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Abstract

The Federal Republic of Nigeria does not have a law against femicide or comprehensive global femicide data. The numbers currently reported at the national level are questionable, especially with the prevalence of economic-motivated harvesting of female reproductive organs in the country. The lack of a legalized femicide law has exacerbated the underreporting of such activities in Nigeria and has made the severity of the crime less visible. This article aims to name the problem by defining and advocating for a femicide law encompassing the social realities of many Nigerian females.
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of
Exploitation and Violence Exploitation and Violence
Volume 9 Issue 2 Article 3
9-2024
Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Jessica Ojiugo Chinonye
University of Kentucky
, jonw222@uky.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity
Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Social Justice Commons, and
the Women's Studies Commons
Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Chinonye, Jessica Ojiugo (2024) "Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law,"
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of
Exploitation and Violence
: Vol. 9: Iss. 2, Article 3. https://doi.org/10.23860/dignity.2024.09.02.03
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Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@URI. For
more information, please contact digitalcommons-group@uri.edu. For permission to reuse copyrighted content,
contact the author directly.
Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Abstract Abstract
The Federal Republic of Nigeria does not have a law against femicide or comprehensive global femicide
data. The numbers currently reported at the national level are questionable, especially with the prevalence
of economic-motivated harvesting of female reproductive organs in the country. The lack of a legalized
femicide law has exacerbated the underreporting of such activities in Nigeria and has made the severity
of the crime less visible. This article aims to name the problem by deBning and advocating for a femicide
law encompassing the social realities of many Nigerian females.
Keywords Keywords
Nigeria, Femicide, Femicide Law, women, homicide
Creative Commons License Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
This frontline report is available in Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence:
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol9/iss2/3


WHY NIGERIA NEEDS A FEMICIDE LAW
Jessica Ojiugo Chinonye
University of Kentucky
0009-0005-8539-7557
ABSTRACT

           
         

      
 

KEYWORDS





homicides


          



    






   



    
     

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Chinonye: Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Published by DigitalCommons@URI, 2024
 


EXISTING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION LAWS

fe-
male homicide,femicide






              


   






 




  

  



    




             




       



2
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, Vol. 9, Iss. 2 [2024], Art. 3
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol9/iss2/3
DOI: 10.23860/dignity.2024.09.02.03





        










          




WHY DOES NIGERIA NEED A FEMICIDE LAW?
FEMALE HOMICIDE VERSUS FEMICIDE

Female Homicide
   
  The        


















  
3
Chinonye: Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Published by DigitalCommons@URI, 2024


CRIMES OF LANGUAGE
         









󰩌

󰩌








  







DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES AND EXPLICIT ASSUMPTION

          











           
4
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, Vol. 9, Iss. 2 [2024], Art. 3
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol9/iss2/3
DOI: 10.23860/dignity.2024.09.02.03

    

         






CONCLUSION

     







 












      

          




AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jessica Ojiugo Chinonye




5
Chinonye: Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Published by DigitalCommons@URI, 2024

           


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
REFERENCES
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 University of Port Harcourt Journal of Private Law



Rehabilitation Psychology64

Feminist Theory20

 Global Journal of Medical and
Clinical Case Reports 3

International Journal of Humanities, Social Science, and Education 11


 Journal of
Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health 10



Nigeria Penal Code Act. 

 Journal of Peace Research 27

Disability & Society16

 Conceptualizing
Femicide as a Human Rights Violation 

). 2014 Report: Nigeria’s Legal Obligations



 Gender
and Behavior 18

6
Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence, Vol. 9, Iss. 2 [2024], Art. 3
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol9/iss2/3
DOI: 10.23860/dignity.2024.09.02.03
17 Different Types of Legal Defenses in Criminal Law. 






 Journal of Gender Studies 33


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Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies 9
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
 UKH Journal of Social Sciences 3


Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society28











 Contesting Femicide 



Finland and the International Norms of
Human Rights

Five Essential Facts to Know About Femicide.






7
Chinonye: Why Nigeria Needs a Femicide Law
Published by DigitalCommons@URI, 2024
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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The sinister and illicit harvesting of human organs is a new normal in Nigeria, where a coalition of socioeconomic strains, political tensions, and economic desires fuel predators dubbed as ‘body hunters.’ Females are prime targets, and their harvested parts feed into the Red Market or serve in economic rituals. This study argues that such acts, particularly the extraction of female reproductive organs and fluids, are gender-motivated, and with products of death, it is a Femicide. Whether consensual or forced, intentional or accidental, these deaths are Femicide and the ultimate act of violence against womanhood. Focusing on cisgender victims, I analyze real cases from social media and a journal article using Galtung’s Violence Triangle to reveal that Femicide transcends direct perpetrators.
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Over the last few decades, alarming rates of interpersonal violence experienced by women with disabilities have been reported by disability scholars. However, the issue interpersonal violence leading to femicide of women with disabilities have been rarely represented by scholars of gender studies, disability studies, violence and femicide. At present, health disparity research cannot overlook this issue of critical importance and problems of polyvictimization leading to femicide of women with disabilities. This commentary highlights this gaping absence in scholarship to bring focus to this pertinent yet overlooked problem by looking into a range of literature on this issue. There are indications of some discussion on this topic; however, they are in preliminary stages. This call for research article highlights the necessity of disaggregated data on this issue and focus on intersections of heterogenous identities within femicide literature for better representation of women who lose their lives.
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Rape and associated femicide have stood out as the most typical forms of violence in Nigeria. There appears to be a paucity of information on the pattern of rape in Nigeria, particularly in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored the pattern of rape and femicide incidences in Nigeria during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. A convergent mixed methods design, involving quantitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis was used to establish the pattern in rape and femicide incidences as reported in diverse digital media platforms. A total of 48 rape cases were investigated, of which 12.5% resulted in femicide. More than half (55.6%) of the rape victims were aged 11 to 20 and were predominantly female (97%). A large percentage (42.9%) of the rape perpetrators were between 31 and 45 years of age and were all male. The incidence of rape increased steadily from 5.1% in March to peak at 33.3% in June and declined sharply by the end of August 2020 to 5.1% with rape being more prevalent in Northern Nigeria. There is a need for urgent measures by relevant stakeholders to curtail rape in Nigeria.
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The issue of violence against women has remained a growing source of concern to social scientists, human rights groups and the international community as a whole. Various studies have identified violence against women as a serious public health concern that inhibits gender parity and sustainable development. Violence against women, unfortunately, is disturbingly widespread in Nigeria and has assumed critical dimensions including forced marriage, trafficking in women, rape, acid baths and the killing of women for ritual purposes. As noted by various reports available to this study, the spate of killings for ritual purposes is at an alarming rate in Nigeria with women documented as primary victims. This study emerged from the recognition that the killing of women for ritual purposes is a serious gender-based violence with development implications, and is not unconnected to harmful cultural beliefs and prejudices regarding the female identity and the value of women in the society. To substantiate this thesis, a cross-sectional survey involving four hundred respondents conveniently selected from four purposively selected cities in the Southern part of Nigeria; namely Lagos, Warri, Yenagoa and Port Harcourt, was carried out. Data collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as charts and percentage analysis, revealed that women are usually killed for ritual purposes than men mainly because women are perceived as soft targets and 'objects' with intrinsic 'enriching' value. The study thus recommends the formulation and implementation of policies that protect women from violence and the abolition of cultural beliefs that endanger women in the society.
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This study investigated how beliefs in magical powers and related sacred activities, particularly those that accept human body parts for ritual sacrifices in return for fortunes, alongside poverty, unemployment, and quest for wealth as predictors responsible for the increase in money ritual–related killings in Ilorin Emirate of Kwara State, Nigeria. A total of 1736 respondents were selected using simple random sampling techniques. The instrument employed for data collection was a questionnaire. In addition, the information gathered was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The results indicated that the increase in money ritual–related killings in Ilorin Emirate is a result of the general belief that ritual sacrifices enhance fortunes, the boundless desire for material wealth among Nigerians, unemployment, and poverty in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper suggests that there should be public enlightenment in all languages spoken in Nigeria about the dangers in associating individual success with spiritual influences.
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This study interrogates the threat of kidnapping for ritual in Nigeria, a subject that has not received sufficient academic attention, and its socio-political and economic underpinnings have largely been overlooked in state responses. Relying on available public data, this article examines the phenomenon and its motivations and implications for security, and the efficacy of state responses, and possible ways forward.
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p> Background: Being differently abled is a complex phenomenon and also concept of disability has shifted from individual impairment to social phenomenon. Objective: Present simple review is to get information for planning services and to share. Context Incidence: Numbers vary across countries, lowest reported incidence is from Lithuania (0.58%), highest from Poland (4.0%). European Academy of Childhood Disabilities reported a disabled child rate of 2.5%, additional 8% child population has learning and/or behavioural disorders. In India with lack of awareness, lack of resources, lack of community based services, many babies born with abnormalities continue to live without proper diagnosis, therapy. Sometimes it goes beyond childhood to adulthood, years beyond. Types of disabilities: There are many disabilities which make person differently abled. Hearing loss is one of the most common birth disorders. There are 285 million people with visual impairment worldwide. Limb deformities vary. Psychiatric disorders, by virtue of their very nature, display different patterns of disabilities when compared to physical ailments. Present status: Disability studies are growing as multi-disciplinary field in view of various issues involved. Effects: Having differently abled child in a household affects family’s quality of life, parents’ gender roles, financial resources, and employment status use of time, health, even occurrence of demographic life events, divorce or birth of another child. Possibilities: Disability must be seen in wider context of human development and social justice. Those working in community disability programmes have responsibility to look into local cultural factors affecting disabled people, communicate findings to policy makers, program managers. There is need for thinking about disabilities as social issue so that needs of disabled persons are met by inclusive rather than exclusive social attitudes, coupled with individually focused rehabilitation process where necessary. Problems are many in resource poor countries. There is need to do community based research.</p
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This article explores the representational practices of feminist theorising around gender and violence. Adapting Liz Kelly’s notion of the continuum of women’s experiences of sexual violence, I argue that ‘continuum thinking’ can offer important interventions which unsettle binaries, recognise grey areas in women’s experiences and avoid ‘othering’ specific communities. Continuum thinking allows us to understand connections whilst nevertheless maintaining distinctions that are important conceptually, politically and legally. However, this is dependent upon recognising the multiplicity of continuums in feminist theorising – as well as in policy contexts – and the different ways in which they operate. A discussion of contemporary theory and policy suggests that this multiplicity is not always recognised, resulting in a flattening of distinctions which can make it difficult to recognise the specifically gendered patterns of violence and experience. I conclude by considering how focusing on men’s behaviour might offer one way of unsettling the contemporary orthodoxy which equates gender-based violence and violence against women.