Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an
\nurgent appeal to three UN Special Rapporteurs urging them to \u201cput
\nmeaningful pressure on the leadership of the National Assembly in Nigeria
\nparticularly the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mr Yakubu Dogara
\nto immediately withdraw the repressive bill to establish a commission that
\nwould monitor, supervise, de-register, and pre-approve all activities by
\ncivil society, labour, community based organizations, and the media, in
\nthe country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The urgent appeal dated 28 July 2017 was sent to Ms Annalisa Ciampi,
\nSpecial Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of
\nassociation; Mr Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
\nrights defenders; and Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion
\nand protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.<\/p>\n
SERAP also urged the Special Rapporteurs to \u201cprevail on the Acting
\nPresident Professor Yemi Osinbajo to decline to sign the bill into law;
\nand on the House of Representatives and the Senate to exercise their
\nlegislative powers for good governance, and ensure a safe and enabling
\nenvironment for civil society organizations both in practice and rhetoric,
\nin line with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and the
\ngovernment\u2019s international human rights obligations and commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization said, \u201cthe sole objective of the House of Representatives
\nis to weaken and delegitimize the work of independent and credible civil
\nsociety. If adopted, the bill which is copied from repressive countries
\nlike Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda, would have a chilling effect not only
\non expressions of peaceful dissent by the citizens but also on the
\nlegitimate work of NGOs and individual human rights defenders and
\nactivists scrutinizing corruption in the National Assembly and exposing
\nhuman rights violations by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The urgent appeal signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni
\nread in part: \u201cthe bill (sponsored by Umar Buba Jibril Deputy Leader, PDP:
\nKogi State), if passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate of
\nNigeria and signed into law by Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo,
\nwould severely curtail the rights of all Nigerians to freedom of
\nexpression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association in the
\ncountry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP is seriously concerned that the bill is by far the most dangerous
\npiece of legislation in the country in terms of its reach and devastating
\nconsequences not only for the work of civil society but also the effective
\nenjoyment of constitutionally and internationally recognized human rights
\nof the citizens. The bill will devastate the country\u2019s civil society for
\ngenerations to come and turn it into a government puppet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill is a further path of closing civic space in the country,
\nsomething witnessed only under military regimes, and has no place in a
\ndemocratic Nigeria. The bill is entirely unnecessary, as the work of civil
\nsociety is already sufficiently regulated under existing legislation,
\nincluding the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC) Act, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
\nRelated Offences Commission (ICPC) Act and other similar legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP is also concerned that the proposed bill is coming at a time the
\nmembers of the Senate and House of Representatives are proposing amnesty
\nand immunity for themselves against prosecution for corruption and other
\neconomic crimes; and the government is proposing a social media policy to
\nrestrict and undermine citizens\u2019 access to the social media ahead of the
\ngeneral elections in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy including civil society in general, the bill will also undermine both
\nsection 22 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution and article 13 of the UN
\nConvention against Corruption, both of which have given the media a
\ncritical role to ensure that the government, at all levels, is accountable
\nto the citizenry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill would subject Nigerians and civil society to extensive
\ngovernment control and interference that it would negate the very essence
\nof the constitutionally and internationally recognized rights to freedom
\nof expression, association and peaceful assembly. The bill also raises
\nserious concerns about the commitment of Nigerian lawmakers and the
\ngovernment to good governance and basic freedoms in a democratic society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP fears that the overbearing bill would inhibit and obstruct the
\nability of Nigerians to work collectively through local and international
\norganizations on any human rights, transparency and accountability
\nresearch or advocacy that may be deemed contrary to \u201cthe national
\ninterest\u201d of Nigeria, or not \u201cconsistent with the programmes of
\ngovernment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe provisions of the bill are also not subject to any judicial
\noversight. SERAP believes that independent groups and activists should
\nhave space to carry out their human rights and anticorruption work without
\nfear of reprisals, such as losing their registration or being sent
\nprison.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from the Nigerian Constitution, article 22 of the International
\nCovenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 10 of the African
\nCharter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights to which Nigeria is a state party
\nguarantee the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
\nassembly. The African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights has made
\nclear that the charter does not allow governments to \u201cenact provisions
\nwhich would limit the exercise of this freedom.\u201d The African Commission
\nhas consistently criticised restriction on the work of civil society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP is concerned that by proposing this bill, Nigeria\u2019s parliament is
\ntrying to immune itself from public criticism and scrutiny. If this bill
\nis passed into law, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human
\nrights of Nigerians would become a farce in the country. By gagging civil
\nsociety from criticising the National Assembly and the government, the
\nbill will undercut the rule of law, shrink civic space, and expose
\nvulnerable Nigerians to greater level of injustice and repression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCivil society groups have play a key role in holding government and
\nparliaments accountable but without a strong civil society in Nigeria, the
\nproblem of high-level official corruption and other cases of violations of
\nhuman rights would go unaddressed, and perpetrators would continue to
\nenjoy impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP therefore urged the Special Rapporteurs to: publicly condemn the
\nbill and hold that it is inconsistent and incompatible with Nigeria\u2019s
\ninternational obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the
\ncitizens\u2019 rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful
\nassembly and ask the authorities should use and rely on existing
\nlegislation which already regulate the work of these groups; and to urge
\nthe House of Representatives and Senate not criminalize Nigerians simply
\nfor exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and
\npeaceful assembly<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that the House of Representatives debated the bill
\nknown as \u2018An Act to provide for the establishment of Regulatory Commission
\nfor the Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of NGOs, CSOs and
\nCommunities Based Organizations in Nigeria\u2019. The bill will establish a
\ncommission responsible only to the president and the senate. Under section
\n7, the commission will monitor and supervise these groups supposedly to
\n\u201censure that they accomplish their missions according to law\u201d and under
\nsection 26, strictly \u201cin line with the programmes of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Section 8 of the bill even goes further by empowering the commission to
\ncoordinate the work of all national and international NGOs in the country.
\nAll groups must register with the commission and submit their annual
\nreports for discussion and governmental approval. The commission may take
\nany punitive action against civil society and \u201cdo all such things
\nincidental to its functions\u201d under the Act. Section 10 establishes \u2018a
\ndocumentation center\u2019 to which all civil society groups must submit the
\nlist of their activities and other information that may be required or
\nprescribed. Section 11 then requires submission of all proposed activities
\nby civil society for approval.<\/p>\n
Section 12 requires registration of all civil society organizations on the
\npayment of unspecified fees and other fees as the commission may require
\nor prescribe. But registration may be turned down, as stated under section
\n13. Registration is valid for only 24 months and renewable, subject to
\nconditions as may be prescribed.\u00a0 Registration may also be denied if the
\nactivities of civil society groups are not in line with \u201cnational
\ninterest\u201d. Operations of the groups will be terminated without any such
\nregistration. Under section 19, workers of the groups must apply for work
\npermits. The groups can only appeal to \u201ca minister\u201d if they are
\ndissatisfied with the application of any of the provisions of the Act, as
\nprovided for under section 19.<\/p>\n
The bill in section 24 criminalizes behaviour that is inherently
\nlegitimate by prescribing severe criminal penalties, including fines of
\nN500,000 or 18 months imprisonment or both, for operating without
\nregistration under the bill. Under section 26, any such person will be
\nbanned for 10 years from doing any civil society work. The combined effect
\nof sections 25 and 26 is that no civil society group will be able to carry
\nout any activity without first seeking and obtaining a ministerial
\napproval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an urgent appeal to three UN Special Rapporteurs urging them to \u201cput meaningful pressure on the leadership of the National Assembly in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n