Rape: A Violence against Women and Girls during COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Abstract

The December 2019 pandemic of a new infectious disease was named CoronaVirus Infectious Disease (COVID)-19 by a consensus group of WHO experts. This resulted into lockdown world-wide. In Wuhan and Beijing, case reports of such patients were first published by different authors. One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is Goal 5, which is the achievement of gender equality and empowerment to all women and girls. Three out of the targets of the goal are: firstly, putting an end to all forms of discrimination against all women and girls, secondly, the elimination of any forms of violence on women and girls anywhere, and thirdly, the elimination of every form of practices (female circumcision, early and forced marriage) that can cause abuse and trauma to women and girls. Rape can be classified as one of the violence against women and girls because it is an act of forcefully having sexual intercourse with someone without any mutual agreement. Globally, COVID-19 pandemic is causing a lot of serious havoc, Nigeria is not excluded.

Keywords: COVID-19; Rape; Violence; SDGs; Women and Girls; NGO; Nigeria