Governor Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufa’i of Nigeria’s Kaduna state passed a law on Tuesday allowing castration of rapists convicted of raping children under the age of 18, and the death penalty for child sexual abusers where the child victim was under the age of 14.

The law applies to both male and female perpetrators, requiring bilateral salpingectomies for females and castration for males, the governor tweeted.

Previously, Kaduna state had a law where rapists were sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment for raping adult victims, and life imprisonment for child-victims.

The new law resulted from women’s rights groups in Nigeria petitioning the government for stronger action, as rape cases in Nigeria spiked during the pandemic.