APPRAISAL OF SEXUAL OFFENCES DURING PERIODS OF PEACE AND WAR IN NIGERIA: THE NEED FOR A LEGAL REDEFINITION

Abstract

This paper examined Sexual Offences During Periods of Peace and War in Nigeria. The paper provided a critical analysis of the extant laws on sexual offences in Nigeria and argued that the extant laws are grossly inadequate to protect women and girls during times of conflict and crisis. The paper adopted the doctrinal research method with primary sources of information drawn from laws and decided cases, while the secondary data was drawn from textbooks, journal articles and internet sources. The paper identified sexual violence against women in situations of armed conflict has been a subject of jurisprudential argument over the years. It is also prominent among the most traumatic experiences women suffer during war. Women during war are systematically raped, intimidated, killed, sexually abused, and forced into unwanted pregnancies. Oftentimes, the rationale behind these heinous crimes is to humiliate, to destroy the family-based organization or structure of the enemy, but during period time, it could be because of various factors. Further, sexual violence is often perpetrated against women as a form of torture, to injure, to extract information to degrade and intimidate and as punishment for actual or alleged actions. It has also been used, as a means of ethnically, through widespread systematic rape and forced impregnation aimed at destroying the identity of an ethnic group. Further, the sexual offence of rape in the society can be clearly seen as a crime not only to the victims but the entire society. The paper recommended amongst others the need to incorporate a gender perspective into the law, by taking account the different experiences of men and women during conflict, expanding the definition of sexual violence to include all forms of sexual violence, including non-physical forms, and recognizing the role of the environment in exacerbating or perpetuating sexual offence during conflict.