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Open Letter To President Goodluck Jonathan On The First 100 Days In Office: Making Human Rights A Reality
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June 5, 2011

 I am writing to you to urge you to prioritize the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights during your new tenure as President of Nigeria, including by publicly announcing key reforms which will improve the human rights of all Nigerians.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to the protection of human rights.

 I am writing to you to urge you to prioritize the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights during your new tenure as President of Nigeria, including by publicly announcing key reforms which will improve the human rights of all Nigerians.

The Nigerian government has repeatedly expressed its commitment to the protection of human rights.

In June 2009, when Nigeria’s human rights situation was examined by the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group, your government accepted 30 of the 32 recommendations made by other UN member states and pledged to implement them.

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These recommendations included domestication of all international human rights treaties to which Nigeria is a party; criminalization of extrajudicial executions and torture; amendment of all laws that allow violence against women; prevention of politically motivated and sectarian and religious-based violence; reforming the criminal justice system; creation of a board of independent inspectors to examine detention conditions and police behaviour; and protection of freedom of expression.

You have already demonstrated your commitment to human rights by signing the National Human Rights Commission amendment bill into law in February 2011, which strengthened the independence of the Commission, and by signing the Freedom of Information bill into law on 28 May 2011.



I am urging you to use your first 100 days in office to demonstrate that human rights are a priority for your administration. In particular I am urging you to:

Take measures against extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance and torture and other ill-treatment:
 Publicly commit to developing and implementing an action plan to stop human rights violations by the police;
  Implement the white paper on police reform;
  Set up a commission of inquiry into all cases of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment;
 Amend sections 3(d) and 3(e) and 6 of Police Force Order 237, which allow police officers to use firearms even in circumstances where there is no imminent risk to life.

Adopt a moratorium on executions:
  Establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolish the death penalty;
 Commute all death sentences.

Improve access to justice:
 Publicly commit to developing and implementing an action plan to ensure persons accused of a criminal offence are able to exercise their right to promptly challenge the lawfulness of their detention in court, and to have a prompt and fair trial in compliance with international standards for fair trial;
 Immediately release from prison Patrick Obinna Okoroafor, who Amnesty International considers to be a victim of a miscarriage of justice and who spent more than half his life in prison.

Realize the right to adequate housing and end forced evictions
      

Publicly condemn all forced evictions and call upon State Governors to stop forcibly evicting people;
  Make public the interim report of the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform;
 Sign the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Ensure accountability for human rights abuses
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Make public the reports of previous commissions of inquiry into the crises in Plateau State;
       Make public the commission of inquiry report into the Boko Haram crisis of 2009;
       Ensure prompt and impartial investigations into all cases of ethno-religious violence since 2008 in Northern Nigeria that have resulted in human rights abuses and bring to justice those responsible.



These recommendations are part of a broader ten-point human rights agenda, published by Amnesty International in October 2010 (see: Amnesty International, 50 years of independence: making human rights a reality in Nigeria, AFR 44/021/2010).

As a non-permanent member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, a member of the AU Peace and Security Council, and as chair of the Africa Group at the UN Human Rights Council, Nigeria plays a critical leadership role in international and African affairs.

I am urging you to ensure that Nigeria continues to play this role on the African continent by placing human rights at the heart of Nigeria’s foreign policy.

I look forward to your response.



 

Yours sincerely





For Salil Shetty, Secretary General

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