NATIONAL REPORT 2016 Victim Stories Mr. Andrew 2 reported in June 2015 to the Social Development and Rehabilitation department of Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) in Enugu State that he was tortured in March 2015. According to Mr. Andrew, he was shot in the leg by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police Force. After the incident, he spent several days in the agency’s detention facility. In the course of his detention there, his injury was left untreated. Upon the extraction of a confession from him through ill-treatment, Mr. Andrew was transferred to Nsukka Prisons as an ‘Awaiting Trial Person’. Given the severity of his injury, PRAWA referred him to an orthopaedic hospital for medical treatment and commenced the necessary counselling services through its torture rehabilitation programme. The right to rehabilitation There are an estimated 3 million victims of torture in Nigeria 1 National Legal Framework on the Right to Rehabilitation: There is no law criminalising torture in Nigeria. The right to rehabilitation and prompt, effective, independent and impartial medical examination for alleged victims of torture (as provided for in Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention against Torture) is not provided by the Nigerian law. 2 State Provisions for the Right to Rehabilitation: As a state, Nigeria does not have rehabilitation centres or engage in any rehabilitative measures that would benefit victims of torture. Torture rehabilitation services in Nigeria are only provided by non-governmental organisations. 3 Available Rehabilitation Provisions: Owing to absence of public policy and the lack of resources, including funds and manpower for the few NGOs that are providing the services, sufficiently resourced rehabilitation services are not available in all the geographical regions of the country. For example, PRAWA has centres in three locations in the country, designated to cater for all the regions in the country: the Enugu centre for the southeast and the south, the Lagos centre for the western part of the country, and the Abuja centre for the northern region. However, the aforementioned issues seemed to have hampered the efforts of the organisation. Where provided, rehabilitation services are available to all victims without discrimination. Guarantees are in place to ensure confidentiality, safety and security of the victims, their families and staff working with rehabilitation services. Even though government agencies do not provide rehabilitation services, they are favourably disposed towards the efforts of the NGOs providing rehabilitation services to survivors of torture. page 7