First of all, you are welcome to my idea that in every offence of rape there were violations of two types of rights not only the right of the State. Follow me, please. In some years ago, it was the effort of numberless Human Rights Activists to see that the punishment for Rape in various regions of Nigeria and/ or laws have been made so harsh to the extent that that should wipe out the rampart occurrences of the crime. Although the good effort was only but somewhat to no avail, what we did not realize was that there are some Legislations at hand that can be used to generate personal remedy to all the rape victims and to equally serve as other form of comeuppance or a well deserved punishment to all the rapists. How? Rape is a non-consensual sexual intercourse. Any sex with a girl, lass or woman in Nigeria by man without her consent is rape except in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where woman is capable of raping a man. Rape should not be mistaken for Sexual assault however because, the later can be any form of unsolicited sexual contact or behavior meted out by one individual to another. Now, I have come to the essence of this humanitarian work. Don’t you feel that it is not only the State or the Government that should do something about the commission of the offence of rape? Don’t you think that the prosecuritrix or the Victim of rape has something to do against the rapist? Well, my answer is: two types of rights are involved and have been violated upon commission of rape, namely: 1. The Right of the Government violated in Rape; and 2. The Fundamental Right of the Victim(s) of Rape. 1. The Right of the Government violated in Rape is contained in the various provisions of the following Laws and / or Acts: ¤ The Criminal Code: Which is applicable in Southern States of Nigeria; ¤ The Penal Code: Which is applicable in Northern States of Nigeria; ¤ The Criminal Laws of Lagos: Which is applicable only in Lagos State of Nigeria; ¤ The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act: Which is applicable only in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria; and ¤ The Child Rights Act: Which can be only applicable in the Nigerian State(s) that desire(s) to apply it. Now, whenever a person committed the offence of rape, they are said to have violated the right of the Government as contained in the above Statutes/Laws. But, apart from this right, there is another right clearly violated by the rapist below: 2. The Fundamental Right of the Victim(s) of Rape. Any time there was rape, don’t you think there must have been torture, threat to life, inhuman and or degrading treatments on the prosecutrix? Why then don’t we enforce the fundamental right of the innocent victims? Since, any time there was rape, there was also a gross infringement of some proceeding Legislations and that any time some provisions of the Legislations are breached, the relevant option available to us is to apply to competent Court of Law for enforcement of the right trampled upon. The Legislations are: 1. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) particularly under section 34(1)(a) as it provides that: “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and according — “(a) no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.” … Thus, the only question to repeat here is, don’t we think the rape victims must have gone through torture, inhuman or degrading treatment as against the above proviso when being raped? How come it is only the State that should pursue it’s right (which is entirely focused on “penetration”) against the rape perpetrators and then we would refuse to pursue the victim’s jettisoned and / or violated right to dignity of human person upon claiming some good amount of money as compensation or damages for the prosecutrix? Must of the rape victims are poor, as such; they might deserve some reasonable amount of money to make them happy again, don’t you think? Please, kindly have time to ponder on this. 2. By the provision of Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right, a victim of rape can claim damages against the rapist because the Article also provides that: “Every individual shall have the right to the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.” Based on the above, as long as the Government would punish criminals for non-consensual; illegal penetration or fraudulently having carnal knowledge of infant, lass, woman, man or lad as the case may be, why should we not institute the breach of fundamental right action for the cruelty, degradation, torture and non recognition of the legal status of the rape victims? Am I not making sense, please? Keep following me. 3. Also, going by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one can demand compensation and / or enforce their fundamental right internationally once raped as the said Article provides that : “Every person has a right to life, liberty and security of person.” Well, in an humanitarian and logical spirits, most of the time rapes occurred, there must have been a threat to life; a crass violation of the security of the victims plus a profound disregard to their right to liberty or right to dignity of human person and as such, there ought to be a financial compensation or claim for same by the poor innocent rape victims in Nigeria, in Africa and in all parts of the world — for the victims now to start “livin la vida loca,” just to feel cool after the suffering, you know… In conclusion, one thing I must say here is, to enforce the fundamental right of rape victims against the rapists does not mean sheer disregard of the rapists’ right against “double jeopardy” or simply the right against being punished twice for committing one offence. However, my proposal is, in rape, there were violation of two different kinds of rights which are that of the State / the Government ON one should commit the offence of rape and that of the Individual / the Rape Victims ON no one should tortured them, inhumanly treat or degrade them and as they evenly have the right to dignity of human person which could have been grossly violated during rape. The States punish rape offenders for violating their provisions in either the Criminal Code of Southern States of Nigeria; the Penal Code of Northern States of Nigeria; the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria; the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria and the Child Rights Act applicable in all the Nigerian States that domesticated it. However, the enforcement of fundamental right of the rape victims could come either under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended); the African Charter on Human and People’s Right and/ or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (all) under which the rape victims should claim damages and/or compensation by way of fundamental right enforcement action for the probable torture, non recognition of their legal status, inhumanity and cruelty meted out on them by the rapists. If the punishment for rape would be accompanied with payment of huge compensation, the fear of committing rape would be the beginning of wisdom in the hearts of rapists. I want Nigeria to be rape free Nation. I want the entire world to be rape free too. NOTE: Even if the offence or the violation of State’s right failed to be proved in Court by the prosecution, the enforcement of fundamental right of the victim may still see the light of the day. But advisably, the action should be initiated once the accused is found guilty or otherwise by the competent Court of Law. Thanks. Sanusi Yahuza is a Lawyer, Author, Human Rights Activist, Performing Artist, Practical Philosopher and Psychic Counsellor. email: sanusiyahuza3@gmail.com.Contact:0813 609 1742]]>

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