Resolution on Nigeria
The Forum on the participation of the NGOs in the 35th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the 9th Human Rights Book Fair held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Banjul, The Gambia from May 18 – 20 2004,
Considering the recent ethnic religious violence in Yelwa Plateau State of Nigeria in May 2004 which resulted in the killings of more than 600 persons and the reprisal killings in Kano State so soon thereafter which has caused forced displacement of around 750 persons and threatening the peace and security of lives and property in the region;
Considering that this is a recurrent decimal in Nigeria especially since the inception of the civilian regime in1999;
Considering that the development in Nigeria constitutes great threat to the realisation of the aims and objectives of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
Considering that the Nigerian government had never taken decisive steps to tackle the issue given the lip service paid to Panels of enquiries set up in the past whose reports are never made known to the public and that perpetrators never been brought to book;
Considering that the impunity of the authors of these criminal acts favours the spirit of revenge and the renewing of the cycles of violence in Nigeria;
Considering the declarations of the United Nations Secretary-General on May 10, 2004, urging the Nigerian government to ensure the security of individuals and property and to promote reconciliation in conformity with the principles of the rule of law;
The NGO forum requests the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to urge the Nigerian authorities:
- To immediately set up an independent mission of investigation with the mandate to investigate ethnic religious violence in Nigeria since 1999 and more particularly the recent Yelwa and Kano violence;
- To make public the report of the mission, prosecute the perpetrators in conformity with acceptable international standards of due process and compensate the victims;
- To take all necessary measures to ensure the peace and security of individuals and property as provided by Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;
- To condemn the state of emergency imposed in Plateau State since it is not done in conformity with the law
- To condemn out right the “shoot at sight” orders issued by the State Government in Kaduna.
Done in Banjul, May 20th 2004
