The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EU

  • Respect moratorium on death penalties, EU tells Nigeria

    Respect moratorium on death penalties, EU tells Nigeria

    The European Union on Wednesday called on Nigeria to respect existing moratorium on executions already put in place since 2006.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by the Political Officer, Human Rights and Situations of Fragility Delegation of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Chadi Sidhom, the organization also urged Edo State to stay action on imminent execution of prisoners.

    The EU delegation, which issued the statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Nigeria, appealed to Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole to allow all legal appeals to be carried out on the two pending cases of execution in the state.

    The statement reads: “The EU delegation urges the Nigerian authorities to respect the existing de facto moratorium on executions, in place since 2006.

    “The EU delegation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria is deeply concerned about the information it has received concerning the reported imminent execution of two persons in Edo State.

    “The delegation calls on the Nigerian authorities and, in this case, the Governor of Edo State, to allow all legal appeals to be heard and to halt the execution of these two inmates.

    “It considers that such execution, if carried out, would represent a serious setback in Nigeria’s reputation and records in the field of human rights.

    “The delegation reiterates its calls on the Nigerian authorities to accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the complete abolition of the death penalty.”

     

     

  • EU considers women board quotas

    EU considers women board quotas

    European Union commissioners are due to debate proposals that would force quotas for women on corporate boards.
    BBC says EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is in favour of the proposals to make it mandatory for companies to reserve 40 per cent of seats for women.
    But several countries, including the United Kingdom, are opposed to it.
    The debate comes after the European Parliament criticised the lack of female candidates for the European Central Bank (ECB).
    A parliamentary committee – in a resolution passed by 21 votes to 12, with 13 abstentions – called on the European Council to withdraw the candidacy of Luxembourg’s Yves Mersch for the ECB executive board, saying his appointment would mean that the board would be all male up until 2018.
    The debate on Ms Reding’s quotas plan is due in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
    If there is enough agreement, the proposals will be put to the European Parliament, which could vote to make gender quotas mandatory across the 27 countries in the European Union.
    At the moment, less than 15 per cent of board positions in EU member states are currently held by women, according to the Commission.
    Ms Reding’s proposals on compulsory numbers of women come after France, Spain, Italy, Iceland and Belgium introduced quota laws. Norway, which is not an EU member, has had a 40 per cent quota since 2003.
    Her opponents argue that voluntary targets and increased efforts to change attitudes would be more effective in the long run.

  • EU wins Nobel Peace Prize

    EU wins Nobel Peace Prize

    The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe.

    The committee said the EU had helped to transform Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.

    BBC says the award comes as the EU faces the biggest crisis of its history, with recession and social unrest rocking many of its member states.

    The last organisation to be given the award outright was Medecins Sans Frontieres, which won in 1999.

    Announcing the award, Nobel committee president Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged the EU’s current financial problems and social unrest.

    But he said the committee wanted to concentrate on the body’s work over six decades of advancing “peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights.”

    The committee president highlighted the EU’s work in sealing the reconciliation between France and Germany in the decades after World War II.

    And he praised the organisation for incorporating Spain, Portugal and Greece after their authoritarian regimes collapsed in the 1970s.

    He said the EU’s reconciliation work had now moved to Balkan countries, and pointed out that Croatia was on the verge of membership.

    Reacting to the award, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on his Twitter feed: “It is a great honour for the whole of the EU, all 500 million citizens, to be awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace prize.”

     

  • EU experts to speak on cash-less policy

    Head of the European Union (EU) Central Bank Market Integration Division Wiebe Ruttenberg is expected to visit Nigeria next month to speak on the cash-less policy initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at a conference in Lagos.

    A statement said the official would be speaking alongside other international experts at a conference being organised by De Novo (a strategy brand and media firm) and Legal Reach, a UK law firm.

    The two-day programme, sponsored mainly by the CBN, focuses on the move away from the dominance of the current cash-based system by adopting alternative payment channels. This is in line with the country’s Vision 2020:20 Strategy as well as the central bank’s ambition of enthroning a world-class payment system.

    Slated for October 8 and 9 at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos, the conference is expected to bring together experts in the global payments industry, who would provide insight and present key developments from other jurisdictions, to benchmark the way forward.

    Experts, drawn from various relevant sectors of the economy such as banking, manufacturing, telecommunications, services, and even the informal sector, and from outside Nigeria, would be meeting and deliberating on the issues surrounding the cashless policy.

    Key speakers at the forum include Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola; Governor, CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Attorny General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, Minister of Communication & Technology, Mrs. Mobola Johnson; and top relevant members of the National Assembly.