UN 2013 review: Human rights abuses put Nigeria on the spot

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013, Nigeria faced a Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations, which sought to highlight her human rights record for the past four years. The areas where the country encountered problems are mainly her stance on death penalty, the violations of the rights of lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) torture, extra-judicial trials and killings. The Assistant Head of the Judiciary Desk, KAYODE KETEFE, beams a searchlight on Nigeria in these areas.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN, had his hands full last Tuesday as Nigeria gave accounts of her human rights observances in the once-ina- four-year Universal Periodic Report of the United Nations at the 17th UPR Session which held in Geneva, Switzerland . The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN member states. The UPR is a state-focused process under the auspices of the UN’s Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each state to declare what actions it has taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations. As one of the main features of the Council, the UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed.

This unique process was created through the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006 by resolution 60/251, which is the same instrument which established the Human Rights Council. So successful has been this initiative that by October 2011, there had been a review of the human rights records of all 193 member states of the United Nations.

Nigeria was among some 15 Nations being reviewed in this 17th UPR session. According to the United Nations time table of UPR 2013, the following countries Saudi Arabia, Senegal, China, Nigeria (reviewed on Tuesday October 22) Mexico, Mauritius Jordan, Malaysia and Central Africa Republic, were reviewed between Monday October 21 to Friday October 25, while another set of countries, namely, Monaco, Belize, Chad, Israel, Congo, and Malta will be reviewed from Monday October 28 to Friday November 1, 2013.

Among governments of foreign countries that beamed searchlight on Nigeria’s human rights record and put her to task on diverse areas it could improve performances during her review last Tuesday were the government of United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherland.

Both the United Kindom and the United States which engaged Nigeria on many areas of her human rights record at the forum expressed dissatisfaction with the country. The United Kingdom accused Nigeria of condoning torture and extra-judicial killings in contravention of her obligations as member of the United Nations. UK took a swipe at Nigeria on the reports of torture and extrajudicial killings of citizens allegedly committed by Nigerian security forces, most notably, the police.

The US also condemned the Nigerian stance on the rights of the LGBT people it said “The Government of the United States condemns Boko Haram attack on innocent Nigerians.But we are disappointed by the Nigerian government statement to our first review recommendation that LGBT persons are not visible in Nigeria.”

While denying the factuality of the growing incidence of extra-judicial killings, Adoke however pointed out that Nigeria has no apology for death penalty as it formed part of the Nigerian law till date. The AG also said the nation has no intention of condoning same sex marriage since, he stressed, the practice is strange to the culture of the people, hence its ban by the National Assembly.

In its statement of Nigeria UPR 2013, the globally acclaimed non-governmental organisation on human rights, Human Rights Watch, identified six areas where it adjudged the country to have been found wanting. These areas are Boko Haram violence, sexual orientation and gender identity, government corruption, security force abuses and inter-communal violence. In its summary, HRW noted, inter alia, “The failure of Nigeria’s government to address deeply entrenched human rights problems, such as widespread poverty, government corruption, police abuse, and longstanding impunity for a wide range of crimes has created fertile ground for violent militancy throughout the country.

“In the north, a deadly campaign of violence carried out by a militant Islamist group, commonly known as Boko Haram, and abuses by government security forces have led to spiraling violence. More than 3,000 people have been killed since major clashes between the group and government security forces began in July 2009.

“Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 18,000 people in Nigeria have died in inter-communal, political, and sectarian violence, since the end of military rule in 1999. In the restive “Middle Belt” region in central Nigeria, intercommunal violence has claimed the lives of several thousand people since 2008 alone.”

In the southern Niger Delta, much of the nation’s tremendous oil wealth continues to be siphoned off and mismanaged by the ruling elite. Many of the corruption cases against senior political figures have remained stalled for years in the courts, despite a measure of independence by Nigeria’s judiciary and the country’s active media and civil society sector. Nigeria’s police continue to be implicated in corruption and abuses, but rarely has anyone been held accountable. The prevailing climate of impunity in Nigeria remains the biggest single obstacle to ending human rights violations in the country.”

Since the issue of death penalty top the list of Nigeria’s areas of human rights failure identified in the UPR 2013, National Mirror, sought the opinion of some senior lawyers on this. Not many of them however saw death penalty delivered by a court of competent jurisdiction and carried our according to law as human rights violation.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, said “Some believe that people who have taken the lives of other people should pay with their own lives while others believe that the world has moved on from a stage when every evil has to be recompensed with evil. But it is noteworthy that some people, due to a combination of factors, may be convicted when they are not guilty.

“Agreed that the first instinct should be that he that killed should be killed, but if you appreciate the fact that sometimes some people get wrongly convicted, then you would be more reluctant in advocating for capital punishment. There is no reversal of death penalty once carried out, it is final!”

A senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Abiodun Layonu, said “I think some crimes are cruel enough to deserve death penalty. Some countries have abolished it, some have not. Generally, for murder cases I do not agree that the punishment should be death penalty. I think there should be an amendment to the law in such a way that judges will have discretion. Or maybe a committee should be set up after conviction to make a recommendation whether a particular case deserved death penalty or otherwise. I think we have come to a stage where there should be some discretions either given to the judge or to some sort of committee to determine whether a death penalty should be imposed or not.”

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Assam Assam, said “Well, I believe in death penalty, I believe in it. A man who kills another does not deserve to live because I wonder what he would tell the family of the people whose bread winner you have killed, it’s not the business of an eye for an eye, I believe that a murderer deserves to be killed by the state so that he would not murder again and to think that anybody who murders in this country or in our traditional system would come back to that same society and live a normal life is not speaking the truth.

“ Such offences as armed robbery in my state, Akwa-Ibom State now we have enacted a law making kidnapping a capital offence because of the nature, the nature of the offence and the circumstance and the need to stamp this thing out, I know that maybe it is not helping in the immediate turn but certainly it makes it possible for a man who stands to gain from armed robbery or kidnapping or murder to ask himself whether it was worth it after all. I believe in capital punishment, I believe that it is a crime against the state for a man to kill another and the person should be so punished, that’s my view.”