Tracing Sexual Violence in Conflict as a Continuum of Violence Against Women and Girls in Northern Nigeria: Pitfalls of Law and Policies

Sexual violence is a human rights infringement that causes harm in the lives of individuals when committed and may lead to severe complications, disabilities or even death. In Nigeria, women suffer from a chain of violence which is traced from regular times to post-conflict situations in addition to other social problems like gender discrimination, gender inequality, to name but a few. As a result, this work focuses on the experiences of Nigerian women with sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings in Northern Nigeria, especially with the abductions of girls in Borno and Yobe States between 2014 and 2018. This research approaches the problem through desk research using the socio-legal methodology, which draws insights from the interdisciplinary lens of human rights law, international security, and women/development using post-colonial feminist theory. The primary question this work poses is how the Nigerian National Action Plans (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) can be utilized to help end the conflict-related sexual violence continuum in Nigeria and advance the protection of women against sexual violence? The research finds that there are insufficient policy guidelines and legal frameworks for the prevention or eradication of sexual violence in Nigeria, and where policy guidelines or frameworks exist, there has been poor or no implementation.