In December 2023, Nigerian prosecutors charged a member of Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) with committing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) as an act of terrorism. Suleiman Garba Mohammed was charged on six counts relating to forced marriage, forced pregnancy, rape, and sexual slavery in December 2023. This conviction greatly advanced accountability for such crimes and highlighted how SGBV has become an integral part of ISWAP’s operations as a terrorist group. It was also a global first – the first time sexual and gender-based violence had been successfully prosecuted as a domestic terrorist act anywhere in the world.
However, this conviction did not happen in a vacuum: it was the result of many years of efforts by the Nigerian government to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of SGBV cases, with the support of a variety of international partners, including the UNODC Country Office in Nigeria. 2 in 3 women in Northeastern Nigeria are believed to have experienced one or more forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Since 2013, UNODC has been providing technical assistance to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria through tailored training and policy guidance, in order to develop increased awareness and capacities to address the challenges of addressing sexual and gender-based violence in a manner that is comprehensive, timely and compliant with international human rights standards and the rule of law.
Recognizing the essential importance of both preventing and responding to acts of sexual violence in the context of the terrorist campaign in Northeast Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMoJ), in collaboration with UNODC and Nigerian and International experts, has been working to integrate gender perspectives into its investigations and to adopt innovative legal approaches to the prosecution of SGBV. Advances include the establishment of an SGBV Response Unit in 2021 by the Federal Ministry of Justice to review laws and policies related to SGBV offences, and the designation in 2022 by the judiciary of the Federal Capital Territory of six High Court judges to preside over SGBV cases, to ensure the protection of victims, and the effective adjudication of such cases.
Last Friday, UNODC, in partnership with the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict, supported a side event on the margins of the Commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the mandate on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Entitled “Turning the Tide: The prosecution of SGBV crimes as a terrorist offence in Nigeria”, this event provided an opportunity to highlight Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen judicial responses to SGBV in the context of terrorism.
This side event was hosted by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to the United Nations in New York and was attended by Ms. Stella Ronner-Grubačić, the EU Ambassador for Gender and Diversity, who told the gathering that the European Union was deeply committed to supporting gender equality in counter-terrorism efforts and that ensuring accountability for terrorist violence – including acts of sexual and gender based violence was a “critical” element of the EU’s approach to promoting international peace and security. The European Union has been a key, and much valued, supporter of UNODC’s work in Nigeria.
Also in attendance was the Team Leader of the UN Team of Experts on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, Ms. Chloe Marnay-Baszanger, representing the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ms. Pramila Patten. In her opening remarks Ms. Marnay-Baszanger observed that “sexual and gender-based violence is an integral part of terrorist strategy, a tactic to instil fear, and a method to support both financing and recruitment.” She added that this only served to underline the significance of the Suleiman Garba Mohammed case: “[This] is the first terrorism-related prosecution for SGBV in a country where terrorism is occurring, by a local court, using local laws, resulting in the conviction of a male perpetrator.”
Ms. Natalia Gherman, Executive Director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), echoed Ms. Marnay-Baszanger’s remarks, congratulating Nigerian prosecutors on their success, commenting: “We commend the strides that Nigeria has made in extending justice to victims and survivors.” She also drew attention to CTED’s recently published report “Towards Meaningful Accountability for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Linked to Terrorism”, which directly addresses this topic and, that the UN Security Council had repeatedly “called for terrorists to be brought to justice.”
Ms. Delphine Schantz, Director of the UNODC Office in New York, highlighted the development by UNODC in 2019 of a Nigeria Training Module on Gender Dimensions of Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism, which had provided practical guidance for FMoJ officials as they shaped their approach to the prosecution of conflict-related sexual violence. She also saluted the groundbreaking nature of the Suleiman Garba Mohammed case, describing it as “a significant milestone in international efforts to advance accountability for SGBV through legal innovation”, and noting, “it sends a strong message to potential perpetrators that such crimes will not be tolerated.” She added: “It also importantly acknowledges the linkage that can exist between SGBV and terrorism, it acknowledges that acts of sexual violence can also be deliberate acts of political violence, and that in Nigeria such acts have been perpetrated as part of a deliberate campaign of violence against the Nigerian people.”
The side event culminated in a moderated conversation with two Nigerian experts who had played important roles in bringing terrorism-related sexual violence to court: Mr. Matthew Odu Una, Head of the Secretariat of the Complex Casework Group of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Justice, who led the Suleiman Garba Mohammed prosecution, and Dr. Adejoké Babington-Ashaye, an international law expert and UN consultant, who had been a central figure in training Nigerian prosecutors to tackle such cases as part of capacity-building efforts by UNODC, the Team of Experts and the international NGO Wayamo, and was also the principal author of the CTED report.
Mr. Odu Una spoke at length about the Suleiman Garba Mohammed case detailing the challenges of gathering evidence in an active conflict zone, but patient investigation and out-of-the-box thinking helped prosecutors to advance the case. Prosecutors were seized with a sense of urgency, knowing full well that “the longer it takes to bring the perpetrator to justice the more it impacts the survivor.” This only made them more determined, and, as Mr. Odu Una put it: “Many times we were able to squeeze water from the rock and give the court something to drink.” An active, long-term member of ISWAP, Mohammed was ultimately sentenced to a total of 345 years for his crimes.
Dr. Babington-Ashaye observed that around the world investigators and prosecutors working on conflict-related sexual violence find themselves grappling with a “lack of resources and a lack of funds”, hampering “the effective prosecution of terrorism-related sexual offences.” She noted that this reflected a deeper reality that “counter-terrorism responses are still being viewed through a very masculine lens which does not see conflict-related sexual violence as a form of terrorism when it occurs in that context”, adding, “there is a need to address these gendered notions in the counter-terrorism sphere.”
All six speakers united in a call for other countries to follow the Federal Government of Nigeria’s lead and make a greater global effort to prioritize the investigation of conflict-related sexual violence, including such crimes committed in the context of terrorist action, and they emphasized the importance of countries adopting a more victim-centered approach so that the victims of sexual and gender-based violence finally receive both the support and the justice to which they are sorely entitled.
