Borno, EU open care facility for rape victims

Borno state’s First Lady, Nana Shettima, yesterday commissioned a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) set up by the state government in collaboration with the European Union (EU) to provide care for rape victims in the state. The Centre, put in place under the EU-funded British Council programme, Managing Conflict in North-east (MCN), is said to be a first of its kind in the war-wrecked region.

With the Boko Haram displacing well over two million people, mostly women and children, several cases of sexual abuses, especially raping of young girls, had become frequent in and outside the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Borno state. Stationed within Umaru Shehu General Hospital, Maiduguri, the SARC centre is expected to provide medical and psychosocial care for all persons that are sexually abused from all parts of the state.

Speaking before commissioning the SARC facility, Mrs. Shettima expressed delight on the initiative which she said had come at the right time when cases of sexual abuse has become a disturbing trend in the state.

“All hands must be on deck to curb these vices rearing its ugly head in the society. “Reports indicate that these societal ills have been on the increase generally and particularly in Borno state complicated by the effect of the insurgency that has resulted in the displacement and attendant deprivation of the livelihood of the people,’ she said. The Borno state Commissioner for Health, Haruna Mshellia, said the SARC facility would also function as a hub for collation of forensic evidence that will aid the possible prosecution of rapists and related sexual abusers.

He added that the services of the Centre would not only be restricted to females, but also to males “who may have suffered one form of sexual abuse or the other.” Premium Times gathered from health personnel that cases of male minors being sexually abused by adult males is also on the rise in Maiduguri.

The Managing Director, Borno state Hospital Management Board, Ibrahim Kwayabura, said the establishment of the SARC by the state government in collaboration with the British Council came at a time when a 2014 WHO statistics indicate that ”one in every five women has either been raped or sexually abused in one form or the other.”

According to him, “records have shown that the culprits are usually very close associates or relatives.” Meanwhile, the Borno state Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, had last week rated the state as one of the states in the country with a high rate of sexual assault. “We are recording rape cases on a daily basis,” he said.

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