Nigeria’s Kaduna passes law to castrate child rapists

Lawmakers in Nigeria’s Kaduna State have approved surgical castration as punishment for those convicted of raping children under the age of 14.State governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai needs to sign the bill for it to become law in the north-western state.He has previously supported castration to prevent rapists from re-offending.The move follows public outrage over a wave of rapes, which prompted the nation’s state governors to declare a state of emergency.

Nigeria’s federal law provides between 14 years and life imprisonment as punishment, but state legislators can set different sentencing rules.Stigma often prevents victims from reporting incidents of rape in Nigeria and the number of successful prosecutions is low.

Source: BBC