An Evaluation of the Legal Framework for Redressing Sexual Violence in the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria: Challenges and the Way Forward

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-182
Author(s):  
Anita Nwotite

Sexual violence is one of the human rights violations characterising the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. These violations include rape, sexual slavery and the abduction of women and girls by members of the insurgent group. Unfortunately, the emphasis has always been on the provision of humanitarian aid rather than redressing these violations. This article argues that although there are laws in place regulating sexual violence in Nigeria, these laws are inadequate in providing redress for the victims. Besides, the laws are rarely implemented to ensure a system of justice for victims, given the patriarchal and cultural antecedents of Nigeria. It is against this background that the article evaluates the legal framework for redressing sexual violence in the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria with a view to revealing the gap that exists therein. To achieve this aim, the article defines sexual violence and instances of such in the Boko Haram context. It also examines the legal framework for redressing sexual violence in Nigeria and the limitations of these laws in that regard. The article further considers the concept of redress and what it entails. Although the article adopts a legal approach, it is concluded that this approach is inadequate in addressing the issue at stake and that, in addition, a resort to extra-legal or other radical measures is needed. To address this challenge, the article among other things, recommends the eradication of cultural practices and negative values encouraging sexual violence; stipulation of a timeframe within which cases of sexual violence must be redressed; the appointment of an independent monitoring body to ensure the implementation of constitutional provisions in that regard; judicial independence; and advocacy by both civil society organisations and the media as tools to compel the relevant authorities to fulfil their responsibility to protect victims of sexual violence. This, it is submitted, will go a long way to address the vulnerability of Nigerian women and girls faced with sexual violence by insurgent groups.

2020 ◽  
pp. 135050682093809
Author(s):  
Júlia Garraio

The sexual assaults reported on New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne posed major challenges to feminists struggling with the tensions and entanglements of feminism, imperialism, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, sexism and nationalism. The aim of the present article is to examine these tensions through an analysis of the pressures framing the positionality of discourses. It examines how feminists, framed by the larger Western debates about the ‘failure of multiculturalism’ and the global Islamophobia underpinning the ‘war on terror’ era, engaged with the moral panic which pervaded the mediatization of the assaults. It argues that feminist initiatives like #ausnahmslos’, which situated anti-racism at the core of any engagement for gender equality, were a reaction to the femonationalist approach to the events pervading the media and the political debate, and attempts to counter arguments which associated the sexual assaults with cultural practices imported through (Muslim) immigration and which demanded (or condoned) stricter immigration laws and state surveillance of Muslims. Then, this article addresses the challenges posed by some feminists from Germany and from North African countries and/or with a Muslim background, who argued that the analysis of Cologne should address the religious-cultural background of the suspects. The article argues that the difficulty in engaging with their contributions in Germany derives from internal pressures, namely the risk of having their arguments co-opted by Islamophobic and anti-immigration agendas. By pointing at the role of positionality in defining priorities in a globalized world, this article addresses the constraints and potentials in developing transnational approaches to sexual violence.


Author(s):  
Sadiya Abubakar

<div><p><em>One of the most reprehensive subjugation among the so called cultural practices in Nigeria, is the oppression born out of widowhood, poverty is yet another great cause of trauma amongst many Nigerian women, especially among the no/low income earners, polygamy is as well seen to be a great causative agent of psychological disturbances amid Nigerian women chiefly in the northerners, and of course the recent Boko Haram terrorist acts that subjected many Nigerians to psychological distortion. Women in a patriarchal society like Nigeria, are treated with gender subordination which subjects them to experiencing indelible traumas. Trauma, however is today regarded as one of the leading causes of death. As such, its theorist put to light its various sources as: intimate partner violence, natural disasters, loss of loved one, sexual assault or any physical or mental wound, rape, and witness of violence. Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus is an epitome of Nigerian women’s difficulties and their traumatic experiences. This paper would explore the conformity of Trauma theory and the fictional presentation of Nigerian women’s trauma in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus.</em></p></div>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fernandes de Oliveira ◽  
Iran Ferreira de Melo

With this work, we aim to propose a didactic application of the news genre, from the perspective of critical reading practices in Portuguese language teaching, to approach the experiences of dissident gender and sexuality people who are being viewed and represented by the media hegemonic in Brazil. Therefore, we offer teachers 5 texts and 10 activities that can be used for the development of a didactic project that articulates several areas of knowledge and that is also built from an educational vision that dialogues reading, criticism , teaching, learning, assessment and self-assessment. In this sense, due to the theme we are dealing with, we assume a political-epistemological tone combating gender and sexual violence, with education being our battlefield.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Evi Septiani ◽  
Shinta Prawitasari ◽  
Ova Emilia

Effectiveness of audiovisual health promotion campaign on perception of mothers in preschool children sex educationPurposeThis study aimed to compare the effect of health promotion through a lecture method with audiovisual aides and leaflets on the change of mother’s perception about sex education to preschoolers.MethodsPre and posttests were done with 64 mothers with preschool children who attend ABA Pringwulung and Al-Islam kindergarten. ResultsThe health promotion through lecture method with audiovisual aides increased mothers’ perception score about sex education to preschoolers higher than the media leaflet.ConclusionsThis study contributes to the knowledge that developing a media campaign is important in order to change the perceptions of sex education in parents of preschoolers. This research suggested UPT P2TP2A Sleman District to continue the program of socialization and prevention of sexual violence in children by using lecture method combined with audiovisual media in conducting health promotion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 878-893
Author(s):  
Tanja Altunjan

AbstractThe adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was widely lauded as a success with regard to the recognition and potential prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence. More than twenty years later, however, many observers are disillusioned with the ICC’s dire track record concerning the implementation of its progressive legal framework. In many cases, the Court and particularly its Prosecutor have been criticized for failing to adequately address and prioritize sexual violence, culminating in only a single final conviction since 2002. Nevertheless, the ICC’s emerging practice shows progress with regard to the conceptual understanding of conflict-related sexual violence and the realization of the Statute’s full potential in ensuring accountability for sexual crimes. Taking into account the evolving jurisprudence, the Article explores the persisting challenges and the perceived gap between aspirations and reality regarding the prosecution of sexual violence at the ICC.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercy Ette ◽  
Sarah Joe

This article focuses on the framing of Boko Haram, a transnational terrorist group, in legacy and social media platforms. The discussion is predicated on the understanding that in spite of its popularity as a research tool, the concept of framing is still problematic. One area of contention has been the reliability and validity of framing analysis. Drawing on Robert Entman’s seminal definition, this study investigates the viability of two innovative framing approaches and explores the intersection of the framing of Boko Haram in four Nigerian newspapers and Twitter. The authors argue that, while newspapers continue to dominate the media space, it is important to acknowledge the growing relevance of social media in shaping and influencing the opinion of their users. The study’s findings support the viability of these approaches and come to the conclusion that exploring the differences between the platforms can unearth different versions of reality.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. e045574
Author(s):  
Heidi Stöckl ◽  
Lynnmarie Sardinha ◽  
Mathieu Maheu-Giroux ◽  
Sarah R Meyer ◽  
Claudia García-Moreno

IntroductionIn 2013, the WHO published the first global and regional estimates on physical and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) based on a systematic review of population-based prevalence studies. In this protocol, we describe a new systematic review for the production of updated estimates for IPV and NPSV for global monitoring of violence against women, including providing the baseline for measuring Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.Methods and analysisThe systematic review will update and extend the previous search for population-based surveys (either nationally or subnationally representative) conducted among women aged 15+ years that measured the prevalence of physical, sexual, psychological and physical and/or sexual IPV, NPSV or sexual violence by any perpetrator up to December 2019. Data will be extracted separately for all age groups, setting (urban/rural), partnership status (currently partnered/ever partnered/all women) and recall period (lifetime prevalence/past 12 months). Studies will be identified from electronic searches of online databases of EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health and PsycInfo. A search of national statistics office homepages will be conducted for each country to identify reports on population-based, national or subnational studies that include data on IPV or NPSV published outside academic journals. Two reviewers will be involved in quality assessment and data extraction of the review. The review is planned to be updated on a continuous basis. All findings will undergo a country consultation process.Ethics and disseminationFormal ethical approval is not required, as primary data will not be collected. This systematic review will provide a basis and a follow-up tool for global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal Target 5.2 on the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42017054100.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Nada Torlak ◽  
Momčilo Jokić

In modern information and IT society, creativity is elevated to a pedestal as a condition for market success, but also survival. In other words, in post-industrial production, or the entire economy, and certainly media companies, which of course operate according to market principles and are based on information, creativity is the most wanted commodity. In the modern knowledge society, there has been a strong affirmation of the phenomenon of cultural, that is, creative industries that have great importance for the economic, social, political and general development of society. At the same time, changes in the economic, technological and cultural spheres have strongly influenced changes in the media, as an important creative industry. This means that media products (information, videos, pics) and the media are industry, not only because of the rating criteria which dictate the direction of business but also because it is about mass production and consumers. Creativity is an important strategic resource for increasing competitiveness in a knowledge-based economy. However, media policy does not encourage the systematic promotion of creativity. Consumerist entertainment industry suppresses and marginalizes authentic, creative cultural practices, replacing them with pseudo-cultural contests. The integration of theoretical knowledge and education into the Serbian media sphere is practically at the zero points with recurrences that seriously undermine the overall development, application of knowledge, modern technological achievements, and the affirmation of democracy and freedom as the basic precondition for the overall prosperity of society.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Inta Kotane

In recent years, development of blockchain technology and virtual currencies (VCs) have been followed not just by the media and industry professionals all over the world – there rarely could be found a person who has not ever heard the term ‘bitcoin’. Despite the popularity of VCs, there is a lack of comprehensible information in the Latvian language about what the virtual currency (VC) is, as well the concepts of digital and VCs are often misused as synonyms. The research is based on the analysis of special literature and scientific publications on the system of VCs. The aim of the research: to explore the concept of VCs in the modern economy. General scientific research methods are used in the research: the method of monographic or descriptive research, the comparative analysis method for studying the concept of VCs, the classification, legal regulation, and future development possibilities. The results of the research show that VCs are a type of digital currency, though, the opposite statement is not correct. Thus, all VCs are digital, but not all digital currencies are virtual. Exploration of the legal framework of VCs suggests that it is at an early stage of development. With the increasing number of VCs and along with strengthening of the legal framework of VCs, the issue of possible directions of the future development of VCs is raised. Two points of view dominate: the future currency or payment system, for example, smart contracts.


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