There Is An Organizing To Help The Queer Community Fight Kito Scum And Human Rights Violations

Many a time, during the process of reporting a kito situation that they have suffered, victims who are more angry than traumatized, who want some sort of consequential action taken against those who have harmed them, want to know if there’s anything that can be done.

And oftentimes, the answer is regrettably in the negative: there is nothing we can do to get justice for you, we often respond. Considering how very often kito cases reported to the police turn around to further persecute the victim, it has always looked like the preventative measures we take by posting these kito alerts are all we can do for our community.

However, that looks like it’s about to change.

Two organizations invested in the well-being of the community’s human rights are coming together to help prosecute those who victimize us. They are Minority Watch and Strategic Advocacy Network Nigeria (SANN).

Minority Watch is an organization of lawyers and paralegals, committed to the protection and enforcement of the human rights and dignity of LGBTQI+ persons in Nigeria through advocacy, strategic litigation, legal research and stakeholder engagement.

And Strategic Advocacy Network Nigeria (SANN) is a network of LGBTQIA+ organizations, activists, lawyers, and allies working towards a strong movement for strategic litigation, grassroots capacity building, and advancing effective social change to promote and advocate for LGBTQIA+ human rights.

While the activities of Minority Watch are restricted to Lagos State alone, the SANN network is spread out across various geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Both organizations are open to assisting community members whose fundamental rights have been violated both by both state and non-state actors. They plan to do this by accompanying the victims to police stations to report the violation, and by filing fundamental rights enforcement cases, pro bono, on behalf of victims at the Federal High Court or High Courts of the States where the violations took place.

It is important to note that in the filing of the fundamental rights enforcement cases at the courts, the victims will not be required to come to court for trial, since the cases will be determined by the judges based on the affidavit evidence filed by the victims and detailing the facts of the rights violations they have suffered. They will only be required to come to the court’s registry to depose, to (sign) the affidavit before the commissioner for oath, which is really no big deal.

However, if the matter is reported to the police, and the police decide to charge the perpetrators to court and prosecute them, the victim would have to regularly appear in court as the complainant in the criminal case.

For those who want to fight back, to do more about these kito perpetrators than warning our community to be careful and stay away, this is our chance. There are those who even know how to locate the criminals who violated and robbed them, but are helpless to take any action against them because we do not have the network to fight back: here is our chance.

For more information, you may contact Minority Watch via email on minoritywatchnigeria@gmail.com, or through Instagram @minoritywatch_nigeria. Or SAAN via email on info.sannigeria@gmail.com, or call +234-806-565-6020.