Abuja:The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACoN) and the European Union Support to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (ESGBV) Programme in Nigeria held a stakeholder validation workshop to review and validate tools for identifying and responding to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) within legal aid services.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the event gathered legal aid practitioners, civil society organisations, government officials, and gender justice advocates to assess new guidelines for SGBV identification, revised legal aid intake forms, and structured referral pathways developed under the ESGBV Programme.
During the workshop, LACoN’s Director-General, Aliyu Abubakar, highlighted the importance of correctly identifying signs of abuse, noting that current legal aid intake processes might miss these signs when survivors seek help for seemingly unrelated issues. The revised tools aim to assist practitioners in recognizing SGBV indicators and connecting survivors to necessary support services.
Chief Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, emphasized the critical role of the initial intake interview in recognizing and documenting a survivor’s experience. The ESGBV Programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by International IDEA, focuses on enhancing Nigeria’s prevention, protection, and response measures to SGBV.
LACoN, established under the Legal Aid Act 2011, provides free legal assistance to indigent Nigerians and handles cases involving violence against women and girls. The validation workshop is part of a broader review process, which included expert consultations preceding the stakeholder session. The validated tools are expected to be implemented across LACoN’s offices once formally adopted. International IDEA plans to release a full summary of the workshop’s outcomes and next steps.