UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS VISITS NIGERIA

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders made the following statement in Abuja at the end of her recent visit to Nigeria,
Thursday 12 May 2005:

At the invitation of the Government of Nigeria, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders conducted an official visit to the country from 3 to 12 May, 2005. During her visit she met with Government officials, including Government Ministers, Special Advisors to the President, the Governors of Kaduna and the Rivers State and officials of the police and military at national and provincial level. She also met with the honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria and members of the legislature from the House of Representatives and the Senate. She regrets that her meeting with his Excellency President Olesegun Obasanjo could not take place as planned. Apart from Abuja, the Special Representative travelled to Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Lagos. She met with a wide range of human rights defenders and other interested actors, including members of human rights NGOs, journalists, lawyers, labor leaders, community leaders, environmental rights activists and representatives of an oil company.

The objective of the mission was to report on the situation of human rights defenders in the country and on the degree to which the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders is being implemented. The preliminary conclusions of the Special Representative take into account the human rights issues and concerns on which the defenders work as well as the political, social and economic conditions in the country that impact their work and activities. The full report of the visit will be presented to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in its sixty-second session in April 2006.

The end of the military rule in Nigeria brought an end to a period of human rights violations and severe restraints on fundamental freedoms. The current environment for the defence of human rights is vastly different from the pre-1999 era and, in particular, efforts are being made to create and strengthen initiatives that contribute to a more positive approach towards the promotion and protection of human rights. The National Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives have shown a readiness to raise human rights issues and the appointment of the Special Advisor to the President on Civil Society Organizations is a step towards a fuller recognition of the importance of civil society in the process of democratization. While the development and effectiveness of these initiatives varies from state to state, the creation of the Directorate of Citizens Rights and the Public Defenders Offices in the Ministry of Justice in some 10 states promise better access to justice to the public and provide the defenders with forums that they can use for promotion of human rights at the provincial level.

The human right defenders’ community generally acknowledged that their situation has significantly changed since 1999. Nevertheless, it must be noted that their human rights expectations have now risen to levels that one of a democratic Government. In this context, the level of democracy and governance remain insufficient to ensure a more constructive engagement of the civil society. While the government has sought opportunities to include some sections of civil society, including some human rights organizations, in policy discussions, a wider section of the human rights community has expressed disappointment at the lack of response from the Government and indicated that policies seldom reflect their ideas and proposals. Government has shown little tolerance for dissent from its policies or for accommodating criticisms. A lack of adequate openness and transparency prevent human rights defenders from performing their monitoring and advocacy functions with facility and security.

In particular, access to information necessary for human rights defenders to perform their function as watchdogs of Government policies continues to be restricted, largely due to an unjustifiably broad application of the Official Secrets Act to public records. The Government’s failure to collect adequate data and documentation on public policies also constitutes a serious obstacle to human rights work. The Special Representative was informed that a bill on freedom of information has been pending for a long time. She expresses her hopes that it will soon be passed in order to allow for human right defenders to monitor state policies and practices especially on issues of governance and corruption.

Access to places of detention, especially to police stations is not always available. While access to prisons is generally more open for defenders, there is no uniform policy in this regard and human rights defenders have at times been prevent from observing conditions of detention and treatment of prisoners. Lack of accessing sites of human rights violations such as arbitrary demolition of homes and forced evictions, oil spills and violence affecting communities has also been reported as difficult.

The Special Representative found no widespread or systematic targeting of human rights defenders. The government is generally supportive of activities undertaken for human rights education, training and of civil society initiatives for peace and reconciliation in regions with religious or ethnic tensions. Nevertheless, some areas of sensitivity do exist, and action by human rights defenders, touching upon these sensitivities, has received more repressive reaction from the government.
In particular, trade union activities have frequently been disrupted and prevented by force. The recently passed labour law is generally seen as an attempt to weaken trade unions by fragmenting the umbrella National Labour Congress into smaller and sectional unions. More recent incidents involving repressive actions against some journalists criticising the style of governance or raising issues of corruption indicate a narrowing down of space for the freedom of expression and the press.

The Special Representative is appreciative of the fact that in Nigeria registration is currently not a pre-condition for collective activity of groups and organizations. Nevertheless, she notes that freedom of association is adversely affected by the procedures for NGO registration which the NGOs generally defined as cumbersome, expensive and, in some respects, infringing on their autonomy in the choice of objectives and name for their organization. She hopes that any new law contemplated by the government will strengthen the freedom of association and not place any undue restrictions, as feared by some NGOs.

An area of greater concern regards defenders’ freedom of assembly. Throughout the visit, defenders reported frequently being prevented from holding rallies, and trade unions, in particular, reported being denied the freedom of assembly. The Public Order Act has been repeatedly used to deny permission for public gatherings. While the Special Representative recognizes the responsibility of the government to preserve public order and peace, examples cited to her indicate that refusal to grant permission is often arbitrary, not based on any reasonable apprehensions or justified by the surrounding facts and circumstances.

Serious concerns were raised during the visit with regards to the conduct and practices of the police. The Special Representative heard accounts of excesses committed during demonstration, law enforcement operations, torture and unlawful confinement that still continue. She was in particular concerned by accounts of manhandling of lawyers who had visited police stations to meet or get information with regard to their clients in police custody. The government informed the Special Representative of various initiatives to train the police, some carried out in cooperation with NGOs. Nevertheless, serious reservations were expressed regarding the seriousness of the commitment to re-orientation of the police and so far such training appears to have had only a marginal impact in particular at the local level.

Independence of the judiciary and respect for the rule of law are critical for the effectiveness of the work of human rights defenders. The Special Representative was informed that decisions, even some taken by the highest court of the country, are regularly disregarded by the concerned government authorities. Such incidents have weakened confidence in judicial independence and constitute an obstacle to the promotion and protection of fundamental rights. The ability of defenders to promote or protect human rights through the judicial process has also been impeded due to the lack of “locus standi” in petitioning the courts against human rights violations and in pursuing public interest litigation.

The promotion and protection of women’s rights requires more support from the Government and state institutions. Women’s organizations raising issues of discrimination and violence against women feel particularly vulnerable. They expressed the urgent need for legislative reform in these areas and for strong Governmental social policy to ensure respect for the laws and their effective implementation. They also reported feeling threatened by non-state actors and social forces, and that the government does not take sufficient measures to deter or remove those threats.

Defenders working on social and economic rights in Nigeria are particularly affected by the lack of response to their demands for legislative and policy reforms. The legal framework for the enforcement of social and economic rights is weak. In the Niger Delta region, serious issues of economic deprivation, under development, lack of benefits from the exploitation of local resources, such as oil, environmental damage and ecological degradation leading to loss of livelihood, damage to means survival, and health hazards are being raised by human rights organizations and community activists. Sufficient measures have not been taken to ensure that these issues are adequately dealt with. There is a need for government and the oil companies to review their practices and transparency to genuinely engage with defenders in order to hear and respond to the needs of the affected population.

Of grave concern is the prevalence of violence in the country which generates insecurity, results in a climate of fear and increases the vulnerability of defenders. In the context of the planned 2007 elections, human rights defenders expressed their apprehension at a resurgence of violence prior to or in the wake of elections. They particularly pointed out the proliferation of arms in the hands of vigilante groups and indicated that such conditions rendered monitoring activities, voter education and awareness-raising difficult. The Special Representative urges the Government and the Independent National Election Commission to take measures to ensure the safety of defenders during the electoral process, and to consider appropriate legal provisions for this purpose as a part of the electoral reforms under review.

The country has a vibrant civil society with a record of struggle and a strong will to progress towards democracy with firmer guarantees for the realization of human rights. Greater freedom to carry out their activities, a more enabling environment for human rights action and a sincere acknowledgement of the legitimacy and value of their work could strengthen the prospects for democracy and respect for human rights in the country.