A/HRC/7/3/Add.4
page 3
The Special Rapporteur welcomed the adoption of a number of State laws prohibiting
discrimination against women in critical areas, such as female genital mutilation and early
marriage. Despite such legislation, however, he remains concerned at the persistence of these
practices and the social acceptance of them and the lack of effective mechanisms to enforce the
existing prohibitions.
These findings are not new as many credible human rights organizations, as well as
United Nations human rights mechanisms, have documented and concluded that torture is
widespread in the country and that the conditions in detention are unacceptable. Nigerians
themselves have exhaustively identified the nature and scale of these problems. Indeed, in
August 2005 and again in a meeting with the Special Rapporteur on 21 May 2007,
President Obasanjo clearly acknowledged the severity of the problem of torture in the country.
Accordingly, the Special Rapporteur recommends a number of measures to be adopted by
the Government in order to comply with its commitment to prevent and suppress acts of torture
and other forms of ill-treatment.