Nigeria - Universal Periodic Review

UPR 31, November 6, 2018
Recommendations by Canada

Recommendations

Please check against delivery

Thank you Mr. President.

Canada welcomes Nigeria’s 2016 national strategy to end child marriage and looks forward to its full implementation.

Canada recommends that Nigeria:

1. Investigate all reported cases of human rights violations by security forces, bring to justice suspected perpetrators, and ensure transparency, including by making public the report of the Presidential Panel to Review Compliance of the Armed Forces.
2. Ensure the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly are respected and protected for all Nigerians without distinction of any kind and in accordance with the Constitution.
3. Improve the status of women and girls by enacting the National Gender Policy, implementing the CEDAW Convention and the Maputo Protocol and the Child Rights Act.
4. Take steps to ensure the operational and financial independence of the National Human Rights Commission, including by filling all positions in the Governing Council, in accordance with the Constitution.

Canada encourages Nigeria to continue strengthening its democracy by ensuring the right of all individuals and groups to participate in free and fair general elections in 2019.

Thank you.

Background

According to UPR Info, a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) that tracks the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, Nigeria received 172 recommendations during the second cycle review, of which 128 were accepted (an acceptance rate of 74%). Canada’s previous recommendations to Nigeria were related to child early and forced marriage, human rights violations by security forces, freedom of religion and sexual orientation (which was the only rejected recommendation).

Human rights are embodied in the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, encapsulating both the civil and political rights and the economic, social and cultural rights. Nigeria is a party to several international human rights treaties; however, as in most countries of Common Law practice, only treaties that have been domesticated as national legislation may have the force of law, thus preventing the implementation of many treaties in many cases.

Nigeria has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, but, according to the NGO Women Rights and Health Project, it has yet to fulfil its obligations arising from the Convention. Nigeria still has not passed a Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, which, if enacted, would have a positive impact on gender equality.

NGOs have reported human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings by the national security forces. According to Amnesty International, in 2015, the military forces extra-judicially executed more than 1,200 people and arrested at least 20,000 in the course of security operations against Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the death penalty remains mandatory in criminal law for a wide range of crimes. While the last executions happened in 2016 (according to the Legal Defence & Assistance Project, a Nigerian rights group), death sentences continue to be imposed and Amnesty International reported that there were 2,285 persons on death row by the end of 2017. 

The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act signed into law in 2014 criminalizes public displays of affection between same-sex couples and restricts the work of organizations defending gay people and their rights. According to the Equality Hub (Leitner Center for International Law and Justice), since the Act’s enactment, there has been an increase in crimes and human rights violations against LGBTI persons and their defenders, including violations of their fundamental right to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.