NIGERIA: FAILURE TO TACKLE RAPE CRISIS EMBOLDENS PERPETRATORS AND SILENCES SURVIVORS

Endemic rape under-reported due to stigma, victim blaming. Police failure to investigate sexual violence deprives survivors of justice. 11,200 rape cases reported in 2020, including children raped to death. Despite the Nigerian authorities’ declaration of a “state of emergency” on sexual and gender-based violence, rape persists at crisis levels with most survivors denied justice, rapists avoiding prosecution, and hundreds of cases of rape going unreported due to pervasive corruption, stigma and victim blaming, says an Amnesty International report.