OLAYANJU OLUSEYI FUNKE

Law

At the Law department office

Appointment on Visitation important

Topic: Women S Human Rights And Harmful Cultural Practices

Description: Research on a variety of issues affecting women s human rights in Nigeria and the adequacy of the Nigerian Legal system to address them. They include FGM, Early Marriage, discriminatory inheritance laws

#	Certificate	School	Year
1.	Certificate (French Language)	Nigeria French Language Village	2008

An Examination of Nigeria s Legal Response to Female Genital Mutilation

In many circles, particularly outside dedicated women s sexual and reproductive health and rights forum, Female Genital Mutilation FGM is considered to no longer be a problem women face especially because it is believed that since the Islamic religion, which many FGM adherents hid under to perpetrate the act, had, been shown not to require the fulfillment of such. However, researchers, women s human rights advocates, and other stakeholders in the field have raised their voices to the contrary. In Africa, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Cameroon, Somalia are mentioned as places where the eradication of the practice has made little progress. In Nigeria, Osun, Ondo, Ebonyi and almost all of the Northern states practice FGM in various forms. In acknowledgement of the role of law in bringing about social change, in 2016, Nigeria adopted for the first time a federal legislation prohibiting violence against persons, which among other things prohibits female genital mutilation. This occurrence is acknowledged as being due to the cumulative efforts of the various actors in the abolition campaign. Hence the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act made it an offence punishable with between 2 -4 years imprisonment for anyone to practice FGMWith this action Nigeria joined the list of States which criminalize the practice. Criminalisation is however fraught with criticisms. These criticisms form the basis of some questions trailing this development, One by criminalization, has Nigeria fulfilled its international law obligations with respect to eliminating the practice or is criminalization one of the obligations with respect to the practice especially in the light of opposition to the eradication by cultural adherents? Two, if it is found to be, has the obligation been extinguished, exhausted, finished thereby ; and three can Nigeria s action thereto be counted as a contribution to the protection of women s Human Rights in the country?

OLAYANJU OLUSEYI is a Lecturer I at the Department of Law

OLAYANJU has a Certificate in French Language from Nigeria French Language Village