Nigeria has launched its first national
sexual offenders register, setting up a database of those convicted for sexual
violence in a move seen as an important step towards clamping down on abuse.
The
"Sexual Offender Register" will contain the names of all those
prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015.
One in four Nigerian women are sexually
abused before they turn 18, with the majority of cases of sexual abuse in
country are not prosecuted, according to the United
Nations children agency UNICEF.
At
Monday's launch in the capital, Abuja, Sadiya Farouq, minister
for humanitarian affairs, said "the register will serve as a
strategy to stop those engaged in violence against women".
She
added that a humanitarian and security crisis in northeast Nigeria caused by a
decade-long armed campaign had seen a rise in cases of sexual abuse which
needed to be addressed.
The
register will be available online to better help the public, state bodies and
police conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders.
Suspects
who are cleared will also be recorded in a part of the register only available
to law enforcement agencies, amid concerns by campaigners that the majority of
sexual offenders escape prosecution due to failings in the justice system.
Ordinary
citizens will be able to access the register, which is managed by Nigeria's
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking Persons and is funded mainly
by the European Union.
An
initial group of 15 NGOs will monitor police and media reports across Nigeria
and update the register on a monthly basis.
Currently,
only two of Nigeria's 36 states, Lagos and Ekiti, keep databases of those
convicted of sexual offences.
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