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Nigeria , Human Rights and the African Commission
By Chinedu Nwagu ª

The 42 nd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was held in Congo Brazzaville from 14 th to 28 th November 2007. The session drew a large crowd from different sections of the human rights community in Africa and almost every African State was represented, including Nigeria. The agenda was simple: Human rights situations in Africa. And Nigeria was in the spotlight on several issues.

The African Commission is the main regional human rights body in Africa. Established in July 1987, under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to promote human rights and ensure their protection throughout Africa, the African Commission is also responsible for monitoring the implementation of the African Charter and for holding governments to account for violations of the rights enshrined in the Charter. Nigeria, “desirous of adhering to the said Charter” enacted the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act in 1983. The Charter thus has force of law in Nigeria.

With a robust and diverse human rights community which has made its presence felt throughout the nation, particularly during the years of military dictators, Nigeria has developed a remarkable human rights history with the African Commission. The gross human rights violations recorded in successive military regimes and even in the immediate past Obasanjo-led democratic government accumulated a gamut of cases (Communications) against Nigeria before the African Commission. Some of these cases have been decided, against Nigeria, whilst others are still pending. Notable among the decided ones are: Civil Liberties Organisation v Nigeria (1995) where the Commission held governmental control of the Nigeria Bar Association to be a violation of the right to freedom of association of practicing lawyers. The Commission, in Constitutional Rights Project and Others v Nigeria (1999), also held that the proscription of specific newspapers and the sealing of their premises by the then military regime in Nigeria, without a hearing where they could defend themselves amounts to harassment of the press and a violation of Article 9 of the African Charter guaranteeing freedom of expression, which is a basic human right, vital to an individual’s personal development, political consciousness and participation in the conduct of public affairs in his country.

In Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) and anor v Nigeria (2001), probably the best known case of the African Commission, complaints concerning the consequences of environmental degradation in Ogoniland (in the Niger Delta of Nigeria) caused by Shell Corporation in collusion with the Nigerian government, were brought before the Commission. After finding Nigeria to be in violation of several provisions of the African Charter, the Commission appealed to the Nigerian government to take certain steps to ensure protection of the environment, health and livelihood of the people of Ogoniland.

Although these decisions are not punitively enforceable against Nigeria by the African Commission, they however present a yardstick to assess Nigeria’s commitment to the several international instruments on human rights and development it is signatory to. Unfortunately, the results Nigeria has posted by its compliance, or rather non-compliance with some of these decisions have been thoroughly embarrassing.

Under the current president Yar’Adua-led government, several of these human rights issues still persistently stare us in the face. And some of them were copiously spotlighted by both national and international human rights organisations at the last session of the African Commission. Abuses by members of the police and security forces, was chiefly identified as a continuing human rights problem in Nigeria. Frequent cases of harassment and extra-judicial killings by law enforcement officers, abysmal prison conditions and even rape of female prisoners and detainees by Nigerian police officers were also highlighted by the human rights community.

Some international organizations such as Amnesty International cited Nigeria as an example of countries where human rights violations were still strong and continued. Amnesty International expressed grave concern about the security situation in the Niger Delta and reported that ill-treatment and torture remain widespread within the Nigeria security system. In July 2007, delegates from Amnesty International reportedly visited ten prisons in Nigeria. Many inmates gave accounts of having been tortured to force them to make incriminatory confessions. These reports were consistent and in some cases the delegates were able to view injuries that appeared to confirm the accounts. In addition, the delegates spoke with women who reported that they had been tortured and in some cases raped by police officers while in police custody.

In an effort to exert regional political and legal pressure on the Nigerian government towards ending the relentless spate of extra-legal killings, Access to Justice filed a Communication, in 2003, against Nigeria, before the African Commission. In the Communication, Access to Justice alleges gross violations of the right to life through extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary killings carried out by state security agents and vigilante groups in Nigeria, contrary to article 3, 4, 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and urges the Commission to recommend, inter alia, urgent institutional and operational reform of the Nigerian Police Force, in order to transform, re-structure and re-orient the police force, to foster a better understanding and respect for human rights in the police and restore accountability for human rights abuses.

The Nigerian delegation to the African Commission’s sole response to these allegations was to hold high the “Rule of Law” banner of the Yar’Adua Administration. They claimed, though perhaps partly correctly, that most of the incidents of human rights abuses laid before the Commission occurred before the Yar’Adua administration. However, it is a settled principle of international law, as was confirmed by the African Commission in Achuthan and Another (on behalf of Banda and others) v Malawi (1995) that a new government inherits the international obligations, including the human rights violations and mismanagement of its predecessors.

Nigeria cannot hide its clout in the comity of African States. Besides being the most populous African nation, Nigeria is also one of the biggest funders of the African Union and the African Commission. Nigeria’s outing to the 42 nd ordinary session of the African Commission also, however, had its high points. First, a female Nigerian lawyer was one of the newly elected Commissioners of the African Commission. Second, the Nigerian Bar Association became the first Bar association on the continent granted observer status with the African Commission. Third, there was an overwhelming presence and participation of civil society groups from Nigeria at the Commission’s sessions. All these evidence the fact that the human rights community in Nigeria is unrelenting in its efforts, though from different fronts and on varied platforms, to improve upon the human rights conditions in Nigeria.

There is thus a daunting challenge, amongst others, confronting the Yar’ Adua administration to address and redress the grave human rights violations and practices perpetuated by previous administrations. This would require far-reaching institutional reform initiatives. And in that regard the government would find in donor agencies and civil society groups, willing funders and collaborators. Nigeria’s search for development is tied to its protection of human rights. There is therefore an urgent and imperative need for more private and public sectors’ partnership towards shaping the destiny of Nigeria, to build a participatory democracy, a robust economy and an open society where the liberties of the people are not just constitutionally guaranteed but are more so respected.

ª Nwagu is a Programme Officer of Access to Justice (AJ). AJ is a non- profit organization working to defend rights of equal and non-discriminatory access to courts of law, expand access of marginalized people to equal and impartial justice, attack corruption in justice administration, support legal struggles for human dignity and disseminate legal resources that help achieve these purposes