She is just 3-year-old but her mother’s boyfriend in Enugu State had serially defiled her since she was a year old.
But deliverance came in September 2023 when the Women Aid Collective(WACOL), a non-governmental organisatrion founded by Prof. Joy Ezeilo, SAN, Professor of public law and a six-year United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking persons in Africa, received a report about the abuse.
The discovery was made by the child’s grandmother, who reported the incident to WACOL. Abused and exposed terribly, the child in question now beckons on anyone who carries her to suck her vagina as she does a hands demonstration reaching out to touch the area.
Medical reports indicated that her vagina is now wide open for her age, smelling with discharges but WACOL facilitated the arrest of the culprit who is now in Police custody awaiting trial. WACOL also provided medical care and psychosocial support for the victim at WACOL TAMAR SARC.
The necessary legal processes have also been filed by the team of WACOL Pro Bono Lawyers who also commenced action to transfer custody to the child’s grandmother since her biological mother is incompetent and morally debased as she lives in the same room with her boyfriend where the child is being defiled right in her presence and does nothing.
This is just one of the cases highlighted by WACOL during the International Human Rights Day celebrations while making their presentation under the theme: ‘Human Rights Are Women’s Rights, Investing in Legal Aid & Support Services for Victims /Survivors of VAWG: Spotlighting WACOL’s Human Rights and Survivor-Centered Interventions (1997-2023).
The August 2023 case bordered on spousal battery occasioning grievous bodily harm. It was the case of a three-month pregnant woman who was a victim of domestic violence in Abia State. Her husband battered her so terribly that she started bleeding profusely the next day, and even fainted at her workplace, where she worked as a cleaner.
She had to be admitted to a hospital where on regaining consciousness she narrated how she was kicked in the tummy by her husband but she didn’t start until the next day. She eventually had a miscarriage but is currently out of harm’s way as she has reunited with her children and living alone with them. WACOL which supported the entire medical process is still following up on her. However, the suspect is still at large.
Abduction And Ganged Sexual Assault
Mr. S reported a thirty-eight-year-old, married man with five children, three girls and two boys from Amuri in Nkanu West in Enugu State reported that on the 3April, he sent his daughter to go and have a haircut with her sister. On the way, three men waylaid and abducted her to an unknown destination where they sexually assaulted and abused her. The victim’s family reported the matter to the nearest Police station in Amuri Nkanu West who caught and later released the perpetrators without proper investigation.
WACOL has now stepped in, following up the matter diligently with the Divisional Police Station Amuri for further investigations and re-arrest of these perpetrators.
Emotional And Physical Abuses /Assault
A 27-year-old mother from Nnewi in Anambra State who had suffered multiple abuses from her husband was rescued by WACOL after she dropped a suicide note on her Facebook page. The victim had been married to her husband for over fifteen years with four children. In addition to being subjected to all manner of abuses, she suffers from Vestico Vagina Fistulae (VVF).
She has now received medical support from WACOL in collaboration with Stephanie Linus a Nollywood Actress, and has undergone a successful surgery. Also, her husband has been arrested following a Petition written to the Commissioner of Police Anambra State. WACOL is still following up on the survivor for psycho-social counseling.
After her successful surgery, she wrote and testified as follows: “The joy of being able to control my pee knows no bounds. No more wetting my bed or clothes!”
Threat to life and Spousal Battery
Mrs K reported a case of spousal battery against her husband from Ikwo local government area of Ebonyi state. She is the first wife of one Mr. Sunday who has seven wives and mother of his five children. Describing how she gets battered, she narrated that on this particular occasion, he wielded a machete and gave her severe machete cuts on the hand. WACOL intervened and counseled the woman to remain in her mother’s house where she fled to for her safety. Meanwhile, she is already undergoing medical treatment on WACOL’s intervention and the matter has also been reported to the Police Gender Office in Ebonyi State for further investigations, arrest, and prosecution of the culprit.
In its 26 years of existence, WACOL has made tremendous contributions to Human Rights development in Nigeria and with support from partners — Global Affairs Canada, ActionAid Nigeria, Swedish NGO Foundation Human Rights, United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Heinrich Boll Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Ford Foundation, EU/ British Council, UNDP, UN Women, and others.
WACOL runs a daily legal unit with six Lawyers and four Pro bono Lawyers who provide free legal aid services to survivors of trafficking, smuggled migrants, as well as other survivors of different forms of violence, especially women and children seeking redress against violation of their rights. Such violations include sexual violence, disinheritance, harmful widowhood practices, harmful traditional practices physical,
emotional and psychological abuses, forceful ejection from home, abandonment, custody of children, and maintenance, among others.
The Dynamics of WACOL Pro bono services include:
- Client case reporting
- Counseling and Immediate psycho-social support
- Referrals for other support services
- Petition to appropriate authorities or invitation and direct mediation or activation of criminal/civil proceedings
- Investigation and prosecution or Civil litigation
- Conviction/Sentencingor Judgements etc
- Follow Up etc.
WACOL through its Shelter support project provides adequate security, feeding, toiletries, and necessaries for women and girls who are victims and survivors of trafficking or other Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) related offences.
Many Victims and survivors have undergone psychosocial support through counselling by WACOL team of Psychologists, who ensure at all times that traumatized victims especially underage victims of trafficking, rape, defilement, and other cases of violence requiring special psychological attention undergo rehabilitation and healing. Financial assistance is also rendered to survivors to revive their means of sustenance after trauma healing.
