By Bonaventure Melah

The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has described female genital mutilation as a harmful and degrading practice that would not be allowed anywhere in Nigeria and the world.

The Commission therefore wants all communities, government agencies, donor bodies and other relevant stakeholders to work with it to eradicate the obnoxious practice.

This is coming as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate the Day of zero Tolerance for the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

The theme of this year’s commemoration is Stepping Up the Pace: Strengthening Alliances and Building Movements to End FGM and it is observed on the 6th of February every year.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Tony Ojukwu OFR, SAN who made this statement in Abuja noted that the Commission has always been at the forefront of eradicating the painful, unhealthy, harmful and degrading practice of FGM right from time.

Hajia Fatimah Agwai Mohammed, Director, Public Affairs and External Linkages of the Commission, in a statement sent to Nationwide Reports, quoted Ojukwu to have observed that NHRC in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) had in 2017 produced a training Manual on human rights and other related issues of FGM in Nigeria to stem the tide of this human rights violation in various communities across the federation.

“The Manual provides a general background analysis of women’s human rights and Female Genital Mutilation, which is a type of violence against women and girls. The Manual also provides a guide for reporting FGM in line with the prescribed standard”, the Chief Human Rights Officer of Nigeria added.

In the same vein, the NHRC Boss disclosed that with the support of UNFPA/UNICEF, the Commission undertook a joint programme on elimination of FGM, conducted training for stakeholders on the use of the developed Manual in five programme focal states namely- Imo, Ebonyi, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti and available statistics have indicated positive changes geared towards eliminating, FGM in the country. The use of the manual and training will be replicated in other endemic states in the Country depending on the availability of resources.

“The participants at the training in the aforesaid states were drawn from relevant MDAs, CBOs, FBOs, Media, Security Agents, Traditional Rulers and CSOs/NGOs and at the end of the exercise, thereafter participants prepared independent and shadow reports”, the Executive Secretary stated.

According to the Executive Secretary, apart from the aforementioned effort to eliminate FGM in the country, the Commission with the support of EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in 2019 established the defunct Special Independent Investigation Panel on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.

The panel which was headed by the Executive Secretary sat in the six geopolitical zones of the country, successfully heard and determined complaints of SGBV, and provided empowerment for victims including supporting women to acquire skills and engage in various forms of business activities to earn a living and assist their families instead of depending solely on their husbands who may lack the capacity or willingness to cater for their families.

Finally, the Human Rights Advocate used the occasion to urge Nigerians to report all cases of FGM and other human rights violations to the Commission who will in turn take appropriate actions to ensure the protection of the rights of the victims in accordance with municipal, regional and international laws.

He urged citizens to leverage the NHRC toll-free line 6472 to report any case FGM and other cases of human rights violations to the Commission.