Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a
Court (ICC), urging her to use her “good offices to investigate whether
the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, and the failure of the
Nigerian authorities over the years to address it amount to violence
against children and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of
the ICC.”
The organization urged Mrs Bensouda to: “push for those suspected to be
responsible for this problem, including current and former presidents
and state governors since 1999, who directly or indirectly have
individually and/or collectively breached their special duty toward
children, and are therefore complicit in the crime, to be tried by the
ICC.”
In the petition dated 19 July 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director
Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “Investigating and
prosecuting high-ranking Nigerian officials and providing reparations to
victims will contribute to serving the best interests of Nigerian
children, the most vulnerable citizens in our country, and ending the
impunity that is denying them their right to education and a life free
of violence and fear.”
SERAP said: “These out-of-school Nigerian children have been exposed to
real danger, violence and even untimely death. Senior Nigerian
politicians since 1999 have failed to understand the seriousness of the
crime of leaving millions of children out of school, and have made an
essential contribution to the commission of the crime.”
SERAP also said: “The ICC has stated in the Lubanga case that the
interruption, delay and denial of the right of children to education is
a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court. SERAP believes that the
reality for children living in the Ituri region of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo is similar to the reality faced by millions of
out-of-school children in Nigeria, as the situation is depriving an
entire generation of children of their right to education and human
dignity.”
The petition read in part: “There is no immunity for crimes under the
Rome Statute. The crime of leaving millions of Nigerian children out of
school is an opportunity for your Office to show the Court’s commitment
to effectively enforce its Policy on Children and other important
statements of international criminal justice.”
“Putting millions of Nigerian children that should be in school on the
street exposes them to violence, including sexual violence, gender
violence, abduction, and other forms of exploitation and violence
against children, and implicitly amounts to enslavement, trafficking of
children, and ill-treatment, three of the eleven acts that may amount to
a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.”
“Unless the ICC declares the problem of over 13 million out-of-school
Nigerian children as violence against children and crime against
humanity, and hold those suspected to be responsible since 1999 to
account, the number of out-of-school children will continue to rise, and
these children may never receive any formal education at all.”
“Nigeria is a state party to the Rome Statute and deposited its
instrument of ratification on 27 September 2001. According to Nigeria’s
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the population of
out-of-school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2
million.”
“This figure is based on a joint survey conducted in 2015 by the United
Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Nigerian government. Data by the
UNICEF also shows that one in every five of the world’s out-of-school
children is in Nigeria. However, Nigeria’s former Minister of Education
Mr Adamu Adamu has suggested the figure of out-of-school children in
Nigeria to be 10,193,918, citing a recent ‘National Personnel Audit’ of
both public and private schools in the country.”
“According to the former Minister of Education, all of the 36 states in
Nigeria are affected by the problem of out-of-school children but the
problem is more widespread and systematic in the following states: Kano,
Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue,
Jigawa and Ebonyi states.”
“Girls are disproportionately represented among out-of-school children.
In north-eastern Nigeria alone, 2.8 million children are in need of
education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected States
(Borno, Yobe, Adamawa). In these States, at least 802 schools remain
closed and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392
damaged but repairable.”
“Under Nigerian law and international human rights treaties to which
Nigeria is a state party, the Nigerian authorities at both the Federal
and State levels have a legally binding obligation to immediately
provide free, universal quality primary education for all Nigerian
children, and to progressively provide education at all other levels
without discrimination.”
“Nigerian authorities over the years have restricted educational
opportunities for children with disabilities including by failing to
provide equipment such as hearing aids, ramps to school buildings,
wheelchairs, crutches, glasses and surgery to children in need, and
failing to address educational challenges facing children with
disabilities, in general.
“SERAP notes the launch by your Office in 2016 of the Policy on
Children, which aims to send ‘a firm and consistent message that
humanity stands united in its resolve that crimes against children will
not be tolerated and that their perpetrators will not go unpunished.’
The Policy aims to assist your Office in its efforts to robustly address
these crimes, bearing in mind the rights and best interests of
children.”
“SERAP notes also that at the launch of the Policy you stated among
others that, ‘a crime against a child is an offence against all of
humanity; it is an affront to our basic tenets of human decency.
Children are our greatest resource, and must be protected from harm so
as to reach their full potential. We, at the ICC, intend to play our
part through the legal framework of the Rome Statute’.”
“This statement is entirely consistent with the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, to which Nigeria is a state party and shows that
children will not be invisible in the exercise of the jurisdiction of
the ICC, and that your Office will extend its work to ensure the
well-being of children, including millions of out-of-school Nigerian
children.”
“The Rome Statute’s sensitivity towards children’s issues is clearly
demonstrated in Article 68(1) to the effect that the Court must ‘have
regard to all relevant factors, including gender and the nature of the
crime, in particular, where the crime involves sexual or gender violence
or violence against children.’ Under Article 54(1), ‘the Prosecutor
shall take into account the nature of the crime, in particular where it
involves violence against children.'”
“SERAP is seriously concerned that the problem of out-of-school children
is widespread and systematic, cutting across the 36 states of the
country and Abuja, and spanning many years since 1999. The problem of
out-of-school children has had catastrophic effects on the lives of
millions of children, their families and communities, akin to violence
against children under the Court’s Policy, and crimes against humanity
as contemplated under the Rome Statue.”
“The Rome Statute in article 7 defines “crime against humanity” to
include “inhumane acts causing great suffering or injury,” committed in
a widespread or systematic manner against a civilian population. The
common denominator of crimes against humanity is that they are grave
affronts to human security and dignity.”
“The consequences of throwing millions of Nigerian children that should
be in school out on the street are similar to those of the offences in
article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute. Senior government officials know
well or ought to know that their failure to prevent millions of Nigerian
children from roaming the street will expose the children to violence,
deny them their human dignity and exacerbate the growing insecurity in
the country.”
“SERAP considers the apparent failure of successive governments and
high-ranking government officials to prevent widespread and systematic
problem of out-of-school children as amounting to complicity under the
Rome Statute.”
“This crime against Nigerian children has continued to rob our children
of their innocence, childhood, and often, tragically, resulted in their
untimely deaths, denying Nigeria of its future potential and of its
greatest resource.”
“The national authorities of the Court’s States Parties form the first
line of defense in addressing the crimes against children, as they
shoulder the primary responsibility for the investigation and
prosecution of perpetrators of the crimes. But successive governments in
Nigeria have been unwilling or unable to address the problem of
out-of-school children, and end the crime against humanity.”
“SERAP believes that substantial grounds exist to warrant the
intervention of the Prosecutor in this case. Pursuant to the Rome
Statute, the Prosecutor has power to intervene in a situation under the
jurisdiction of the Court if the Security Council or states parties
refer a situation or if information is provided from other sources such
as the information SERAP is providing in this case.
SERAP therefore urged the ICC Prosecutor to:
Urgently commence an investigation proprio motu on the widespread and
systematic problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria since the return
of democracy in 1999, with a view to determining whether these amount to
violence against children and crime against humanity within the Court’s
jurisdiction. In this respect, we also urge you to invite
representatives of the Nigerian government to provide written or oral
testimony at the seat of the Court, so that the Prosecutor is able to
conclude since available information whether there is a reasonable basis
for an investigation, and to submit a request to the Pre-Trial Chamber
for authorization of an investigation;
Bring to justice those suspected to be responsible for widespread and
systematic problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria;
Urge the Nigerian government to fulfil its obligations under the Rome
Statute to cooperate with the ICC; including complying with your
requests to arrest and surrender suspected perpetrators of the
widespread and systematic crime of leaving millions of Nigerian children
out of school, testimony, and provide other support to the ICC
Compel the Nigerian authorities at the Federal and State levels to
ensure that millions of out-of-school children are afforded their right
to education, access to justice, and ensure reparations to victims,
including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation and guarantee of
non-repetition