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Why law against torture, police brutality must be implemented

By Joseph Onyekwere
07 July 2020   |   4:13 am
Non-governmental organisations and civil society groups such as the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and the Legal Defence Action Project (LEDAP) have called on the federal government...

Non-governmental organisations and civil society groups such as the Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) and the Legal Defence Action Project (LEDAP) have called on the federal government to implement the anti-torture law and the laws against police brutality.
  
Speaking at a Zoom conference to commemorate the 2019 International day in support of Torture Victims, titled “reviewing police response to torture and SGBV in the light of COVID-19”, the groups also called for the amendment of the Anti-torture Act (2017).
  
National coordinator of LEDAP, Mr. Chino Obiagwu (SAN) said there are lots of torture victims in various detention facilities in Nigeria and lamented that Nigeria lacks accurate records.       
  


According to him, the major challenge about the anti-torture Act is that offenders are hardly prosecuted while some victims do not show interest in seeking redress.
  
The deputy director of PRAWA, Mrs. Ogechi Ogu in a statement explained that anti-torture Act needs to be amended to provide for rehabilitation for torture victims and support institutional and sustainable structure for its effective implementation.
  
She added that as a short term measure, the amendment should include rehabilitation in the standard operating guideline for the implementation of the existing law on torture.

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