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;