Itoro Eze-Anaba, campaigning for support for survivors of rape and sexual assault

What you are about to read is a topic dreaded by a lot of people especially in Africa and Nigeria specifically so when I met my ‘date’ for this week and found out what she is passionate about, I knew she had to grace this page.

Do you cringe when you hear the word RAPE?  Perhaps you know people who have gone through this inhumane act, perhaps they were never able to speak up for fear of mockery, rejection or even denial by the rapist. Well, the truth is that rape occurs daily, only that the ones you hear are the ones that were bold enough to speak up. That is why I find my ‘date’ for this week very inspiring and worthy of commendation.

 She graduated with honours, as the best female graduating student LL. B. (law degree), from University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1992. She graduated from American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC with her LL.M. in International Legal Studies specialising on Gender and the Law.  There, she became a member, Women and the Law Association and also a Dean’s Fellow (Research Assistant) International Legal Studies Program in the Fall of 2005. She is the Managing Partner, Partnership For Justice, a firm that fights for the rights of rape victims among many other things. She is Itoro Eze-Anaba.

Growing up for Itoro was fun, she tells me and continues “I grew up in a large family made up mainly of men and boys. As a result, I grew up being very comfortable with boys, and liking the things boys like especially football. I used to go to the stadium with my brothers to watch football and I really loved it. Growing up with boys also meant that I had to stand up for myself and not be intimidated by the opposite sex. I did not experience any discrimination from immediate family and I grew up believing that I could be whatever I wanted to be as long as I worked hard enough.” She admits.

It came naturally to ask her the reason she is advocating for rape victims and her explanation said it all. Hear her “Sometime in 2000, a young girl worked into my office with her sister in law complaining about her husband who had beaten her severely. At the end of the whole horrible story, she said she wanted to save her marriage and only wanted to end the beatings. At that time, there was no law on domestic violence in any state in Nigeria or at the National Assembly. So I drafted a domestic violence bill, the first of its kind in Nigeria, and I carried out advocacy campaign for its passage into law in 12 states in Nigeria including Lagos and the National Assembly. The bill was passed into law in 3 states including Lagos State.”

“In the process of campaigning for the domestic violence law in Nigeria, I came across a young girl who had been sexually abused by her father for years, beginning at the age of 14. She reported to her pastor who warned her to keep quiet about the incident, claiming it could not have happened. She was not the only young girl I met and I came to realize that there were so many young girls who were being abused in their homes by their fathers, uncles and brothers but they had nowhere to go for comfort, nowhere to tell their stories and be believed. That was the beginning of my active campaign for support for survivors of rape and sexual assault. For a long time, discussions on rape had centred on penalty for the perpetrator and nothing on support for the survivors and I felt there was need to change that.” She tells me

Wondering if Nigerians are sensitive to the issue of rape and her response illuminated the matter. According to Itoro, “Nigerians are sensitive to rape of children and minors. They are horrified by it and are appalled by the idea of a man having a sexual relationship with his minor children. However, Nigerians are less sensitive to issues of rape where the survivor is an adult and do not even believe in marital rape, that a husband can rape his wife.” Itoro laments.

I asked her to share some of her experiences with ‘victims’ of this act of wickedness and her anecdote brought tears to my eyes, quite gory indeed,  hear her “There is a young lady who was abused for years by both her father and her uncle. Her uncle was paying her father for sleeping with her. When her uncle travelled out of the country, her father started sleeping with her and when she summoned the courage to report to the family, she was taken to the church for deliverance. Between her father and her uncle, she had 7 abortions and her womb was removed. Another incident is that of a 3 year old whose teacher, a woman, inserted a spoon into her private part. A 4 year old girl was sexually molested by another 4 year old in the school. Another is a teenage girl, an only child whose father had been sexually molesting her for years without the knowledge of her mother. She finally summoned the courage to tell her mother who confronted her father. He beat both of them so severely that she lost the pregnancy which she did not know about and both of them were hospitalized.  Kemi I can go on and on and on, a lot is happening in this country that is indeed saddening.”  Itoro tells me and continues “sadly, there are various lies told about rape, I want everyone to know that rape is never the victim’s fault, rape is a serious crime in Lagos state that carries a life penalty, a child can never give consent, absence of injuries does not mean there was no rape, there is no excuse for rape; it can never be justified and where a child is sexually abused, there is a high probability that other children have been victims in that environment. It is important to report rape incidents because it provides an opportunity for the survivor to get needed help to cope with the trauma. It also sends out a signal to the community that rape is not condoned. It serves as a deterrent for others that such acts are against the law of the land. It might also save others from going through the same experience. In many instances the perpetrator can also be assisted where such facilities exist.” She quips.

Is it somewhat ok to blame some of these issues on our laws and customs? I inquired from Itoro and her response couldn’t have been more succinct “Yes! It is our custom to train the girl to be responsible for her safety without training the boy child to be responsible for his actions. It is also our custom to expect purity from the girl child and to accept that ‘boys will be boys’. By so doing, we blame the girl or woman for the criminal acts of men. The result of this is the culture of silence so as to avoid stigmatization.” She reveals. 

There are international interventions for rape victims in terms of human rights instruments and in some cases redress in regional and sub regional court systems but Itoro through Partnership for Justice, has opened a sexual assault referral centre, a place where survivors of rape and sexual assault can receive care and support to help them cope with the trauma associated with it. Known as the Mirabel entre, the goal of the Centre is to provide holistic and quality services and support to survivors of sexual assault in a compassionate and caring manner, where each individuals’ specific needs and their rights to make choices on how to address those needs are respected and met. The Centre run by an all female personnel of doctors, nurses and councellors who have been specially and extensively trained to adequately meet the needs of the survivors. Services provided at the Centre include: Medical examination and treatment for illness and injuries caused by the assault, counseling (face to face and through the telephone) to help cope with the emotional and psychological effect of rape, help in reporting the incident to the police among many others and all the services are free. “Since it opened to the public in July 2013, over 350 children, girls, women and boys have received treatment at the Centre. The youngest is 18 months and the oldest is 70 years old and majority of the clients are between the ages of 11 and 14 and assaulted by people known to them.” Says Itoro.

It is very important that these innocent ones who have been violated are carefully integrated back into the society. Itoro tells me how she does this through her organisation. “Through the free counseling sessions which could be up to 6 sessions, the clients are assisted to move on from being victims too being survivors and that helps them to cope with the trauma. At times, just letting them know that it is not their fault, that they did not ask for it no matter what the circumstances were, even having someone to talk to that is not judgmental helps in a long way. Also letting them know that the perpetrator is and remains the criminal goes a long way in helping them pick up the pieces of their lives. Where there is need for additional services not provided for at the Centre, referrals are made to relevant agencies.” Itoro informs me.

Support has come for Itoro in fighting this noble course, she tells me how “The Centre is presently funded by the Justice for All Programme of the Department for International Development of UK. The Lagos state government has been supportive in its own way. The Centre is located at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) owned by the government. In addition to this, there are ongoing discussions for a private public partnership to ensure sustainability of the project. The Centre works closely with many government institutions including Office of the Public Defender, Ministry for Justice, Education, Health, Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and so on. The Centre also works closely with the Police in Lagos state and majority of the cases are from the police. The Police Commissioner and the AIG have visited the Centre and are very supportive. We thank all of them for their support, especially the management of LASUTH for providing the space for the centre. There are still challenges of funding to sustain the centre and we call on well meaning Nigerians to support in whatever way they can to save our young girls from a lifetime of trauma.” Itoro pleads. 

You can’t begin to imagine how I trembled listening to Itoro tell me all she told me, indeed like the holy book says, “The heart of man is desperately wicked!” How do people live daily carrying out such appalling acts of impiety?…how? I remember speaking with my Editor, Phillip Isakpa about this and we both felt irritated by this iniquitous act. As Itoro puts it, “The issue of rape and sexual assault cannot be left to one agency or institution. It requires collective action. The community needs to stand up and condemn rape and rapists. No one should plead or beg on behalf of a rapists or offer financial inducement to prevent prosecution of rapists in court. The damage done to a child by someone who should show love and care lives with the child for the rest of her life and can have very negative impact on the girl. The fact that the child has moved on does not mean that she has forgotten about it.”  

“There is also need to train our boys to respect girls. We tell the girl child to be wary of certain circumstances so as not to be sexually assaulted but we hardly tell the boy child to respect the rights of the girl child or that they will be held responsible for raping or sexually assaulting a girl. Where you witness or suspect an incident, please report or refer to the Centre. It might be your daughter tomorrow.” Itoro warns. 

KEMI AJUMOBI