By Abuja Reporter
Stakeholders on the Convention Against Torture (CAT), has cautioned parents and guardians against torturing children and wards in the guise of discipline.
They gave the advice in Abuja at a review and validation workshop on the Joint Civil Society Organisation Report to the UN Committee Against Torture.
Mrs Ruth Olofin, the Acting Executive Director of Cleen Foundation, said that torture was not just synonymous to criminal cases or cases involving security personnel and civilians.
According to her, torture goes beyond police brutality; it includes families, relatives and domestic staff.
“Torture has been reported over time at the family level but it is always down played and the perpetrators often claim to have merely disciplined the child or ward and not torture.
“The family which is the smallest unit of the society ought to be a place where people regardless of blood tie should experience maximum love, care and support.
“Sadly some families and family places have been turned into torture grounds and those been tortured are totally unaware that they are being tortured because they have been conditioned to such inhumane act.
“In Nigeria we have long attributed torture to mainly criminal cases and cases involving police and civilians, but sadly, it goes beyond these areas.
“It takes place everywhere; domestically on a daily basis; between relatives and their guardians; between domestic staff and their masters and it is sadly being under reported in order to protect the family.
“Whereas relatives who are supposed to serve as guardians of other little family relatives kept in their care, keep on torturing them all in the guise of discipline,” she said.
Olofin said that any form of discipline that required inflicting bodily injuries through the use of harmful weapons, objects and threats to elicit information or words from children or wards, is an act of torture and should be reported.
She appealed to parents to learn differentiate discipline from torture and also learn to punish to children and wards according to age and offense.
She maintained that once torture became a constant tool for discipline, it would gradually affect the child’s psychology and might end up distorting the child’s orientation on what discipline wass supposed to be.
Dr Uju Agomoh, the Executive Director, Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), called for the rehabilitation of children victims and survivors of torture, as well as parents and guardians who have experienced some forms of inhumane treatment.
Agomoh said that extraction and rehabilitation was a crucial tool in the fight against torture, especially domestic torture, inhumane and other degradable acts.
According to her, extraction of victims from extremely volatile and harmful environment as well as rehabilitation is a crucial process that cannot be over emphasised.
“We believe that extraction and rehabilitation is actually the first compensation that a victim or survivor should get.
“Because when victims of torture think about how the perpetrator of this acts do not get punished for their act or that they would not be caught, it contributes greatly to the mental struggle of the victim.
“Which is why extraction and rehabilitation is crucial to provide the victim or survivor with some form of justice and comfort while awaiting legal administration of justice,” she said.
Agomoh advised those in the act of torturing others as a result of past trauma and torture experience to subject themselves to mental evaluation and counseling.
She advised parents and guardians to seek professional help on how to properly discipline children without mentally assaulting them.
According to her, where a victim of torture is not properly rehabilitated and re-orientated, he or she will begin to meet out torture to everyone around them.
“This may be the case of some parents and guardians who met out torture; it could be that they have gone through some form or process of either physical or psychological torture without proper rehabilitation.
“So they now use the same experience of trauma to live with their spouses, children and even domestic staff, which is totally unhealthy and harmful to everyone in the family,” she said.
She called for the amendment of the Anti-Torture Act 2017 to accommodate rehabilitation of victims and survivors, especially establishment of government extraction mechanism and rehabilitation centers.
Mrs Ogechi Ogu, Deputy Director oF PRAWA also condemned the use of sharp instruments and objects to discipline children and also the use of threats and highly derogatory words.
Ogu urged well-meaning Nigerians to report cases of torture observed within their neighborhood to the appropriate authority for proper rescue, extraction and rehabilitation.
Other stakeholders called for more awareness on torture and its effect both to children and to adults.
They also called for the introduction of an Anti-Torture Club in secondary schools to promote the anti-torture act to help curb the act of torture.
