Nigeria launched its first national sexual offenders register, setting up a database of those convicted for sexual violence in a move seen as an important step towards clamping down on abuse.
The Sexual Offender Register will contain the names of all those prosecuted for sexual violence in Africa’s most populous nation since 2015.
The record will be available online to better help the public, state bodies and police conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders.
Suspects who are cleared will also be recorded in a part of the register only available to law enforcement agencies, amid concerns by campaigners that the majority of sexual offenders escape prosecution due to failings in the justice system.
At the launch in the capital, Abuja, Nigeria minister for humanitarian affairs, Sadiya Farouq, praised the initiative.
She said the humanitarian and security crisis in northeast Nigeria caused by a decade-long jihadist insurgency had seen a rise in cases of sexual abuse which needed to be addressed.
