CHAPTER
FIVE
5.1
OBSERVATION
As improvements
as regards the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and its
effect on Nigerian women in relation with the convention on the Elimination of
all forms of During the course of the research work I discovered and observed a lot of short
comings as well as discrimination against women. The following are some of the
observations vis a viz the above;
·
Predominance
of cultural stereotypes predominant to women including but not limited to polygamy,
inhuman rites undergone by widows and other harmful traditional practices.
·
Lack of legal/
constitutional framework in strengthening the implementation of the convention.
·
Lack of
adoption of adequate measure, necessary for full respect of the commitments and
obligations under the conventions.
·
Lack of
statistical data in the area of domestic violence, prostitution, women and
children’s health.
·
Lack of home
shelters for women who are victims of violence and lack of information on
marital rape.
·
Low attendance
rates by girls at secondary institutions, insufficient details on free primary
education and increase of literacy amongst women.
·
Lack of
curriculum on teaching women and girls about their rights, particularly in the
secondary and tertiary institutions.
·
Lack of
adequate figures and information on Aids and sexually Transmitted diseases and
an outcry against the practice of polygamy and prostitution, since they pose
serious risk factors in the spread of HIV/AIDS and STDS. The committee expects
the Nigerian government to set up structures to educate and care for victims.
·
The alarming
rate of maternal and infant mortality, lack of due access to medical facilities
and fact sheets, showed that family planning programme do not cover education
for young people, men and women.
·
The fact that
rural women have little access to education, credit facilities and mostly suffer from harmful traditional
practices and lack of sufficient socio-economic programmes to reduce
discrimination suffered by rural women.
5.2 RECOMMENDATION
would
like to take the following area as to recommend from the legal point of view as
well as recommendations from the report committee and recommendations from
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as well as the NEEDS DOCUMENT which
is the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy. The recommendation
stems from the report of the committee
on judiciary and legal reforms of the National Political conference
(hereinafter referred to as the committee on legal reforms May 2005). Its
duties among other things include the examination of the legal status of women
under the Nigerian law and concluded on the following points.
·
That section 55(1) (d) of the penal code Act,
dealing with the offence of Battery should be repealed.
·
That sections
282 of the penal code and section 357 of the criminal code Act dealing with the
offence of rape should be repealed.
·
That sections
353 and 360 of the criminal code Act
that discriminates against women in prescribing punishment for indecent
assault on males and females respectively should be abrogated
·
The review of
the definition of prostitution in section 1 of the criminal code Act is
recommended.
·
The committee
on Legal Reform also called for the repeal of section 26 (2) (a) of the
constitution regarding citizenship by regulation for a foreign woman who is or
has been married to a citizen of Nigeria.
·
Section 221 of
the Criminal code Act , which requires collaboration before a conviction for
defilement of a girl less than 16 years of age, could be sustained was
recommended for abrogation.
·
The committee
on legal Reform finally called for the entrenchment of widowhood rights in our
constitution. The presidential
committee on the review of the 1999 constitution (PCRC)[1]
headed by D Ebiri, made the following recommendations bothering on the rights
of women; 1.
The PCRC recommended the substitution of the Federal character commission with
an expanded mandate to accommodate the interest of all Nigerians including
women, youth, the aged, the disabled, ethnic minorities and other special
interest group.
2.
That women be allowed to take indigeneship of the state of their fathers.
3. The substitution of the word “sex” as it
refers to feminine in the constitution with the word “gender”.
·
Furthermore,
the committee on CEDAW implementing its responsibilities under the CEDAW
convention should within its mandate take into account the platform for Action
when considering the reports submitted by state parties. This recommendations
stems from the Beijing Declaration and it imploys state parties to the CEDAW
convention are invited when reporting under Article 18 of the convention to
include information on measures to implement the Platform for Action in order to
facilitate the committee in monitoring effectively women’s ability to enjoy the
rights guaranteed by the convention. The ability of the committee of CEDAW to
monitor implementation of the convention should be strengthened through the
provisions of human and financial resources with the regular budget of the
United Nations, including expert legal assistance and in acco5dance with
General Assembly Resolution 49/164 and the decision made by the meeting of
state parties to the convention held in May, 1995. The committee on CEDAW
should increase its co-ordination with other human right treaty bodies, taking
into account recommendation in the Vienna Declaration and programme of Action. Within that mandate, other treaty bodies
should take due accounts of the implementation of platform for Action and
ensure the integration of the equal status and human rights of women in their work. Recommendations
extant in the NEEDS [2]
Document; Needs stands for National
Economic Empowerment Development Strategy and it is the brain child of the
Obasanjo Administration, it is a medium term strategy billed for (2003- 2007).
It lays out government programmes to liberalize the economy and increase
efficiency, wealth creation, employment generation and value orientation. The thrust of NEEDS document in respect of
women, is to fully integrate them through enhancing their capacity to
participate in economic and social, political and cultural life of the country.
The document seeks to achieve the stated objectives above by;
·
Ensuring
equitable representation of women all over the country in all respects of our
national life, the affirmative action of proportionate representation will be
pursued, were feasible.
·
Pursuing
legislation for the abolition of all forms of harmful traditional practices
against women.
·
Domestication
of all United Nations Resolutions bothering on CEDAW.
·
Main streaming
women concerns and perspective in all policies and programmes.
·
Promotion of
women’s access to micro-finance and all poverty alleviation strategies, with a
view of reducing feminized poverty.
·
Empowerment of
women through sustained advocacy, education and mobilization to reduce women’s
vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other STDs.
·
Establishing
scholarship schemes at secondary and tertiary institutions in order to expand
educational opportunities for female education. An example is the provision of
Adult and vocational education centres to cater for women beyond the formal
age. In addition, access to justice
for women of all ages is very important to be able fully implement the various
rights accruable to women in Nigeria.
5.3 CONCLUSION
The
recommendations enumerated above as well as the whole research work itself will
come to nothing if incorporation of the CEDAW Act in Nigeria is not pursued
with giant strides. Countries like Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Madagascar,
Malawi to mention but a few have revised their constitutions to render it
gender responsive. The convention is widely known as earlier mentioned at the
start of the research work but it is of no value in the courts in Nigeria and
therefore the rights of women in Nigeria are in no way affected by the
convention. From domestic violence to gender inequality at work at home and in
the political realm such discrimination still persist although various NGOs
have put their foot down on some of these issues there won’t be any conclusive
change if the court which is widely regarded as the last resort of the common
man cannot be moved to create case laws on the provisions of the convention as
it relates to the rights of women in Nigeria. The
CEDAW instrument armed with full incorporation into our laws, will serve as a
great tool in the emancipation of women from discriminatory practices.
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[1] PCRC was established to review the 1999 constitution because of
widespread criticisms. it had the mandate to collate the views of Nigerians and
hereafter submit a report with recommendation for further actions. This assignment
was completed February, 2001.
[2] National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy
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