Stakeholders demand review of Abia Rape Survivors Rehabilitation Law

The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, lawyers and human rights groups have called for the inclusion of some critical provisions in the Abia State Centre for the Rehabilitation of Survivors of Rape, Defilement, Domestic Violence and Any Form of Human Trafficking Law No. 3 of 2026.

They made the demand on Friday in Umuahia during a sensitisation workshop organised by the African Centre for Human Advancement and Resource Support (CHARS-Africa).

Some of the participants, including Chidinma Alozie, Ogbuagu Chidinma Pamela and David Anyaele, said perpetrators of major crimes involving rape, gender-based violence and human trafficking should receive appropriate punishment in court to bring justice and redress to survivors of such assaults.

They also noted that out-of-court settlements must follow due process and should not compromise justice for victims.

Also, the Abia State Coordinator of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Obinna Odenigbo, said adequate protection should be provided for survivors of rape, from the point of police investigation to the rehabilitation centre.

He said survivors of rape deserved free legal representation, as well as assistance in obtaining and protecting their medical reports in order to strengthen their cases in court against suspected rapists.

He said, “It is wrong for a police officer, during an investigation, to start asking a rape victim, ‘Are you not an adult?’”

“This will inflict more trauma on the girl and, in some cases, could make the victim lose interest in the prosecution of her case,” Odenigbo said.

Other participants called for the inclusion of the police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, a practising journalist, an official of the Abia State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and other relevant stakeholders on the governing board of the centre responsible for the rehabilitation of rape survivors.

The lawyers and human rights groups, who observed that there were no educational funds for rape survivors in the Abia State law, also faulted claims that indecent dressing by young girls was responsible for the high rate of rape in the state.

Delivering her address, the Executive Director of CHARS-Africa, Amaka Biachi, commended the Abia State Government for enacting the law, but regretted that only about five per cent of Abia residents knew about its existence.