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Nigeria: Human Rights Letter
Nigeria: Human Rights Letter
Date distributed (ymd): 990613
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: West Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains a letter from the Civil Liberties
Organisation and the Constitutional Rights Project, together
with Human Rights Watch, outlining human rights priorities
needing to be addressed by the new Nigerian government.
Another posting contains two recent reports about the crisis
in the Niger Delta in particular.
For additional news and background sources see:
http://www.africapolicy.org/action/nigeria.htm
http://www.africapolicy.org/featdocs/west.htm
http://www.africapolicy.org/featdocs/westnews.htm
The current Nigerian constitution is available at:
http://www.nigerianscholars.africanqueen.com/constitution.htm
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Africa Policy West Coast On-Line Poll on
USA Economic Relations with Africa, open June 1-15, for
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Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor,
New York, NY 10118-3299 USA.
TEL: 1-212-290-4700, FAX: 1-212-736-1300
E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org;
Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org
May 27, 1999
Three Human Rights Organisations set Priorities for New
Nigerian Government
On the eve of President Obasanjo's inauguration as president
of Nigeria, Human Rights Watch has joined with two leading
Nigerian human rights organisations, the Civil Liberties
Organisation and the Constitutional Rights Project, to write
to the president-elect outlining human rights priorities for
the new government. Human Rights Watch also releases today a
new report on the situation in the Niger Delta, detailing the
ongoing crisis in that region.
"After decades of military rule, Nigeria faces huge challenges
to restore respect for human rights and the rule of law," said
Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa Division
of Human Rights Watch, Abdul Oroh, of the CLO, and Clement
Nwankwo of the CRP. "But there are certain first steps that
President Obasanjo can take to show that he is moving in the
right direction."
Among the priorities listed by Human Rights Watch, the Civil
Liberties Organisation and the Constitutional Rights Project
are the repeal of repressive military decrees, the release of
the bodies of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his codefendants hanged in
1995, and the initiation of a transparent process to draft a
new constitution.
In a twenty-five page report, "Crackdown in the Niger Delta,"
Human Rights Watch also draws attention to the crisis among
Nigeria's oil producing communities, where serious human
rights violations have continued unabated, despite the
relaxation of repression elsewhere in Nigeria since the death
of former head of state General Sani Abacha in June 1998.
Among the incidents highlighted is an attack on two remote
communities in January 1999, for which the Nigerian army used
a helicopter and boats contracted to Chevron Nigeria. The
report is an update to The Price of Oil, a 200-page Human
Rights Watch report on corporate responsibility in the oil
producing communities in Nigeria released in February 1999.
"Chevron Nigeria must take a long hard look at its security
relationship with the Nigerian government," Peter Takirambudde
said. "The company appears to think it has no responsibilities
to try to ensure respect for human rights in the area of its
operations." The report also examines the military response to
initially peaceful demonstrations against oil production in
the Niger Delta in late December and early January, concluding
that more than one hundred people, mostly unarmed, were killed
by soldiers. In addition to investigation of these and other
human rights violations and the prosecution or disciplining of
those responsible, Human Rights Watch recommends that
Nigeria's government initiate an immediate, inclusive and
transparent process of negotiation with freely chosen
representatives of the peoples living in the Niger Delta to
resolve the issues surrounding the production of oil.
The full text of the letter to President Obasanjo is attached,
together with the summary and recommendations from the report
[in next posting].
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBASANJO
27 May 1999
Dear President-Elect Obasanjo
After decades of military rule, Nigeria faces huge challenges
to restore respect for human rights and the rule of law. While
there are many pressing issues for your government to address,
we are writing to you as human rights organizations to bring
to your attention several priority matters.
-
The lack of a democratically drafted constitution
The constitution that has finally been signed into law by
General Abubakar is the product of a military government and
an undemocratic process. We believe your government should
treat this constitution as an interim document and should
institute an immediate, inclusive, and transparent process for
drafting a new constitution which will be legitimate in the
eyes of all Nigerians.
- Repeal of repressive decrees and general review of laws
Military decrees remain in force suspending constitutional
guarantees of respect for fundamental human rights, allowing
detention without trial, ousting the jurisdiction of the
courts to examine executive acts, restricting freedom of
expression, establishing military or special tribunals to try
criminal offences without respect for international standards
of due process and permitting other acts in violation of
international human rights law. As an indication of your
commitment to respect for human rights, we call on you to take
immediate steps to repeal the most notorious decrees,
including Decree No.2 of 1984, which allows indefinite
detention without trial, and, in conjunction with the National
Human Rights Commission and the nongovernmental human rights
community, to institute a comprehensive process of review of
the laws in force, with a view to the repeal or amendment of
those that do not comply with the international human rights
standards to which Nigeria is committed.
Over the last few weeks, there have been a number of arrests
of journalists and union leaders critical of the government.
Lanre Arogundade, chairman of the Lagos State council of the
Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) was arrested on April 25,
and charged with the murder of Bolade Fasasi, a former
official of the NUJ. There appears to be no evidence that
Arogundade was in fact involved in the murder, and it seems
that his arrest may have been motivated rather by his
campaigns for press freedom. Union leaders among civil
servants have also been arrested and removed from their jobs.
We urge you to order an immedate review of these cases, and in
particular to ensure that the investigation of the murder of
Fasasi is thorough and impartial and that the charges against
Arogundade are dropped immediately if there is found to be no
evidence implicating him in the murder.
The trial and execution in November 1995 of Ken Saro-Wiwa and
the eight other Ogoni activists has been condemned around the
world, including by a factfinding mission sent by the U.N.
Secretary- General, as in flagrant violation of international
standards of due process. The bodies of the nine men have
never been released to their families for proper burial;
recently General Abubakar refused once again to respond to
appeals to do so. As the victim yourself of a miscarriage of
justice which sent you to prison for three years, we believe
you should be quick to act to address these issues. In line
with the findings and recommendations made by national and
international monitoring bodies, we urge you to take immediate
steps on taking office to issue a formal statement that the
executions were a miscarriage of justice, to release the
bodies of those hanged to their families, and to pay
compensation as suggested by the U.N. Secretary-General's
factfinding team. In addition, we urge you to appoint a
judicial enquiry into the Ogoni crisis of 1993-98, including
the murders of the four Ogoni leaders for whose deaths Ken
Saro-Wiwa and his codefendants were hanged; to examine the
human rights violations that were committed by members of the
Rivers State Internal Security Task Force and others; and make
recommendations for disciplinary or criminal proceedings
against those responsible, compensation for the victims, and
other measures of redress.
- The situation in the Niger Delta
While the human rights situation in most of Nigeria has
improved over the past nine months, the situation in the Niger
Delta area has deteriorated. There has been increasing protest
at oil company activity and federal government failure to
listen to the demands of the peoples of the delta. In
response, large numbers of soldiers have been deployed in the
area, and have carried out serious and widespread violations
of human rights, in particular in the course of a military
crackdown in late December 1998 and early January 1999 which
led to the deaths of dozens of young men, most of them
unarmed. While protest has included criminal acts such as
kidnappings of expatriate oil company staff, or violence
against neighbouring ethnic groups, the appropriate response
to such acts must be to arrest and prosecute those
responsible, not to carry out indiscriminate reprisals against
the entire population of the oil- producing regions.
We urge your administration to focus as a matter of urgency on
the restoration of respect for human rights and the rule of
law in the delta region. Among other steps, the government
should appoint an independent judicial enquiry to investigate
the human rights violations in the delta, including over the
New Year period, and should discipline or prosecute those
responsible, compensate the victims, and release or charge
those who are still detained. In addition, your government
should replace soldiers carrying out policing duties in the
Niger Delta area and elsewhere with regular police with
training in public order policing. We also urge you to
institute an immediate, inclusive and transparent process of
negotiation with freely chosen representatives of the peoples
living in the Niger Delta to resolve the issues surrounding
the production of oil.
- Restoration of the justice system
Nigeria's court system is in a state of near-collapse. The
police are responsible for widespread violations, including
extrajudicial executions. Prison conditions are
life-threatening. There is an urgent need to focus on these
and other issues relating to the administration of justice, in
conjunction with the national Human Rights Commission and the
human rights community in Nigeria, as well as international
agencies who can give technical assistance, in order to help
restore respect for human rights and the rule of law - -
respect that is essential not only for the rights of the
Nigerian people, but also to promote the sort of external
investment that will be necessary to bring Nigeria out of its
current economic crisis.
- Problems with the electoral process
Although most international and domestic observers of the
local, state and federal elections in Nigeria welcomed their
peaceful completion as an important step forward in the return
of Nigeria to civilian government, they also noted serious
flaws in the process at all stages. These irregularities
included inflated figures for voter turnout, stuffing of
ballot boxes, intimidation and bribery of both electoral
officials and voters, and alteration of results at collation
centres. These irregularities were widespread, but were
particularly serious in the South-South zone of the country,
the Niger Delta region. In addition, money clearly played a
dominant role at the party primaries, including the
presidential primary of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP).
We urge you to work with national and international
organizations in order to ensure that the next elections held
in Nigeria do represent a more genuine process.
Yours sincerely,
Abdul Oroh, Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organisation
Clement Nwankwo, Executive Director, Constitutional Rights
Project
Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director, Africa Division, Human
Rights Watch
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.
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