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Tag: UNHRC

  • NHRC condemns arrest of sex workers in Abia

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has decried the recent arrest of sex workers and closure of brothels in Umuahia, the Abia capital, on the orders of the state government.

    Ms Uche Nwokocha, the Coordinator of NHRC in Abia, described the action as “the criminalisation of poverty” by the government and its agencies.

    Nwokocha said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Wednesday.

    NAN reports that the state government had ordered the immediate shutdown of some brothels in the state capital, alleging that they had become hideouts for crminials.

    It also directed security agencies to rid the brothels of suspected hoodlums, a situation which led to the arrest of the sex workers by the police.

    However, the NHRC boss described the action as an abuse of the right of the sex workers, adding that the arrested ladies were being punished because they were poor.

    She said: “There are other women elsewhere doing similar things and they are not being arrested.

    Read also: NHRC wades into cases of 523 juveniles detained in Anambra prisons

    “If you are looking for criminals go to their families. These are just poor women they are preying on.

    “The only difference is that these people are poor and they don’t have the opportunity others have.

    “And because of that, they are being punished. How many of them are being prosecuted, it is wrong,” she said.

    Nwokocha, who is a legal practitioner, however, advised the state government to find out why there was a large number of women going into prostitution rather than clamping down on them.

    “If the Government of Abia has discovered that there is still a high influx of prostitutes into the state, I think the government should ask why.

    “If some of them are into prostitution because of the situation they found themselves in, the government can assist them by giving them some packages that can help them settle down.

    “But if there are still some, who still want to do prostitution, they should be allowed to do whatever they want,” Nwokocha said. (NAN)

  • ‘Nigeria’s re-election to UN Rights Council puts it under self-scrutiny’

    ‘Nigeria’s re-election to UN Rights Council puts it under self-scrutiny’

    Nigeria’s re-election to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has placed the country under human rights’ self-scrutiny.

    Prof. Tijjani Bande, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN told the Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that with the election, Nigeria now has added responsibility to respect the rights of its citizens.

    Nigeria was on Monday re-elected by the UN General Assembly in New York to the UNHRC in Geneva alongside 14 other countries for the 2018 to 2020 term.

    NAN reports that Angola, Senegal, Slovakia, Ukraine, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Australia and Spain were also elected to the body, while Nigeria and Qatar won second terms.

    The UNHRC is the highest intergovernmental body in the UN system for matters relating to protection and promotion of human rights worldwide.

    Read: Nigeria seeks re-election into UN Human Rights Council

     Bande said: “the fundamental issue is that if we are on a Council that should advocate and defend rights of all human beings.

    “We must therefore always remember that we have an added responsibility in our own country to respect rights of citizens and it’s a commitment.

    “When you’re in that Council, you’re putting yourself forward for scrutiny and then that tells you that Nigeria is ready to scrutinise itself in regards to respect for human rights”.

    He said Nigeria’s re-election really underscored that around the world a lot of people and countries have seen that the country has something to offer on that Council.

    “Nigeria is a very important member of the global family and when it comes to rights, we have very robust documents from the Constitution to other documents that speak to our respect for rights.

    “Going beyond the shores of Nigeria, we have produced some of the finest minds relating to the defence of rights of citizens, of individuals and of human beings generally.

    “So it is important that we are on that Council to continue to develop not only the push for the protection of rights.

    “But where possible, if certain countries appear not to push in the same direction, we ask them to join all other countries in the world in respecting the rights of human beings”.

    Ghana and Nigeria are currently serving out their tenure for the 2015 to 2017 term while Ghana, which initially sought re-election, stepped down alongside Sierra Leone, for Nigeria to get on board for another term.

    Nigeria has illustriously served the global community on the UNHRC for three terms since the establishment of the Council in 2006.

    These are 2006 to 2009, 2009 to 2012 and currently, 2015 to 2017, and with the reelection, would remain on the Council till 2020.

    NAN reports that the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN hosted a reception for envoys to launch Nigeria’s re-election bid on Friday in New York and solicit countries’ “firm support” for Nigeria’s re-election on the council.

    The 47-member council was created by the General Assembly in 2006 to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe, address situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

     

  •  Nigerian chairs UNHRC advisory committee

     Nigerian chairs UNHRC advisory committee

    A Nigerian-born university teacher in Canada, Prof. Obiora Okafor has been appointed Chairperson of United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.

    Okafor teaches at the famous Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, Toronto Canada, Canada’s top Law Faculty and one of the leading global law schools.

    A news item published on the Osgoode Hall Law School website reads: “Congratulations to Professor Obiora Okafor on his appointment as Chairperson of UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (on which he has sat for the last three years.

    “Professor Okafor was also recently appointed Tier 1York Research Chair in International and Trans-national Legal Studies.”

    In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious nation-wide, 2010 prize for academic excellence by the Canadian Association of Law teachers.

    Prof. Okafor hails from Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State.

    He is the first African and black person in history to receive a top Canadian nation-wide award for academic excellence for his outstanding contributions to legal research and teaching in Canada and around the world.

    He is the first African to be promoted to the highest academic rank of full prof. at a Canadian University and has previously received many other honours and awards, including the Governor-General’s Academic Gold Medal and Award of Excellence of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.

    One of the leading international law and human rights experts in the world, he has also served as an expert panelist for the United Nations working group on people of African descent.

    Before his latest elevation as Chairperson, UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, he held among other UN positions, Vice Chairperson/Rapporteur Member of the Bureau (leadership) of the Committee in charge of supervising the drafting of its documents and the preparation of the reports of sessions of the Committee.

    Among positions he holds ion visiting capacity include Visiting Professor of International and Human Rights Law, St. Augustine’s International University, Kampala Uganda, Gani Fawehinmi Distinguished Visiting Professor of Human Rights Law, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Abuja, Visiting Professor, International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg France and Visiting Scholar, Human Rights Programme, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, USA

    He started his academic career in Law at the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, where he graduated with LL.B (Honours) in 1989 and later bagged his LL.M with Distinction from the same university in 1994.

    He sojourned abroad for more academic exploits at the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he obtained another LL.M with First Class Average in 1995.

    He received his PHD in 1998 from the same University of British Columbia, Canada.

  • UN refugee agency appeals for $6.23b

    The United Nations Human Right Council (UNHRC) has warned donors at the agency’s annual pledging conference that the world’s humanitarian financing system was close to bankruptcy.

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, stated this on Wednesday as he presented the total financial requirements of 6.23 billion dollars for 2015.

    According to him, this is larger than any previous budget.

    “More people are fleeing war, violence and persecution than ever before.

    “Emergencies in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria are turning into protracted displacement situations,” Guterres said.

    It said that, while 2013’s conference saw 671.6 million dollars promised by donors, this year’s figure was down by over a quarter, with 500.8 million dollars in pledges tabled.

    It noted that although the figure promised during the conference did not cover all the agency’s needs, pledges were important as they gave the organisation a vital funding indication.

    “We need additional and more predictable ways of funding these emergencies.

    “The gap between needs and available humanitarian funding was widening in the face of a population forcibly displaced people that had doubled over the last five years,” Guterres warned.

    He said UNHCR’s financial needs have more than doubled in the last five years, noting that the agency receives only a small annual contribution from the UN regular budget.

    He also stated that the agency’s programmes were almost entirely funded by voluntary contributions from government and private donors.

    The statement said that in 2014, the 3.19 billion dollars in contributions that UNHCR received was less than half the amount needed.

    “More structural and development support is needed to help communities host refugees fleeing war and violence,” the UNHCR chief added.