Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the Chairperson of the
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights requesting “the urgent
intervention of the Bureau of the Commission to end the ongoing human
rights
violations of naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers forcibly
returned to their country by the Nigerian authorities.”
The organization
urged the Chairperson and Bureau of the Commission “to urgently hold an
extra-ordinary session of the African Commission to address the illegal and
unfair return of 51 Cameroon refugees, asylum seekers and naturalized
Nigerians, and the continuing violations of the rights of the returnees by the
government of Cameroon.”
The
organization also urged the Commission to “speak out strongly and condemn the
unfair treatment of the refugees, asylum seekers and naturalized Nigerians by
the government of Cameroon, and request the government to immediately release
them from unlawful detention.” The petition dated 2 February 2018 and signed by
SERAP deputy director Timothy Adewale stated that, “International law is very
clear on the fact that individuals, including asylum seekers, even if they have
entered the country illegally, are entitled to enjoy human rights. SERAP is
seriously concerned that forced return of naturalized Nigerians, refugees and
asylum seekers is both legally and morally wrong, and would set a bad precedent
for the rest of the sub-region.” The organization said that, “Naturalized
Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers came to Nigeria for protection and to
escape the gross violations of fundamental human rights in Cameroon. By
returning them to Cameroon, Nigerian authorities have failed to provide
reasonable opportunity to them to establish their case through judicial review
of the risk of persecution, torture and other human rights abuses in Cameroon.”
The petition read in part: “The government of Cameroon is also reportedly
violating the rights of returned naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum
seekers to personal liberty, freedom of movement (including the right to leave
their country), fair trials, freedom of expression and depriving them of their
liberty to be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the
human person. The situation in Cameroon is characterized by widespread and
massive violations of human rights and humanitarian law with growing numbers of
victims lacking access to an effective remedy.” “Cameroon’s treatment of the
returned naturalised Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers falls with the
‘worst crimes’ of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which
in article 7 defines crimes against humanity to mean acts such as deportation,
imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental
rules of international law, torture and other similar acts that are committed
as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian
population.” “Both Nigeria and Cameroon do not have any extradition treaty. We
consider the forced return of Cameroon asylum seekers from Nigeria illegal and
unfair, as it failed to meet a high standard of procedural fairness and
justice. Both Nigeria and Cameroon have ratified the African Charter on Human
and Peoples’ Rights and United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees.” “According to our information, the Nigerian authorities illegally
and unfairly returned naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers on
Friday, January 26, 2018. The returnees are mostly leaders of the people of Southern
Cameroon and who have been living in Nigeria for several years.” “SERAP argues
that the government of Nigeria breaches its international obligations including
those requiring the government to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are
not returned to jurisdictions such as Cameroon, where they would face
persecution and human rights violations, such as torture and other
ill-treatment. Nigeria is also bound by the principle of non-refoulement, the
obligation not to return a refugee to a country where he is at risk of
persecution.” “Similarly, both Nigeria and Cameroon are states parties to the
UN Convention against Torture which in article 3 provides that no State Party
shall return, refoul or extradite a person to another State where there are grounds
for believing that that person would be in danger of being subjected to
torture.” “SERAP also notes that asylum or in other words the possibility for
an individual to seek refuge is recognised in Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as “a fundamental human right.” The Declaration
guarantees the right to life, liberty and security, to equal protection of the
law and the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from
persecution. As such, the Nigerian authorities should have afforded the
naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers their basic human rights
including the right to a fair trial.” “Article 5 of the African Charter of
Human and Peoples’ Rights, which prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment by been interpreted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’
Rights as including a prohibition of returning a person to a country where he
or she would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” SERAP
therefore urged the Chairperson and Bureau of the African Commission to:
1.Urgently hold an extra-ordinary session of the African Commission to address
the illegal and unfair return of 52 naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum
seekers, and the continuing violations of the rights of the returnees by the
government of Cameroon; 2.Publicly condemn Nigeria’s forced return of the 52
naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers to Cameroon without any
consideration whatsoever of their claims for protection, and thereby putting
them at serious risk of persecution in their country; 3.Hold Nigeria and
Cameroon to account for violating the rights of the 52 naturalized Nigerians,
refugees’ and asylum seekers’ rights to freedom from torture and other human
rights; 4.Make an official visit to Cameroon with special rapporteurs having
relevant mandates and to put pressure on the authorities to release the
returnees from unlawful detention and end the politically motivated trial of
naturalized Nigerians, refugees and asylum seekers; 5.Hold that the continuing
detention, mistreatment and unfair trial of the returned naturalized Nigerians,
refugees and asylum seekers by the government of Cameroon amount to cruel and
degrading treatment and in conflict with the country’s human rights
obligations, including under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 6.Ask the
government of Nigeria to seek the guarantee of government of Cameroon about the
safety of the returnees, and that they would afford the returnees fair trial
while they remain in the country;
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