Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an urgent appeal to three UN
Special Rapporteurs urging them to “put meaningful pressure on the
leadership
of the National Assembly in Nigeria particularly the Speaker of the House of
Representatives Mr Yakubu Dogara to immediately withdraw the repressive bill to
establish a commission that would monitor, supervise, de-register, and
pre-approve all activities by civil society, labour, community based
organizations, and the media, in the country.” Speaker Dogara The urgent appeal
dated 28 July 2017 was sent to Ms Annalisa Ciampi, Special Rapporteur on the
rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Mr Michel Forst,
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and Mr. David
Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression.
SERAP also urged the Special Rapporteurs to
“prevail on the Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo to decline to sign the
bill into law; and on the House of Representatives and the Senate to exercise
their legislative powers for good governance, and ensure a safe and enabling
environment for civil society organizations both in practice and rhetoric, in
line with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and the government’s
international human rights obligations and commitments.” The organization said,
“the sole objective of the House of Representatives is to weaken and
delegitimize the work of independent and credible civil society. If adopted,
the bill which is copied from repressive countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and
Uganda, would have a chilling effect not only on expressions of peaceful
dissent by the citizens but also on the legitimate work of NGOs and individual
human rights defenders and activists scrutinizing corruption in the National
Assembly and exposing human rights violations by the government.” The urgent appeal
signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni read in part: “the bill
(sponsored by Umar Buba Jibril Deputy Leader, PDP: Kogi State), if passed by
the House of Representatives and the Senate of Nigeria and signed into law by
Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, would severely curtail the rights of
all Nigerians to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and
association in the country.” “SERAP is seriously concerned that the bill is by
far the most dangerous piece of legislation in the country in terms of its
reach and devastating consequences not only for the work of civil society but
also the effective enjoyment of constitutionally and internationally recognized
human rights of the citizens. The bill will devastate the country’s civil
society for generations to come and turn it into a government puppet.” “The
bill is a further path of closing civic space in the country, something
witnessed only under military regimes, and has no place in a democratic
Nigeria. The bill is entirely unnecessary, as the work of civil society is
already sufficiently regulated under existing legislation, including the
Companies and Allied Matters Act, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) Act, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC) Act and other similar legislation.” “SERAP is also concerned
that the proposed bill is coming at a time the members of the Senate and House
of Representatives are proposing amnesty and immunity for themselves against
prosecution for corruption and other economic crimes; and the government is
proposing a social media policy to restrict and undermine citizens’ access to
the social media ahead of the general elections in 2019.” “By including civil
society in general, the bill will also undermine both section 22 of the 1999
Nigerian constitution and article 13 of the UN Convention against Corruption,
both of which have given the media a critical role to ensure that the
government, at all levels, is accountable to the citizenry.” “The bill would
subject Nigerians and civil society to extensive government control and
interference that it would negate the very essence of the constitutionally and
internationally recognized rights to freedom of expression, association and
peaceful assembly. The bill also raises serious concerns about the commitment
of Nigerian lawmakers and the government to good governance and basic freedoms
in a democratic society.” “SERAP fears that the overbearing bill would inhibit
and obstruct the ability of Nigerians to work collectively through local and
international organizations on any human rights, transparency and
accountability research or advocacy that may be deemed contrary to “the
national interest” of Nigeria, or not “consistent with the programmes of government.”
“The provisions of the bill are also not subject to any judicial oversight.
According vanguard, SERAP believes that independent groups and activists should have space to carry
out their human rights and anticorruption work without fear of reprisals, such
as losing their registration or being sent prison.” “Apart from the Nigerian
Constitution, article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to
which Nigeria is a state party guarantee the rights to freedom of expression,
association and peaceful assembly. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights has made clear that the charter does not allow governments to “enact
provisions which would limit the exercise of this freedom.” The African
Commission has consistently criticised restriction on the work of civil
society.” “SERAP is concerned that by proposing this bill, Nigeria’s parliament
is trying to immune itself from public criticism and scrutiny. If this bill is
passed into law, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights
of Nigerians would become a farce in the country. By gagging civil society from
criticising the National Assembly and the government, the bill will undercut
the rule of law, shrink civic space, and expose vulnerable Nigerians to greater
level of injustice and repression.” “Civil society groups have play a key role
in holding government and parliaments accountable but without a strong civil
society in Nigeria, the problem of high-level official corruption and other
cases of violations of human rights would go unaddressed, and perpetrators
would continue to enjoy impunity.” SERAP therefore urged the Special
Rapporteurs to: publicly condemn the bill and hold that it is inconsistent and
incompatible with Nigeria’s international obligations to respect, protect,
promote and fulfil the citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, association
and peaceful assembly and ask the authorities should use and rely on existing
legislation which already regulate the work of these groups; and to urge the
House of Representatives and Senate not criminalize Nigerians simply for
exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
assembly. It would be recalled that the House of Representatives debated the
bill known as ‘An Act to provide for the establishment of Regulatory Commission
for the Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of NGOs, CSOs and Communities
Based Organizations in Nigeria’. The bill will establish a commission responsible
only to the president and the senate. Under section 7, the commission will
monitor and supervise these groups supposedly to “ensure that they accomplish
their missions according to law” and under section 26, strictly “in line with
the programmes of government.” Section 8 of the bill even goes further by
empowering the commission to coordinate the work of all national and
international NGOs in the country. All groups must register with the commission
and submit their annual reports for discussion and governmental approval. The
commission may take any punitive action against civil society and “do all such
things incidental to its functions” under the Act. Section 10 establishes ‘a
documentation center’ to which all civil society groups must submit the list of
their activities and other information that may be required or prescribed.
Section 11 then requires submission of all proposed activities by civil society
for approval. Section 12 requires registration of all civil society
organizations on the payment of unspecified fees and other fees as the
commission may require or prescribe. But registration may be turned down, as
stated under section 13. Registration is valid for only 24 months and
renewable, subject to conditions as may be prescribed. Registration may also be
denied if the activities of civil society groups are not in line with “national
interest”. Operations of the groups will be terminated without any such
registration. Under section 19, workers of the groups must apply for work
permits. The groups can only appeal to “a minister” if they are dissatisfied
with the application of any of the provisions of the Act, as provided for under
section 19. The bill in section 24 criminalizes behaviour that is inherently
legitimate by prescribing severe criminal penalties, including fines of
N500,000 or 18 months imprisonment or both, for operating without registration
under the bill. Under section 26, any such person will be banned for 10 years
from doing any civil society work. The combined effect of sections 25 and 26 is
that no civil society group will be able to carry out any activity without
first seeking and obtaining a ministerial approval.
Read more
at:
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/07/serap-drags-dogara-un-repressive-bill-regulate-crackdown-civil-society/
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