The Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) has called for an amended constitution to spell out the enforcement of affirmative action to ensure more female inclusion.
NFF Communications Officer, Angela Nkwo made the call in a statement on Thursday to commemorate the 2021 International Human Rights Day on December 10.
December 10th is observed as human rights day every year to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world women want, the need for global solidarity as well as their interconnectedness and shared humanity.
According to the group, there is nothing to celebrate because women and girls are exposed to several human rights abuses including from law enforcement operatives in Nigeria.
It said: “We demand for an amended constitution where affirmative action is enshrined for every elective, and appointive position at all levels in the country”.
On political representation, the NFF said while women constitute 49 percent of the population, it was regrettable they occupied less than six percent of elective positions in the country.
The NFF called on every state government to sign into law their State Action Plan (SAP) UNSCR 1325 on women, peace, and security for inclusion, noting that the recent ranking of Nigeria as one of the ten criminal markets globally for human trafficking, firearms, and other vices is a clear and present danger structured to harm women and girls who are the major victims of human traffickers
Furthermore, the group called on all the State Houses of Assembly and State Governors to pass and sign the Violence Against Persons Prohibition bill (VAPP) into law immediately.
According to NFF, for lasting peace to reign, the federal, state, and local governments must include women in all security and peace process, because they were the the major victims and pay the highest prices.
The biennial public policy forum that brings together self-identifying feminists, dedicated to gender equality, lamented that 61 years after independence, Nigerian women and girls still grapple with gross violation of their rights which include “poverty, lack of inclusion, and varying forms of discrimination which are clear indices of violence; wrapped in the illusion of culture”.
The group said “women and girls lack access to freedom of thought, religion, opinion, and expression, as well as restricted access to education, the right to marry and have family, bodily integrity and privacy amongst others”.
They lamented that as the world commemorate the international human rights day, hundreds of women and girls are held captive by insurgents as sex slaves and forced marriages, while thousands are stranded in the different internally displaced persons camps across the country, saying there is nothing to celebrate.
They also complained that they were exposed to several orchestrated and grievous bodily harm masked as obnoxious widowhood practices, lack of inclusion in security and peace process, punitive practices like such as female genital mutilation masked as tradition and customs, disinheritance, child bride marriages.
The NFF said while the universal declaration of human rights guarantees the right to equality, freedom from torture and degrading treatment, right to recognition as a person before the law, right to equality before the law, and right to remedy by competent tribunal, amongst others, they were near non-existent for many seeking access to justice in Nigeria.
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