The Kaduna government has reaffirmed its commitment to implement harsh punishments for rapists under the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law (VAPPL), 2018.
The law allows for surgical castration for male rapists and bilateral salpingectomy for female rapists.
This was disclosed by Rabi Salisu, the commissioner of human services and social development, on Tuesday at a press briefing in Kaduna. She was speaking at a conference on gender-based violence organized by the ministry in collaboration with the Centre for Integrated Health Programmes (CIHP).
She said the law was enacted after a long process of advocacy, lobbying, and awareness raising by civil society organizations and Kaduna government agencies. She noted that the reported cases of violence against women and girls (VAWG) have increased in Kaduna state since the passage of the law in December 2018.
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“This could probably be attributed to increased awareness about VAWG and also the availability of the law,” she said.
She added that Kaduna has witnessed a rise in cases of gender-based violence, with 832 cases reported in 2023 so far, according to the National Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Data Situation Room and dashboard.
She also said that the 16 days between November 25 and December 10 were marked as the ‘Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign’, to show solidarity in eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
“While some level of progress has been made in this campaign to end violence against women and girls through the VAPPL, some challenges still exist,” she said.
She listed some of the challenges as the slow uptake of the law by prosecutors, undue pressure on survivors and their families to accept out-of-court settlements, poor awareness among citizens and service providers, and delays in prosecuting cases by the police and the courts.
She said it was imperative to strengthen the justice system, intensify GBV case findings, and provide crucial clinical and non-clinical services to survivors of GBV while improving access to these services.