Stand to End Rape Initiative is embarking on an ambitious project; seeking to create Nigeria’s first federal Sex Offenders Register and lobby the Government to mandate its use as a statutory requirement.
Nigeria has one of the highest percentages of sexual violence in the world and the lack of a system of
accountability emboldens perpetrators to offend and keep re-offending. The problem being addressed is that Nigeria has no system in place to keep track of the activities of sex offenders. People who have committed sexual offences continue to maintain proximity to children and vulnerable adults because there is no system by which their previous conviction can be cross-checked against.
We believe the creation of a Sex Offenders Register can greatly assist law enforcement officials in putting restrictions in place which will prevent repeat sexual offences. The primary goal being the prevention of sexual violence and the reduction of sexual re-offending.
Though no official statistics are available, the recidivism rate for sex offenders in Nigeria is estimated to be extremely high. Our own personal records show that of all the reported sexual offences we have dealt with since inception, at least 70% of the perpetrators are repeat offenders.
This register is needed in Nigeria to ensure that all adults who have committed sexual offences are
recorded and the list made available to law enforcement authorities, employers of people who work with children or vulnerable adults, authorities responsible for licensing institutions that care for children or vulnerable adults, and those responsible for approving foster care and adoptions. This list will only be made available to government agencies and public/private institutions and not the general public.
We are in the beginning stages of this project and are currently working on a Policy Brief with the
Harvard Black Law Students Association (HBLSA). This Policy Brief will serve as an introduction to the
necessary parties regarding the project and also make a case for enacting its requirements as a stand-alone Law or amending one of the current Laws in Nigeria which contain provisions around sexual violence, to reflect the need for tracking repeat offenders.
We are also engaging various stakeholders in the sexual violence space such as Women Affairs, Domestic & Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) and the Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), to actualize this dream and will engage and synchronize with organisations working on similar projects, with the aim to collectively end the menace of sexual violence in Nigeria.
On Thursday, 21st March 2019, we met with 15 students from HBLSA at the STER offices where we
gave an overview of STER’s functions and discussed the essence of our partnership – the Sex Offenders Register. In addition to the ongoing drafting of the Policy Brief, the HBLSA team announced that they’ll be donating the sum of $2,600 to STER to support our work at Stand to End Rape Initiative.
