NGO Submission to the CEDAW Committee Pre-Sessional Working Group for Nigeria

By: Women Enabled International (WEI), Advocacy for Women with Disability Initiative (AWWDI), Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), Inclusive Friends Association

June 12 2017

As the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) recognized in its General Recommendation No. 18 on disabled women, states parties should take special measures to ensure that the rights of women with disabilities are respected, protected, and fulfilled and should report on those measures to the Committee. Despite the barriers women with disabilities face in exercising their rights in Nigeria, its state report does not contain any references to women with disabilities nor to any measures that Nigeria has taken to ensure their rights. This gap reflects the broader exclusion of women with disabilities from Nigeria’s policies and programs.

This submission focuses on rights violations that disproportionately or uniquely affect women with disabilities throughout Nigeria. It includes legal and policy background information applicable to the rights of women with disabilities and details the rights violations they experience in Nigeria, including gender-based violence and violations of their sexual and reproductive rights. This submission concludes with suggestions to the CEDAW Committee for questions it should ask Nigeria during its review and recommendations to give to Nigeria as part of the Committee’s concluding observations.