A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST PERSONS (PROHIBITION) ACT, 2015 AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARD
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66811/eijrihs.vol1.no4.66Keywords:
Act; Istanbul Convention, domestic violence, human rights, comparative law, no-fault compensation, due diligence.Abstract
Nigeria’s Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP Act) was hailed as a transformative legal framework for combating domestic and interpersonal violence. This article undertakes a critical comparative analysis of the VAPP Act against the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), which represents the gold standard in international human rights law on violence against persons. Using a doctrinal legal methodology, the article evaluates four key dimensions: (1) definitional frameworks of domestic violence; (2) scope of prohibited conduct (physical, sexual, psychological, economic violence); (3) structural and legislative coherence; and (4) emerging accountability mechanisms, including no-fault compensation. The analysis finds that while the VAPP Act aligns substantively with international standards in recognizing economic and psychological violence, it suffers from critical deficiencies: a misleading title, failure to designate domestic violence as a distinct offense, a problematic duality between domestic violence and spousal battery, incomplete state domestication, and the absence of a no-fault compensation framework. The article concludes with actionable legislative and policy recommendations to bring Nigeria into closer compliance with its international human rights obligations.
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