminal justice, particularly women and children.
In his contribution on how the formative research report will reduce gender abuse in Nigeria, Public interest legal practitioner, Mr. Benson Olugbuo said the research actually is very instructive. It tries to look at the provisions of administration of criminal act 2015, and provisions of administration of laws in about 6 states and, how they protect women and children. And the outcome of the research is that there are actually good and progressive provisions in those laws, in the criminal justice act and criminal justice laws by states.
But the problem is that they are not being implemented the way they ought to be implemented to really protect women and children, to reduce gender base violence. And also reduce the exposure of children and adults sitting in terms of administration of criminal justice. So, we see this as a development because the research has been done, it has pointed out some of the problems, you know, one of the key things I’ve learned today is that there’s lack of awareness of even the provisions of the law especially by citizens, law enforcement agencies and even those who should promote the law. What it means is that for effective opportunities by all the stakeholders to make average Nigerians understand the provisions of the law, that justice actors, Nigeria police force, human rights Commission, staff of naptip, legal aid council, and other administration of criminal legal monitoring committee, both at the federal and state level, to understand their role and ensure that the rights of women and children are protected.
Of course we know that bail is free but most times when people are going to police station to access bail, sometimes they have to part with money because they don’t know that bail is free. Maybe nobody has told them. Due to the circumstances under which people find themselves in police stations and other detention services. The provisions of the law is good but where we are having problem is implementation. The problem of it not being effectively implemented, is as a result of fact that there’s no awareness, and a lot of people don’t know these laws exist actually.
He added that one of the key things with this research is on how to protect the vulnerable women and children, persons with disabilities, who don’t have access to justice. It is important that irrespective of your financial status, the constitution protects you and your rights at all times effectively and efficiently.
