Sexual Violence: NAPTIP Sued 433 Suspects In 3 Years, NHRC Reveals Code For Complaints

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has announced a short code (6472) through which victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) can tender their complaints.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP has also said that about 433 suspects have been sued in court over sexual violence while 104 convictions have been recorded since 2019.

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The short code was contained in a statement sent to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday following a High-Level Multi-Agency Task Team (HiMAT) program in Abuja geared towards assessing the extent of implementation of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) VAPP Act.

The Commission’s statement added that the NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu SAN said during the event that “the access code will become operational from the 1st of April, 2022.”

Other stakeholders who made presentations at the occasion include the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Nigeria Correctional Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the National Identity Management Commission.

Speaking further, Ojukwu said the Commission’s innovation would fast- track the prosecution of sexual assault suspects.

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“The idea of developing the access code is to make it seamless for victims or would be victims of SGBV to quickly reach out to the NHRC by dialing the toll-free code in order to be linked with a particular agency of government or CSO whose mandate relates to the reported violation or abuse as the case may be,” Ojukwu said in the NHRC statement.

According to a press release by NAPTIP, “From the launch of the National Sexual Offenders Register (NSOD) in 2019 till date, the database has recorded – 655 number of cases, 104 convictions, 329 pending in court while 181 are still under investigation.”

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