The need for a law against harmful traditional practices

Harmful traditional practices include; female genital mutilation, wife inheritance, widowhood rites, women dis-inheritance, discrimination against the girl child or male child preference, early and forced marriage, food taboos and other taboos  targeted at women, child abuse, and other acts of violence against women.The practices vary from one  community or ethnicity to the other. While they […]

Harmful traditional practices include; female genital mutilation, wife inheritance, widowhood rites, women dis-inheritance, discrimination against the girl child or male child preference, early and forced marriage, food taboos and other taboos  targeted at women, child abuse, and other acts of violence against women.
The practices vary from one  community or ethnicity to the other. While they are most common in the rural areas, women and children everywhere are not spared as relatives, community members or religious leaders among others oppress them under the guise of culture and religion. Widows in particular have been the worst victims, ranging from dis-inheritance to rites that violate their human rights and negatively affect their health, and wellbeing along with that of their children.
This makes it necessary for laws to be enacted at all levels banning harmful traditional practices. States in the country which are yet to pass laws against it should do so. Some states in the country have done well in promulgating laws banning all or some harmful traditional practices in their states. However, passing is one and implementation is another. They should make more efforts in preventing such practices and in sanctioning erring persons , families or communities because there are still many cases of abuses even from  these states where the laws have been passed.
Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina  has also been calling on law makers at the federal and state levels to legislate against all oppressive and injurious widowhood practices and other harmful traditional practices that continue to place women at the lower rung of the social and economic ladder.
Legislation against harmful traditional practices was part of the issues,  she  advocated for during her recent visit to Kaduna and Plateau States where she told the two House of Assemblies,  the governors and their wives, traditional rulers and women, children and other vulnerable groups focused NGOs to pass laws to ban them.
She said “In Africa and indeed Nigeria, the subjection of girls and women to harmful traditional practices is legendary. These inhuman, discriminatory and sometimes dangerous practices span the female life cycle, from childhood through adolescence to marriage, matrimonial relationship, widowhood and old age.
“I am aware that Female Genital Mutilation, early and forced marriages are being practiced in some states. These practices not only violate the rights of women and girls, they are abhorrent, unhealthy, dehumanizing and inimical to the wellbeing and development of women and girls. I call on you to enact appropriate legislation and policies that will make these obnoxious practices a thing o f the past.”
The Minister said widows in some parts of the country still undergo dehumanizing treatment. “Widowhood practices in Nigeria are generally traumatic for women and this is a great challenge that requires the intervention of government to save them from unwholesome harmful traditional practices,” she said.
She said these practices translate to various aspects of discrimination against women in spite of the growing popularity of the legal principle that “women’s rights are human rights.”
Also speaking on the issue, Chairperson of the Caring and Uplifting Widows and Orphans Foundation, Mrs Comfort Attah lamented the plight of widows in the country saying many of them are oppressed, stigmatized and made to go through harmful traditional practices once their husbands die. She called for the support, and laws that will stop the practices.
Members of Soroptimist International, a worldwide organization comprising of professional and executive business women who contribute time and financial support to community based projects with the mission to improve the life of women and girls recently commended the Akwa Ibom State, Governor Victor Akpabio, for passing a law abolishing harmful traditional practices against women and girls in his state and urged other state governments to do same.
National President of the association, Soroptimist Funmilola Buraimoh-Ademuyewo, said “Widows in the State will no longer have to drink the bath water of their dead husbands and shaving of the heads of widows is now unlawful in the State.”
She said it is hoped that other states will follow the Akwa Ibom example and forbid these harmful practices.
The Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF)   and other stakeholders are also calling for the elimination of all  harmful social and cultural practices affecting children.
 During an event it organized to mark this year’s Day of  the African Child, the National Coordinator, Mrs Veronica Umaru said the theme of this year’s commemoration of the day is “ Eliminating harmful social and cultural practices affecting children: Our collective responsibility” saying it was chosen by the African union to draw attention to the harmful and cultural practices affecting the development of children in Africa.
She said legislation is already in place to tackle all the harmful practices against children which is the Childs Rights Act but the only problem is implementation by states that have already passed it into law, and for states that are yet to pass it into law to do so.
Dean, Faculty of law, Nasarawa State University Keffi, Prof. Maxwell Gidado on his part said children are the pillars of tomorrow and if they are not given the opportunity to grow and  mentored under the right atmosphere the country is doomed. He urged the government and legislative houses not to foot drag in passing any legislation that would eliminate all the harmful practices against children.