Human rights record: ACHPR, NGOs tackle Nigeria

The Jos crises, incidents of torture, long detention of inmates facing trial, security concerns, detention conditions, rights of women and children, extra-judicial killings among others were some of the issues raised about Nigeria at the just concluded 48th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, ACHPR, which took place in Banjul, the Gambia.

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, fire the first shot at the public session, in its presentation during the report on human rights situation in African by non governmental organisations, when it called on the African Union, AU, to press on the Nigerian Government to prosecute those behind the recent Jos, Plateau State crises, in which many lives and property worth million of naira had been lost.

The Federal Government, fired by back, during the time of reply offered countries to respond to issues raised by NGOs in there respective countries, saying, “we wish to state that there is no basis for the call by the NBA for the intervention of the AU in the resolution of the Jos crisis.

Nigeria has already commenced the implementation of several peace building measures in its sovereign capacity and we are hopeful that the measure will achieve the desired result.”

Anther issue that drew the concern of the commission was the recent killing of an operative and head, Forensic Department of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abdullahi Mu’azu, by unknown assailant.

Commissioner Musa Bitaye, heading the working group on Indigenous Population/Communities in Africa, had in his presentation, said “in September, I sent an urgent appeal to Nigerian President about the alleged assassination of official of EFCC.

In the appeal, I brought to His Excellence’s attention that grave concerns of the African Commission about the recent alleged spate of assassinations of officials of EFCC and the implications this has for its impartiality and independence. I am awaiting reply from the government of Nigeria.”

Nigeria’s delegate to the session, said investigation into the matter was on-going. On the detention of women and children, Rights Enforcement and Public Law Centre, REPLACE, drew the attention of the commission to “the presence of babies, infants, toddlers, pre-teens and teenagers in prison and other places of detention in Nigerian.”

On the categories of children in detention, the group said, “some of the children are in prisons as a result of the conditions of their dependence on their mothers and processed into criminal justice detention facilities because they were born in the compounds of the prison to pregnant women detainees, or are breast feeding or very young and brought into prisons or detention facilities by female suspects and for some other children, they are routinely picked up from mentally unstable women living on the streets and deposited in prisons and remand homes.”

As a way of checking these ugly trends, the group called on the commission to urge the Nigerian government to ensure the utilization of alternative means of detention for nursing mothers and pregnant women, who are suspected of having committed crimes in the society and also publish a document on the special requirements to ensure the protection of children in places of detention and ensure a fair trial for child offenders.

Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, PRAWA, on its part, prayed the commission to call on African leaders to ensure that their prisons are more receptive to civil society and non governmental organisations’ intervention and partnership, in the areas of penal reforms in their various prisons.

Amnesty International, expressed concern that several states in Nigeria announced in April, their intention to execute death row inmates to ease overcrowding, urging the AU member states, which still use death penalty to establish an immediate moratorium on the executions as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty.

The group noted that there were increased cases of death sentence passed since the beginning of the year in West Africa countries, as about 64 death sentences were handed down in eight countries, including 11 in Liberia, 13 in the Gambia and 16 in Mauritania among others.

The imprisonment of the Nigerian born human rights activist, Edwin Nwakaeme in Gambia for what the government called “giving false information to the office of the President,” drew the attention of Media Foundation for West Africa, which noted that despite the adoption of constitutional democracy in the countries of the region, national legislation continues to be dominated by repressive media laws that criminalize speech and freedom of expression.

Commissioner Dupe Atoki, a Nigerian, heading the Committee on the Prevention of Torture in Africa, noted “that “torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere.”

Speaking on a workshop she attended in Ibadan, Nigeria, she said “victims publicly testified on the various violations of human rights suffered by them at the hands of police whilst wrongfully detained.”

According to her, “torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment were consistently identified by the victims as the means of extorting confession. These testimonies were televised and reported worldwide and it was an opportunity to expose the nefarious acts of the (Nigerian) police, carried out mainly behind close doors.”

She called for the criminalisation of torture. According to her, “fighting torture involves walking with the victims, encouraging the victims to speak and finding means for their speech to be heard, often in an environment where redress is remote.

The existence of a legal framework which provides for the prosecution of perpetrators and adequate sentencing is a panacea for the reparation of victims of torture.”

Atoki, who is also the Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa, noted that “in many African countries, the slow pace of the criminal justice administration system, insufficient personnel and lack of resources have resulted in delays in remand cases that in turn leads to increased prison populations.”

On the solution to this problem, which has also plagued Nigerian prisons, Atoki said “governments need to increase the budget allocations to prisons to ensure that prisons officials are properly remunerated and motivated to work,” adding that the service they provide require their complete mental faculty, otherwise they become demoralised and ineffective.

Of importance were the recommendations by the NBA to the Jos crises. The body noted that electoral violence as a result of rigging, improper nomination of candidates and lack of independence of the electoral body had also led to violence in Jos.

It also noted that “full residency right should be given to all Nigerian citizens resident for at least ten years in a state. This suggestion was proffered by the Public Bureau in 1986.

Every Nigerian citizen who has worked or lived uninterruptedly in a state other than his/her own for more than ten years should be given right of an indigene of the state of his residence including the rights to vote and be voted for as well as other socio-economic rights as entrenched in the Nigerian Constitution.

“It is further our humble submission that terminologies such as citizen or citizenship, indigene, native, residence be properly defined by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or any other enabling law for easy interpretation and reference.

The provisions of the 1999 constitution that deals with federal character should be completely expunged from the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria forthwith.

“Again, the narrow and parochial interpretation of the concept of indignity should be completely discarded thus paving way for the proper and adequate survival of the principle of citizenship and at large democracy.

“Adequate practical mechanisms should be put in place for redress for victims of discrimination manifest constitutional violation. Socio-economic rights which are non-justifiable should be made justifiable to address this constitutional anomaly which has pervaded the nation. An independent constitutional review commission should also be established to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the constitute.

“The promotion of national unity and the creation of a Nigerian identity by devising programmes and facilities that bring diverse groups together and encouraging horizontal dialogue between groups and the government.

Effectively addressing the issue of gender. Women should not be discriminated upon. They should not be discriminated both in their father’s home as well as their husband’s house.

Widow inheritance should be completely expunged thus creating room for effective citizenship,” the association added.

An issue the Nigerian government addressed at the session was ritual killings, which it noted that steps were being made to check it.

It was the International Humanist and Ethical Union, that had drawn the attention of the commission to the trend. Nigeria in its reaction said, “while it is true that cases of ritual killings and human sacrifice occurred and have been reported in Nigeria, I wish to place in record that the government of Nigeria and the vast majority of Nigerians condemn such evil and barbaric actions perpetrated by a negligible number of people in our society and reiterate that this does not represent the overwhelming attitude of Nigerians today.”

On the issue of trafficking in Nigerian girls, who of who are trapped in Chad and other West African countries, raised by BAJITO, the Nigerian delegates said that the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Related Matters was set up in 2003 by the Nigeria government, had rescued about 5,000 victims of human trafficking, especially women and children and has also pursued programmes for their rehabilitation and re-integration into the society.

While Nigeria tried its best to defend the issues raised against her, the commission and NGOs insisted that more needed to be done to improve on the human rights situation in the country.


(2010-11-25/vanguardngr)