Nigeria will from today, host the continent’s Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), in what will herald the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, which will take place in Abuja,  from November 10 to 24, 2008.

The NGOs forum  and the 18th African Human Rights Book Fair will be held from November  7 to 9,  2008. The NGO Forum is a place where NGOs can prepare and discuss the main issues they wish to raise at the session.

The forum will deliberate generally on the human rights situation in Africa in general and attempt to bring to the fore specific situations that need to be highlighted in order to attract the attention of the African Commission in particular and the international community and other concerned bodies. The NGOs Forum is one of the main advocacy tools, used to promote networking among Human Rights NGOs, for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa.

The main objectives of the forum is  to foster closer collaboration and co-operation among NGOs, and with the African Commission for promotion and protection of human rights in Africa and provide a discussion platform for organisations working on democracy and human rights issues in the continent.

The session proper, a 14 day event, will have in attendance, representatives of states, non governmental organisations, and national human rights institutions from the continent.

It is important to note that in accordance with Article 62 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, States Parties to the Charter are required to submit every two years, a report on the legislative or other measures taken, to actualise and give effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the Charter.

Three countries will be reviewed during the session.  They are Madagascar, Benin, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their Initial or Periodic State reports have already been submitted to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as per Article 62. They include Periodic Report of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Initial Report of the Republic of Madagascar;  Periodic Report of the Republic of Benin and Periodic Report of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Rule 78 of the Rules of Procedure of the African Commission makes it mandatory for such reports to be made public.
Vanguard Law and Human Rights, in this edition, sought the views of human rights activists, on what should be the main focus of the session.
Excerpt:

Oby Nwankwo, Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) Nigeria

I expect that the 44th Ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which will take place in Abuja, 2008 will once again drive home the point of the imperative of government’s respect for the human rights of its citizens and the need for support for its human rights institutions. It will, hopefully, be a platform for African governments particularly Nigeria to review its human rights record vis a vis the commitments it has made in the African Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa and other Human Rights Treaties.

I expect that the issue of failure or refusal by African governments (Legislatures) to domesticate ratified human rights treaties will be dealt with so that governments including Nigeria will look back and judge themselves on how they have fared in this area.  I expect that one of the outcomes will be a resolve by African governments to live up to their commitments to protect and promote respect for the human rights of their citizens particularly the women.        

Festus Okoye, Human Rights Monitor and member, Electoral Reform Committee
The African Commission must begin a creative process of reviewing its statute relating to the exhaustion of local remedies and jurisdiction before complaints are lodged by individuals whose rights have been violated. Violation of fundamental rights is a serious and time bound issue and the insistence on the exhaustion of local remedies and jurisdiction has left victims of rights violation bewildered and defenseless against regimes that have no respect for the rule of law and due process. Granting temporary relief to victims of human rights violations will better serve a rights based process rather than taking action after the completing of the violation.

Secondly, the African Commission must put in place a mechanism of compelling African countries that have signed treaties impacting on human rights to ratify and domesticate same. There are too many treaties waiting for ratification and domestication and many African countries just sign treaties without a concomitant commitment at respecting the letters and spirit of those treaties.

Maxwell Kadiri, Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), Nigeria
I am hoping that the session would be used to address some of the challenges of human rights protection and promotion being experienced by Nigerians under the present administration, particularly in relation to rape, torture and extra-judicial executions being perpetrated by the police, as well as the on-going onslaught against journalists and other media practitioners/media houses as shown by the Channels shut down and Elendu detention saga, amongst others.

Hopefully the session would also provide an opportunity for the Commission to be briefed on the failure of Nigeria’s parliament an FoI legislation for Nigerians, in keeping with Nigeria’s obligations under both Article 9 of the Charter as well as the Year 2002 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa enunciated by the African Commission in Banjul.

In addition to the aforesaid, we are hopeful that the commission at this session would be able to review Nigeria’s State party report that is one of three state party reports that is up for consideration at this forth coming session of the Commission. The other two being the reports of DRC and Republic of Benin.

Prof Yemi Akinseye-George, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Dean, Faculty of Law, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State.
It is laudable that Nigeria has finally taken on the challenge of hosting this meeting which is probably the most important meeting on human rights on the continent in recent times. Knowing that the Commission would provide a forum for x_raying its own human rights records, the Yar’Adua government has shown a high sense of responsibility and openness.

This is in keeping with the Rule of Law Policy of the Administration. By this action, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign has brought together not only the members and secretariat of the Commission but also leading human rights activists from all over Africa and beyond. Perhaps we should seize this opportunity to commend the role played by civil society activists in getting the government to take up this hosting after the country had missed several opportunities to do so.

In particular I recall the persistent efforts of Mr Wale Fapohunda of the Legal Resources Consortium (LRC) who brought pressure to bear on the Federal Ministry of Justice to take up the challenge of hosting the African Commission in Abuja. It seems that his efforts and those of several other human rights activists in this respect have finally started yielding results.

Such an auspicious event as this provides a rare opportunity to revisit some of the burning issues of human rights in Africa since 1981 when the Commission was established as the main institution for implementing human rights in the Continent.

It is necessary to restate the functions of the Commission which are summarised as follows: to protect human and peoples’ rights and in particular to collect documents, undertake studies and researches of African Problems in the field of human and peoples’ Rights, organize seminars, symposia and conferences, disseminate information, encourage national and local institutions concerned with human and peoples rights, and make recommendations to Governments; to formulate and lay down principles and rules aimed at solving legal problems relating to human and peoples’ rights and fundamental freedoms upon which African Governments may base their legislations and Cooperate with other African and international human rights institutions.

Other functions of the Commission as embodied in Article 45 of the African Charter are to ensure the protection of human and peoples’ rights under conditions laid down by the charter; interpret all provisions of the charter at the request of a State party and perform other functions that may be entrusted to it by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

In addition to the African Commission, another body known as the African Court of Human and peoples rights has been established by the African Union to supplement the Commission and remedy the perceived shortcoming of the African Charter which failed to provide a court with power to adjudicate on human rights cases. I believe both the Commission and the Court are necessary and complimentary. The members of the Commission should extend their full support and cooperation to the newly established sister institution, the African Court.

Already the Commission has gained considerable clout and  experience in dealing with matters of human rights from all over Africa. This should be shared and made available to the newly established court. The judges of the court too should familiarize themselves with the huge body of principles that the Commission and other human rights institutions from other parts of the world have developed in order to advance human rights.

We have very high expectations of the 44th Session now holding in Abuja. The Session should come up with powerful statements on the leading challenges that are currently setting back the continent. These include the issue of violation by military coupists of the rights of the People of Mauritania to choose their leaders; violation by Mr Mugabe of Zimbabwe of the rights of the peoples of that country to choose for themselves an acceptable government and the xenophobic attacks by South Africans on other Africans.

The continued violation of the right to life and self-determination of the people of Darfur, the displacement of the people of DRC in the fight between government forces and rebels along the borders of Congo and Rwanda and the unending wars in several parts of the Continent should engage the attention of the current session of the Commission.

The Commission must seize the opportunity of the Abuja meeting to concretize its views on these gross attacks on human rights and issue clear, forthright and far-reaching recommendations for addressing these violations and for advancing human and peoples’ rights on the continent.
Other issues that are crying for the attention of the Commission include the problem of growing poverty and inequality in Africa.

Fuelled by graft and brazen looting of public resources, this has widened the gap between the rich and the poor and aggravated the problem of social exclusion.  Another issue is that of the declining quality of education. Although more people are attending schools nowadays, it seems that the plummeting quality of education has robbed the right to education (Article 17 of the Charter) of its contents and intrinsic worth. People fulfil the formal requirement of attending the so-called schools but are hardly ever able to participate in activities requiring basic educational skills. The right to education is a right which enhances the enjoyment of all other rights embodied in the charter including the right to participate in the government of one’s country. (Article13).

The Continent as a whole and the Commission in particular ought to take the issue of the rights to education more seriously. This can be done by formulating certain benchmarks and indicators against which progress can be measured.

As far as Nigeria, the hosting country is concerned, the Commission should makes its views known on the issue of Rule of law which the Yar Adua Administration has declared to be its guiding principle. This must attract some statement from the Commission which can assist the country to take its commitment to human and peoples rights more seriously. It must lead to the strengthening of the Federal Ministry of Justice’s Directorate of Citizens’ Rights, the National Human Rights Commission and the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria.

Furthermore, Rule of law needs to translate to effective anti-corruption fight, efficient law enforcement, improved conditions of law enforcement personnel, enhanced freedom of the press including the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill and protection of the poor and most vulnerable people in our midst. In particular the rights of women and children including issues of child justice, the rights prisoners, PLWHAs, as well as the intractable problem of prison congestion must be brought to the fore.

Rule of law must not become a contraption for prolonging the trial of cases involving powerful and well-connected people. It will be necessary for the Commission to contribute its expert views on how rule of law can be advanced and translated to practical deliverables which can be felt and enjoyed by all and sundry in Nigeria and beyond. In conclusion, as we welcome the distinguished Commissioners and other eminent sons and daughters of Africa to the Abuja meeting, let us wish the Commission and other delegates fruitful deliberations and concrete outputs which would deepen the culture of respect for human and peoples’ rights in Africa.

Adetokunbo Mumuni, SocioEconomic Rights & Accountability Project (SERAP)
The Commission should put pressure on the Nigerian government to end the suffering of millions of Nigerians who continue to live in almost absolute poverty and deprivation and to comply fully with its international human rights obligations and ensure full enjoyment of basic economic, social and cultural rights guaranteed under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.

The return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999 was seen as major landmark and opportunity for the restoration of justice, accountability, transparency and enjoyment of human rights, especially basic economic and social rights, of the Nigerian people.   

However, democratic governance has neither resulted in reduction of political corruption nor an improved enjoyment of basic economic, social and cultural rights by the majority of Nigerians.
Citizens’ expectations of enjoyment of basic necessities of life under a democratic dispensation have dimmed, as the nation’s wealth and resources that should be available to meet those needs are plundered, almost daily, by the country’s political ‘leaders’.

The result has been massive and direct denial of the right to work, and the right to an adequate standard of living, including the rights to food, housing, health and education. Yet, Nigeria has ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which obligate the government to implement economic, social and cultural rights of Nigerians.

Although the full realization of economic, social and cultural rights may be achieved progressively, successive Nigerian governments, especially starting from the Babangida government to date have failed to take steps towards that goal, several years after Nigeria voluntarily committed itself to both the ICESCR and the African Charter. The failure to take deliberate, concrete and targeted steps to implement basic economic, social and cultural rights has continued to precipitate poverty, deprivation and inequality in the country.

Millions of Nigerians continue to be deprived of essential foodstuffs, primary health care, basic shelter and housing, and the most basic forms of education. At the same time, the government has failed to report regularly to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on how the government is implementing these human rights.

African Commission to adopt a resolution, condemning continuing denial and violations of internationally recognized economic, social and cultural rights in Nigeria, asking the Nigerian government to recognize and guarantee economic, social and cultural rights constitutionally and through appropriate legislative and administrative provisions, as enforceable human rights and reaffirming that economic, social and cultural rights are universal human rights, and that the Nigerian government has a responsibility to guarantee these rights.

The Commission should also ask the Nigerian government to make primary and secondary education free and compulsory and encouraging national courts to apply directly economic, social and cultural rights and to cooperate actively in the effective enforcement of these rights in the country. Nigeria should also be asked to develop a national human rights action plan that addresses not only civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights.

Itoro Eze-Anaba,  Partnership for Justice.
This is a historic period for the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria. Right now, a Nigerian heads the United Nations Human Rights Council and Nigeria is hosting the 44th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.  Added to this is the review of the human rights situation of Nigeria before the United Nations Human Rights Council under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in February 2009. All these events heighten expectations for a better regime of human rights in Nigeria.

The African Commission makes provision for NGOs to contribute and influence to some extent the deliberations at the Commission, especially during the NGO Forum which precedes the official seating of the Commission. I would expect the Forum to deliberate on issues that are common to the continent.  At the top of the African agenda is the issue of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. Of particular interest is the lack of direct access by individuals and NGOs who cannot bring petitions before the courts unless their respective countries in ratifying the protocol make an express declaration permitting individuals and NGOs to do so. Such denial of access defeats the purpose of the court and the Commission should revisit this issue.

Another issue is that of power sharing which is becoming quite popular in Africa. It started in Kenya and is now being implemented by Zimbabwe with difficulties. During such power sharing deals, amnesty is generally granted to perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the spirit of reconciliation. Victims and survivors are left with no recourse to justice and violations of their rights swept under the carpet. While reconciliation is encouraged, it should not be at the instance of justice for victims and survivors.  

For Nigeria, this is an opportunity to put human rights back on the table and make it a priority issue for the government. The challenge is to link the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with the key human rights issues in Nigeria. The government has submitted a report on the situation of human rights in Nigeria and the Commission will be looking at this report.  At the end of deliberations, the Commission will make some recommendations and concluding comments. What are the key human rights issues in Nigeria and how are these issues reflected in the government report? How can we begin to hold the government accountable to its international and regional obligations and ensure that the government fulfils commitments it makes to promote and protect human rights?  How can civil society organisations, in partnership with the government, implement the recommendations of the Commission.

Discriminatory laws and gender based violence is the lot of the African woman. Domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation, trafficking, harmful traditional practices, affect women in the continent. The Special Rapportteur on Women is expected to present a report to Commission on the situation of women in Africa.  Unfortunately that is where it stops. The Commission has not done enough to promote and protect women’s rights in Africa.

The Special Rapportteur on Human Rights Defenders is also expected to present a report to the Commission. It is expected that the difficult situation under which activists and human rights defenders work and attempts by different governments to silence them will be reflected in this report. For instance, the law in Zimbabwe and the on going attempt by the government of Ethiopia to stop the work of human rights defenders and in the process prosecute them should be condemned by the Commission in very strong terms.

Greater networking among different groups is a goal of the Commission. NGOs across Africa will have the opportunity to network and share ideas, knowledge and challenges facing them and be able to form a united front to promote and protect human rights. In addition, National Human Rights Institutions particularly in West Africa will engage with NGOs from the sub region and explore ways of partnership for a common goal.

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