Please consult NGA32948.E of 20 October 1999 for the opinion of a Legal Officer at the Women's Justice Program in Lagos, on the prevalence of forced marriages among the Hausa. For information on Hausa attitudes toward levirate marriages please consult NGA33868.E of 8 February 2000. No further information on the prevalence of forced marriage among Muslim Hausa could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Sources Consulted

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

REFWORLD

Resource Centre. Nigeria country file. October 1997 - April 2000.

World News Connection (WNC)

Unsuccessful attempts to contact 22 non-documentary sources.

One non-documentary source contacted did not provide information on the requested subject.

Internet sites including:

The Cente for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP)

Center for World Indigenous Studies

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge].

Mail and Guardian [Johannesburg].

Newswatch [Lagos].

Post Express [Lagos].

UCLA Hausa Home Page

United Nations, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN).

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)

Search engines including:

Dogpile

HotBot

Metacrawler