Domestic Violence: FG Establishes Family Courts To Ensure Justice For Victims

Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, says government has established family courts in 16 states across the country to ensure child-friendly justice for children, either as victims or as offenders of violence. Tallen disclosed this while briefing newsmen recently in Abuja.

According to her, the establishment of family courts is as a result of the effective and sustained advocacy and sensitisation for effective implementation of the Child Rights Law (CRL).

Tallen added that to ensure the safety and protection of children, she also reconstituted the Technical Working Group on Ending Violence Against Children and the Technical Working Group on Case Management in Nigeria.

She said the ministry had also launched the Beta Version and upgraded the National Orphans and Vulnerable Children Management Information Systems (NOMIS) data base.

She explained that the data base was to provide robust data on the National Orphans and Vulnerable Children, generated from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The ministry had also launched the Movement for Good to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and mobilised some persons to pledge to end the practice by 2030, she stated.

She noted that in spite of efforts by government and other stakeholders, children were still vulnerable and victims of abduction, ritual killings, rape, child marriage, domestic abuse and others.

“These are all acts that are perpetrated by close family members and caregivers that are supposed to protect these children.

“More worrisome is the recent increase of violence in schools, where children are physically and sexually abused.

The minister, therefore, urged stakeholders, particularly the entertainment industry, to use their platforms constructively toward promoting good values.

She revealed that 31 states have so far domesticated the Child Rights Act 2003, adding that advocacy was ongoing to ensure the remaining states do the same.

The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Ramatu Tijani-Aliyu, represented by Hajiya Hadiza Kabir, the Secretary, Special Development, stressed the need to strengthen mechanisms that would protect children from violence.