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Tag: UN

  • SERAP drags FG to UN over Southern Kaduna killings

    SERAP drags FG to UN over Southern Kaduna killings

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) is seeking the intervention of the United Nations (UN) in halting the killings in Southern Kaduna.

    The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in a petition to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Ms. Agnes Callamard, urged   her to “prevail on the Nigerian authorities to halt further killings of innocent citizens in Southern Kaduna”.

    It also wants the world body  to investigate the alleged  killing of over 800 citizens mostly women, children and the elderly in the area recently  by suspected herdsmen.

    It expects the brains behind the mayhem to be brought to book and the victims  compensated,according to SERAP’s Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni.

    It further invited  Ms. Callamard to “visit Nigeria to conduct fact-finding mission into the circumstances surrounding the killings.”

    Mumini in the  30 December 2016 petition  expressed “concern that the killings of citizens in Southern Kaduna of Nigeria amount to serious violations of the rights to life; to security of the human person; to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being; and right to property guaranted by not only the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) but also the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.”

    He added: “SERAP contends that Nigerian authorities have failed and/or neglected to respect these human rights and to exercise due diligence to ensure that these rights are not violated by private individuals such as herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators.

    “ Nigerian government should therefore be held to account for failing or neglecting to guarantee and protect the rights of the people in Southern Kaduna, regardless of whether such violations are directly or indirectly attributable to the state or its officials.

    “SERAP is concerned that the Nigerian government has failed and/or neglected to create an environment in Southern Kaduna to end the unlawful killings by failing to move their legal and institutional machinery towards the actual realization of these rights.

    “ It is in fact the failure by the government to take adequate measures to prevent the violence which has contributed to the increasing number of victims.”

    “SERAP believes that the killings would not have taken place if the Nigerian authorities have taken measures to prevent their happening and to address persistent impunity of those responsible for the violations and abuses.

    “The lack of accountability for the attacks by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators across the country has continued to create a culture of impunity which clearly is not compatible with the rule of law in a democratic society.”

    “According to the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna State, a total of 808 people were killed in 53 villages across the four local governments areas in the state ridden by crisis.

    “The church leaders also said that 57 people were injured; farm produce estimated at N5.5 billion were also destroyed, and a total of 1,422 houses and 16 churches were burnt during the attacks. The affected communities are spread across Kaura, Sanga, Jama’a and Kauru Local Government Areas where there had been persistent attacks on communities by gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen.”

  • Jammeh incommunicado – Ban Ki-Moon

    Embattled President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia has been unreachable by phone, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has revealed.

    “Despite efforts to reach President Yahya Jammeh by phone, the Secretary-General has not yet been able to speak with him,” Stephane Dujarric, Ban Ki-Moon’s spokesman, said in a statement in New York.

    The UN chief has however spoken with Adama Barrow, the President-elect to congratulate him on his electoral victory and to reiterate the commitment of the UN to a peaceful, timely, and orderly transfer of power.

    In a readout of the phone call to Barrow, Ban Ki- Moon said the UN welcomed and fully supported the December 17 decision of ECOWAS to support the safety of the president-elect.

    Ban advised the president-elect to urge his supporters to show restraint and not resort to violence.

    The secretary-general emphasized that the UN would support the will of the people in their election of Barrow as well as the future government in efforts to promote democracy and sustainable development of the country.

    The UN Security Council and the African Union have also expressed such support and have acknowledged Barrow as the president-elect after he defeated the incumbent, Jammeh, in the December 1 presidential election.

  • Concerns over Ogoni clean up as minister moves to UN

    Concerns over Ogoni clean up as minister moves to UN

    The President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, did not mince words while describing the competence of the outgoing Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed, during a media roundtable organised by the umbrella organisation of Ogoni people on December 22.

    The roundtable on the implementation of the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental assessment of Ogoni land took place at the MOSOP Secretariat, Off Ken Saro-Wiwa (formerly Stadium) Road in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015, appointed Mohammed as the environment minister. Mohammed, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the reformed Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), was on December 15, appointed as the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General by the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres.

    The environment minister, immediately after her appointment by President Buhari, took special interest in the Ogoni clean-up and the implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report.

    The UNEP’s team of environmentalists made 76 recommendations. 50 of the recommendations are for the government, 22 for the Anglo/Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and four are for Ogoni communities.

    UNEP’s recommendations are divided into two parts. The first set of recommendations, once implemented, will have an immediate positive impact on Ogoni land, while the second set of recommendations has longer timelines and which when implemented, will be a path to sustainability that will bring lasting improvements for Ogoni land and Nigeria as a whole.

    MOSOP president said at the media roundtable: “Mrs. Amina Mohammed was not working alone on Ogoni clean-up. She was working with a team, including the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril. Definitely, we (Ogoni people) are going to miss Mrs. Mohammed. We are going to miss her passion, commitment, dedication to duties and hard work.

    “We are pleading with President Buhari to either elevate the equally-competent minister of state for environment or appoint a committed substantive minister of environment, in order to fast-track the Ogoni clean-up.

    “The Ogoni clean-up process has begun, but the actual clean-up has not started. The clean-up is to be done in an environment where there is nothing (no structure). You cannot compare the intervention in Ogoni land with the intervention in the Gulf of Mexico, already with Environmental Protection Agency for over four decades in the United States of America and it is one of the most highly-respected environmental protection agencies in the world.

    “The USA has already-established institutions that can respond immediately to such situations. The situation in Ogoni land is not like that of USA and that is why UNEP made recommendations about institutions’ building and having adequate structures on the ground, which are being addressed. Before the end of January 2017, there will be a Project Manager, who will be in charge of the day-to-day affairs of HYPREP. Applications were received from within and outside Nigeria.”

    Pyagbara also stated that the high level of youths’ unemployment in Ogoni land must be holistically addressed, stressing that if urgent measures were not taken to absorb the teeming young population that were graduating without jobs into gainful and meaningful employment, people would be looking for alternatives like illegal bunkering and pipeline vandalism to survive, while urging government at all levels and the private sector to rise to the occasion.

    He noted that there would be no way to address youth restiveness or criminality, without tackling unemployment.

    MOSOP president, who is also one of the representatives of Ogoni stakeholders on the Governing Council of the reformed HYPREP, also stated that for Ogoni clean-up to be successful, there must be peace in the area, stressing that without peace, there would never be the much-desired sustainable development and that nothing noteworthy would be achieved in the area.

    Pyagbara also stated that the UNEP report came as a result of the collective struggle of Ogoni people, who non-violently challenged environmental degradation that was taking place in Ogoni land, because of pollution from crude oil and gas.

    MOSOP president noted that the struggle led to the launch of the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) in 1990, especially for greater part of Ogoni’s resources to be for Ogoni development; adequate and direct representation, as of right and the rights of Ogoni people to a clean environment, among others.

    While also speaking at the roundtable, one of the representatives of Ogoni stakeholders on the Governing Council of the reformed HYPREP, Dr. Batam Ndegwe, admonished all Ogoni people and other stakeholders to fully support the clean-up of Ogoni land and the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report.

    MOSOP president states that: “As a response to the continuing destruction of the Ogoni environment, unparalleled military repression and horrendous human rights abuses in Ogoni land, that attended the prosecution of the non-violent struggle of the Ogoni people, the United Nations responded by creating the position of the Special Rapporteur on Nigeria in 1997 and appointed Mr. Soli Sorabjee to the position.

    ”In his report to the 48th Session of the then United Nations Commission on Human Rights in March 1998, the Special Rapporteur recommended that the Nigerian government should undertake an independent environmental study of Ogoni land.

    ”This was the setting that led to the invitation extended to UNEP in July 2006, within the context of the Ogoni-Shell Reconciliation Process, to carry out the environmental assessment of Ogoni land.

    ”The UNEP released its report on August 4, 2011. As a response, in July 2012, the Federal Government set up HYPREP.”

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, appointed Rev. Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (now Bishop) as the mediator between the Ogoni people and SPDC.

    As part of the reconciliation process, an impartial, international agency was to be appointed to undertake an environmental assessment and supervise the clean-up of the areas damaged by the effects of oil operations in Ogoni land.

    Buhari, on August 5, last year, approved many actions to fast-track the implementation of the  UNEP report on Ogoni land.

     

  • Congo forces killed 40 in Kabila protests – UN

    The head of the United Nations human rights agency said on Friday that Congolese security forces had killed at least 40 people and arrested 460 in protests against President Joseph Kabila this week.

    “Such high casualty figures suggest a serious disregard for the need to exercise restraint in policing demonstrations,” Reuters quoted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, as saying in a statement.

    Protests erupted against Kabila when he failed to step down despite his mandate expiring on Tuesday.

    “Not only are soldiers participating in law enforcement operations, but all the forces involved are heavily armed and using live ammunition,” Zeid said, also noting that 107 more people had been “injured or ill-treated.”

     

  • Mohammed’s UN appointment good for Africa – FG

    The Federal Government has expressed optimism that the appointment of the Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, as United Nations Deputy Secretary-General would facilitate the development of the African continent.

    The UN Secretary-General-designate, Antonio Guterres, on December 15 picked Mohammed and two other women to serve in his incoming administration at the UN, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, told the NAN Correspondent New York that Guterres was “development-friendly” as a UN refugee chief.

    Onyeama also said Mohammed’s appointment was an excellent choice as she was one of the “prime movers of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

    “Yes, we are very optimistic that he (incoming Secretary-General Antonio Guterres) is going to give a very high level of priority to issues of development, which is the greatest concern to Africa,” the minister told NAN.

    “He, of course, had previously served as the High Commissioner for Refugees and in that capacity, he did a lot of excellent work and was very supportive in helping African countries address the refugee crisis on the continent.

    “And so we are so very much looking forward to working with him and believe that he is very development-friendly in his approach.

    “And his appointment of a Nigerian as the Deputy Secretary-General, and a Nigerian who was one of the prime movers of the Sustainable Development Goals, is a clear proof that he is determined to not only engage with Africa and other developing countries, on development issues.

    “But he is also keen that Africans themselves should be also driving that process and that the UN will give them all the necessary support for that.”

  • Ebola vaccine trial highly effective – WHO

    Ebola vaccine trial highly effective – WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) said an experimental Ebola vaccine has been found to be highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea.

    “The vaccine is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year,” WHO said in a press release.

    The UN health agency noted the results of the latest trial published on Friday in the medical journal “The Lancet’’.

    According to WHO, the vaccine, ‘rVSV-ZEBOV’, was studied in a trial involving 11,841 people in Guinea during 2015.

    It said among the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination.

    In comparison, there were 23 cases in 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine, the global health organisation said.

    The report quoted Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, and the study’s lead author, as saying the result was “defensive” against future Ebola outbreaks.

    “While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless,” Kieny said.

    The Ebola virus was first identified in 1976 and caused sporadic outbreaks in Africa.

    However, the 2013-2016 outbreaks in West Africa, that killed more than 11,300 people, underlined the urgent need for a vaccine.

    Guinea, along with Liberia and Sierra Leone, was one of the worst affected countries.

    Dr KeÏta Sakoba, the Coordinator of the Ebola Response and Director of Guinea’s National Agency for Health Security, noted the significance of the latest results.

    “Ebola left a devastating legacy in our country.

    “We are proud that we have been able to contribute to developing a vaccine that will prevent other nations from enduring what we endured,” Sakoba said.

    The reports said the trial took place in the coastal region of Basse-Guinée, the area of Guinea still experiencing new Ebola cases when the trial started in 2015.

    “It employed an innovative design, a so-called `ring vaccination’ approach – the same method used to eradicate small pox.

    “This involved tracing all people who may have been in contact with a new Ebola case within the previous three weeks as well as certain “contacts of contacts.

    “These `rings’ were randomised to receive the vaccine either immediately or after a three-week delay.”

    In addition to showing high efficacy among those vaccinated, it said the trial also shows that unvaccinated people in the rings were indirectly protected from Ebola virus through the ring vaccination approach.

    However, the authors noted that the trial was not designed to measure this effect, so more research will be needed.

    Dr John-Arne Ruttingen, specialist director at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and the chairman of the study steering group, said the trial was historical and innovative.

    “This both historical and innovative trial was made possible thanks to exemplary international collaboration and coordination, the contribution of many experts worldwide, and strong local involvement,” Ruttingen said.

    Also, WHO said that an international vaccine-focussed organisation, GAVI, provided five million U.S. dollars to Merck, one of the vaccine’s manufacturers, towards its future procurement once the vaccine is approved, prequalified and recommended by WHO.

    The reports said as part of this agreement, Merck committed to ensuring that 300,000 doses of the vaccine are available for emergency use in the interim, and to submit the vaccine for licensure by the end of 2017.

    Merck has also submitted the vaccine to WHO’s Emergency Use and Assessment Listing procedure, a mechanism through which experimental vaccines, medicines and diagnostics can be made available for use prior to formal licensure.

  • UN adopts Nigeria-sponsored resolution on financial flows

    UN adopts Nigeria-sponsored resolution on financial flows

    The Federal Government has said the United Nation’s adoption of Nigeria-sponsored resolution on combating illicit financial flows is in tandem with the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, told the UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the administration’s anti-corruption crusade now has international legal backing.

    The UN General Assembly had adopted, by consensus, the Nigeria-sponsored resolution on: “Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows in order to foster sustainable development.”

    The resolution reiterated “its deep concern about the impact of illicit financial flows, in particular those caused by tax evasion and corruption, on the economic, social and political stability and development of societies.”

    Onyeama said the adopted resolution would greatly facilitate Nigeria’s efforts to have some of its funds stashed in foreign financial institutions, repatriated back to the country.

    “The adoption of the Resolution on Illicit Financial Flows is something that is in sync with the anti-corruption policy of this administration,” he said.

    “Also, I think we have to congratulate Mr. President because what he has promised to do is to now take this whole issue and get it at the top of the international agenda.

    “Getting the anti-corruption crusade at the top of the international agenda is no mean feat.

    “So we are really delighted that there is now some international legal backing for this crusade.

    “We certainly hope to draw on this resolution to help us in our efforts to have restitution of a lot of Nigerian funds that have been stashed away in foreign countries.”

  • Lagos faces water and sanitation crisis – UN

    United Nations human rights expert, Léo Heller, on Thursday, called for increased funding for water and sanitation in the 2017 budget to address the needs of 21 million residents of Lagos.

    Heller, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights to water and sanitation, commented on the budget, after it was presented by Governor Akinwumi Ambode to the Lagos House of Assembly, UN Secretary-General’s office said.

    According to him, Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, continues to grow while access to basic services could dwindle.

    He said the government reports showed high deficits in the sector, “representing clearly unacceptable conditions for millions of the megacity’s residents.”

    Heller said the annual budget discussion was a chance for the city to take more actions in providing water and sanitation to the people.

    He also expressed concerns over the high numbers of vulnerable people.

    “There is no question that the city’s water and sanitation sector has deteriorated to this point because of the way it has been managed for many years,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the UN Special Rapporteur as saying on the matter.

    Heller also presented some alternative solutions to the problem for the state government to consider.

    His suggestions include increasing the effectiveness of the public service provider, adopting necessary financing schemes, and reducing water losses.

     

     

  • SERAP takes Senate to UN over Magu 

    SERAP takes Senate to UN over Magu 

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the  United Nations (UN) over alleged intimidation, harassment and unfair treatment of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Ibrahim Magu,  by the Senate.

    The petition, which was signed by the Executive Director of SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, was addressed to Mr Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

    In a copy of the petition made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday, Mumuni accused the Senate of “apparently working with other agencies of government to use a purported security report it knew or ought to know is baseless and politically-motivated to reject Mr Magu’s confirmation as substantive chairman of the EFCC.

    “By relying on a report they knew or ought to know is baseless and politically-motivated to reject Mr Magu’s appointment as chairman of the EFCC, the Senate of Nigeria has flagrantly violated his right to a fair hearing, and is implicitly working to weaken, intimidate, harass and ultimately undermine the independence and freedom of action of the EFCC in its efforts to combat high-profile official corruption,” it said.

    The project, therefore, urged Forst to “urgently intervene in this matter to stop further intimidation and harassment of a prominent anti-corruption campaigner and human rights defender.

    “SERAP believes that the action by the Senate of Nigeria and other agencies of government apparently working with them undermines and violates Nigeria’s international obligation to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of the citizens, which inevitably creates a duty for the government to establish efficient and independent anti-corruption mechanisms.

    “Apart from the fact that the allegations against Mr Magu are baseless and politically motivated, the Senate of Nigeria flagrantly denied him constitutionally and internationally guaranteed right to a fair hearing by not providing him an opportunity to respond to the allegations against him.”

  • Gambia’s Jammeh must leave power when term ends – UN

    Gambia’s Jammeh must leave power when term ends – UN

    UN official in West Africa on Wednesday said Gambian President Yahya Jammeh will not be allowed to remain president if he refuses to go at the end of his term in January.

    Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, told newsmen in Dakar that Jammeh would face strong sanctions if he tried to cling to power.

    Jammeh, who took power in a coup in 1994, initially conceded defeat in the Dec. 1 election to little-known challenger Adama Barrow, raising the prospect of an end to his
    22 years rule.

    Jammeh’s rule was tainted by allegations of widespread human rights abuses.

    However, in a dramatic about-face that drew international condemnation, Jammeh
    then rejected the voting results last Friday, and his party was challenging the outcome at Gambia’s Supreme Court.

    Chambas, however, said “for Mr Jammeh, the end is here and under no circumstances can he continue to be president.

    “By Jan. 18, his mandate is up and he will be required to hand over to Mr. Barrow.”

    He added that Jammeh would be “strongly sanctioned” if he did not step down and hand over power to Barrow, without giving details.

    Chambas accompanied a delegation of presidents representing the regional bloc ECOWAS who travelled to Gambia on Tuesday but failed to reach a deal that would see Jammeh step down.

    Instead, Gambian soldiers seized the headquarters of the national elections commission and sealed it just hours before the presidents touched down in the riverside nation.

    UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday, said that the takeover was an “outrageous act of disrespect of the will of the Gambian people”.

    The building in Banjul remained deserted on Wednesday aside from two armed security guards, while its front gate and ground floor entrances were closed.

    “No one has gone to work. I didn’t even try. No one has informed me that I can go back,” elections commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai said on Wednesday.

    The ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction filed a challenge to the election result, even as the delegation held mediation meetings on Tuesday.

    The court has not held a session for a year and a half, and legal experts believe that at least four new judges would need to be hired to hear Jammeh’s petition.

    “We do not believe it will be heard by a credible court dedicated to ensuring the integrity of The Gambia’s democratic process,’’ a U.S. Embassy statement said.

    Analysts have suggested that the challenge in the Supreme Court, the legal channel for resolving election disputes, could put diplomats in a difficult position.

    While such disputes are relatively common in Africa, the international community generally defers to established domestic legal mechanisms for resolving them.

    However, in a notable exception, UN troops intervened militarily alongside France to oust Ivory Coast’s then-president Laurent Gbagbo after he used the constitutional court to overturn the 2010 election victory of Alassane Ouattara.

    Meanwhile, report says ECOWAS leaders will discuss Gambia at a summit in Nigeria on Saturday.  (Reuters/NAN)