Pivot Newsletter 3rd edition

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Rashidi Yekini & Mental Health Laws in Nigeria

Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, OFR, SAN

Interview with

MRS. OLAYINKA

sexual slavery slavery:

OLADUNJOYE

Hon. Commissioner C for Education, Lagos State

A Blockage to Family Rights

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Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief Winnifred Oyindamola Olanipekun Associate Editors Keno Eden-Ettah Funsho Olorunfemi Anne Nneka Osho Chikanso Ezitonye

contents 06

Editorial Assistants Faith Awosusi Violet Akibor

Guidelines for Contributors PIVOT newsletter is a quarterly publication that delivers a focused perspective on family rights both in Nigeria and internationally.

We welcome articles, case reviews and opinions on topical issues, recent statutes or pending bills for publication on the subject matter. All write-ups are to be submitted to the Editor-inChief at info@aucourantlegal.com and pivotnewsletter@yahoo.com Each write-up should be approximately 1,500 words. All references should be by way of end notes. Reference to published work must include full bibliographical details, particularly name of publisher as well as year of publication.

Publication of submitted write-ups will be subject to the scrutiny and approval of the newsletter’s Editorial Advisory Board.

Editorial Advisory Board Mr. Femi Falana, SAN (Chairman) Mr. Mike Igbokwe, SAN Mr. Obi Okwusogu, SAN, FCIArb Mrs. Toyin Adegoke Mrs. Yinka Fasakin-Odukoya Dr. Nwudego Chinwuba Dr. Oladapo Olanipekun

ISSN 2360-9168

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Interview:

Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye

Honourable Commissioner for Education, Lagos State

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The Rashidi Yekini Case and The State of Mental Health Law in Nigeria Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, OFR, SAN, FCIArb

An Examination of the Impact of Mineral Resource Development on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Oil Bearing Communities in the Niger Delta Dr. Okechukwu Ejims

26 29 44

Sexual Abuse and Slavery: A Formidable Threat to Family Rights in Nigeria Ifeolu John Koni, Esq. News and Developments On Human Rights Case Review:

Edwin Ezigbo v The State (2012) 16 NWLR (Pt. 1326) 318 Dayo Adesina, Esq.

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The Importance of Having Good Etiquette Temitope Olanipekun Challenges of a Young Lawyer Motolani Oyedele

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Editorial Note EDITORIAL NOTE Welcome to another edition of your beloved Pivot. I assure you that this is our most awe-inspiring publication yet.

We have in this edition, an exclusive interview with Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, the Honourable Commissioner for Education in Lagos State. A lawyer by training, her tenure in the Ministry of Education is a vital part of the success story of the present administration in Lagos State. She shares with us her experience holding a top political office, her achievements in office so far and participation of women in politics, amongst others.

Her interview is a must-read.

This unique edition features an article by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN. Using the legendary footballer Rashidi Yekini as a case study, the learned senior advocate brings to the fore the forgotten/relegated issue of mental health laws in Nigeria. We also feature a profound article by Dr. Okechukwu Ejims of the School of Law, University of Leeds, on oil drilling and the effect of the resultant pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. This paper is a product of years of extensive and in-depth research. This is a compelling read for everyone because his exposé shows the immense effects of mineral development as it affects the rights to life of the Niger Delta indigenes.

In addition, John Ifeolu Koni, Esq. addresses the harsh incidence of sexual abuse and slavery as an obstruction to the promotion of family rights in Nigeria.

We all know that the importance of good manners cannot be overemphasized, Temitope Olanipekun of Templars, elucidates on how and why good etiquette gives one an edge in modern law practice. If you thought that meager salary was the only problem of young lawyers, think again. We feature a very interesting write-up on the challenges of young lawyers by Motolani Oyedele of Wole Olanipekun & Co. A case review on the painful reality of child-rape and its repercussions as well as the duty of parents to protect their children from such heinous acts by ‘Dayo Adesina, Esq. is featured in the edition.

We also have our usual news and updates on human rights from around the globe. While we hope that you would have a pleasurable and educative read, your feedback remains important to us for the improvement of this publication.

Winnifred Oyindamola Olanipekun For advert placements, questions, comments, enquires, or to send your articles, email us at pivot@ aucourantlegal.com and pivotnewsletter@yahoo.com or call 234 (1) 3428150, +2347062320392 For more information, visit www.aucourantlegal.com

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M R S . O L AY I N K A O L A D U N J O Y E Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye is the honourable Commissioner for Education in Lagos State; she is also one of the brains behind the improvements in the Lagos State educational sector. A lawyer, veteran public servant, proud mother and grandmother, Mrs. Oladunjoye talks to Pivot about her experience in public service, her motivation to study law, some foregrounds of her administration, her thoughts on the standard of education in Nigeria amongst others.

After your first degree in history, what inspired you to study law?

My inspiration to study law was based on the fact that I had always wanted to be a lawyer. I had always admired the profession, my husband is a lawyer, I have a step-daughter who is a lawyer and I think it’s a noble profession.

Can you share your experience as a public servant from 1983, when you started as a teacher, till date?

I started as a graduate assistant in the faculty of history. I had a good result and they decided to keep me on. It was an enriching experience and it was an opportunity for me to continue with my research, and have time for the children and the home and provided me the opportunity to keep the children in staff school, which was a fashionable thing to do at the time and thereafter I became a teacher at Gbagada High School.

After my stint at Gbagada High School I decided to join the mainstream of the civil service and began my assignment at the Ministry Of Youth, Sports and Social Development as an admin/ project officer. As soon as I joined I was exposed to project administration assisting in monitoring the construction of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere and the experience I would cherish later in life. From the Ministry of Sports I was posted to the Ministry of Finance as a research officer. Because of my insurance background I joined the team that started the insurance department in the ministry. I was hereafter posted to the public works department. Generally the

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interview civil service experience has assisted me in seamlessly hitting the ground running as the Commissioner.

What are the highlights of your tenure as Commissioner for Education in Lagos State, in terms of achievements and challenges?

Our conviction is that education plays a very pivotal role in the development and economic growth of a nation and has therefore been our driving force in the attainment of our vision of becoming “the model of excellence in the provision of education in Africa”. Our mission is to put in place measures “to provide high quality education accessible to all learners through effective and efficient management of resources for the attainment of self-reliance and socioeconomic development”. We have been privileged to have an education legacy pioneered and championed on the TenPoint Agenda; the Education Sector Reform Law and our core values of dedication and commitment; integrity, transparency and honesty; responsive service delivery with accountability; professional competence and team spirit; and loyalty. We adopted a new approach to the issue of education in the state and has led us to renew our resolve in the attainment of our goals and objectives which are “to ensure academic excellence through relevant and high quality learning at all levels in order to produce world class students; to effectively and efficiently manage

It is my opinion that the standard of education is not declining. Our children today from very young ages have been able to deal with more complex equipment than we did, even as little children

resources through professionally qualified personnel leading to increased productivity; to provide conductive learning environment by making available adequate educational facilities and competent teachers; to produce socially stable and self-reliant students who can easily integrate into larger society; and to ensure proper coordination and planning of the activities of the sector.” Our policies on reforms have continually yielded positive results especially as shown in the remarkable improvement of the performances o four students. These achievements include: I. Periodic integration between WAEC subject specialists, the State public secondary school teachers of core subjects (i.e. English, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biology) and SS3 students should continue.

II. Provision of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets by schools, past questions in addition to ensuring constant practice by students in order to promote enhanced performance at external examinations.

III. Daily after school coaching programme for JS3 and SS3 students as well as Saturday coaching in core subjects of English and Mathematics by SS3 students.

IV. Promotion criteria and eligibility for WASSCE examination registration stipulated by Government to be adhered to as follows: i. Minimum of 50% pass in five (5) subjects including English and Mathematics. ii. Minimum of 90% attendance in schools and at “after school” coaching

by SS3 students. iii.50% attendance at Parents Forum by parents. iv. Administration of screening test on students as acidic test to ensure their preparedness for the mock examinations.

Please can you tell us more about the ‘Lagos Schools Online’ initiative?

‘Lagos Schools Online’ is the official internet portal for all schools in Lagos State. With this initiative each school

has a home page on the portal with the school badge, detailed information and photographs and it aligns our school system with global best practises. It also has a journal where the activities of the ministry are disseminated. With the platforms the ministry is able to moderate and manage the flow of information among stakeholders in the education community. It has also assisted in developing an integrated multi-platform information and communication structure for the ministry.

The Lagos State Ministry of Education, under your leadership, approved a harmonized academic calendar for both public and private schools. What brought about this decision?

The harmonization of academic year calendar, curriculum and examination was done in order to resolve the disparity in the resumption, closing and mid-term dates for pupils and students in the State hence a committee was set up to harmonize the academic year calendar in public and private schools in the State. The committee was chaired by Mrs. C. O. Ogunsanya, the Proprietor of Oxbridge College, Ikeja. Following the submission and acceptance of the Committee’s report, the resumption, opening and mid-term dates of both private and public schools in Lagos State have been harmonized with effect from 2014/2015 academic year calendar.

Private schools are therefore expected

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to adhere strictly with the 2014/2015 academic year calendar and subsequent ones in the opening, resumption and midterm dates. However, schools affiliated with embassies, missions as well as those presenting candidates for international examinations may be given a window of flexibility of one week before and after official resumption/closing dates but they must comply with the mid-term dates. I wish to state that it is now mandatory for all schools in the State to complete the 38 to 39 weeks of academic contact period wherein curriculum is expected to be well covered by the Schools as is practise in other developed countries.

I wish to stress that regular monitoring visits would be made to private schools in order to ensure strict adherence to the academic year calendar while sanctions would be given to school that fail to adhere to the academic year calendar.

A sensitization/awareness programme was organized for teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector in order to address all issues that are germane to the Teachers’ Competency Framework. Teachers under the Teachers’ Competency Framework will be categorized into different professional levels before commencement of training.

The various categorizations are as follows:I. Probationary Teacher II: GL 07 - 08 ii. Probationary Teacher I: GL 08 - 09 iii. Intermediate Teacher II: GL 09 -10 iv. Intermediate Teacher I: GL 10 - 12 v. Experienced Teacher II: GL 12 - 13 vi. Experienced Teacher I: GL 13 - 14 vii. Advanced Teacher: GL 15 –17 The core areas of the framework are recruitment, training and mentoring, career progression and appointment into duty posts and school committees.

Your ministry has introduced a program for its teachers called ‘Competency Framework’; can you please throw more light on what this program is about?

Are you of the widely held belief that standard of education in Nigeria is deteriorating?

The ‘Teachers Competency Framework’ is a document that contains a set of standards for teachers that will serve as a catalyst for developing the teaching profession in Lagos State thereby improving the quality of education in our schools and ultimately enhancing and increasing learning outcomes of pupils and students in the State. It will also ascertain the level of competence of teachers in the classroom, grade them according to their levels, and train them according to the need of the State Government. Work on the Teachers’ Competency Framework commenced in 2013 with the constitution of a technical committee which worked on the various aspects of the document culminating in the production of a draft document. Membership of the technical committee was an enlarged one comprising of the permanent secretaries, Ministry of Education, tutors-general/ permanent Secretaries, representatives of the Ministry of Education, SUBEB, LASTVEB,ESSPIN, TEPO, NUT,ANCOPSS, SSIT, AOPSHON, Ministry of Establishment and Training, PSSDC and the quality assurance office.

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It is my opinion that the standard of education is not declining. Our children today from very young ages have been able to deal with more complex equipment than we did, even as little children. But as policymakers and administrators we need to just do more to ensure that we move education forward.

Kindly tell us how far the Lagos State Ministry of Education has gone in terms of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for Universal Basic Education?

We have gone far in ensuring that every child in Lagos State has access to free, basic education. We have introduced the yellow card as a means of ensuring that our children are off the streets and in classrooms. Indeed we have also imposed fine or possible jail time for parents whose children are not in school during school hours.

What are your thoughts on the very topical and sometimes controversial issue of free versus qualitative education?

My personal opinion is that education

should not be free, because in the economic sense someone is still paying for it, which in this case is the government. As a result of “free” education students are not serious with their studies. If education is paid for, it sustains personal interest of the parents in the children’s education and would also ensure active participation and diligence on the parents and student. But our party manifesto recommends free basic education and we have no choice but to abide by this policy.

INTERVIEW

Do you think that your background in law has been an advantage to your career as a politician and administrator?

Yes, studying Law has been beneficial. It has given me the ability to be analytical in my thinking and has made evaluation of situations easier to do. It has assisted in my planning process and has made governance almost effortless. Issues, situations, projects, programmes too have benefited from this background making informed decisions easier to take in certain situations.

What are your thoughts on women participation in politics and administration?

Women participation in politics is a good thing, because we are forthright, hard-working and better managers of men and resources. Evidently women who occupy higher positions make better administrators. We tend to do much more to get the accolades of our superiors. While men tend to be easily distracted, women are more prudent and focused so joining politics would make politicking better and easier to do and more beneficial to the society as a whole.

What role do you think parents and the society at large have to play in addressing the spate of truancy among our school pupils?

The parents and society are responsible for inculcating the right values and morals. Parents are expected to spend more time with their children and teach them their local language, culture and tradition because they have major roles to play in the general upbringing of their children.

What do you think can be done in order to eliminate gender inequality?

Encouraging the girl child to be in school, giving them scholarships, bursaries and the right platforms for selfactualization. Making the right laws, regulations and policies to protect them, giving them direction and ensuring they get the right education would go a long

way in ensuring gender equality.

Please tell us your thoughts as an educationist on the spate of Boko Haram insurgency and their resentment of western education, especially in the wake of the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno State?

The boko haram insurgency is unacceptable. The abduction of the girl was a despicable act. The girlchild should be in school as they have equal rights to education as their male counterparts.

no “short cuts” in life, believing in themselves and knowing that everything is possible. They should dream and work hard to actualize their dreams and finally they should have clearly defined goals and objectives.

Do you sometimes consider yourself to be less of a fulfilled lawyer than other colleagues who are in mainstream legal practice? If no, why?

Do you think the Chibok girls can still be found? If so, is the government doing enough to rescue the girls?

In comparison to my counterparts practising mainstream Law, I do not feel less fulfilled because I enjoy what I am doing and because I am able to contribute to the development of Nigerian children, achieving the education objectives of the state while keeping in mind that it is a temporary position.

I reserve my comments as I am not privy to the efforts of the government in the rescue bid.

Finally, what is next for you after leaving office, do you have any plans to practice law?

How have you been able to balance your work life with being a wife and a mother?

My plan is to go back home and take care of my grand-children, ensuring they have the right values and morals, so, practising law for me now sounds farfetched

It’s been easy for me as I have a very understanding husband as well as grownup children who do not make demands on the home front giving me the latitude and time for governance.

Who are your professional role models and why?

My role models are Mrs. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, for her hard work, passion for the less privileged, her campaign for women emancipation and affirmative action on women and Governor Fashola for his diligence. He has also demonstrated many leadership ethos, with his “nothing is impossible” and indomitable spirit. He has shown the way and we are all following his footsteps.

What advice do you have for young and would-be lawyers and politicians?

My advice to upcoming lawyers and politicians is that they should be focused and know that there are

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THE RASHIDI YEKINI CASE AND THE STATE OF MENTAL HEALTH LAW IN NIGERIA

*Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, OFR, SAN, FCIArb

INTRODUCTION Apart from feeble attempts by health authorities and efforts of charitable organizations, little has been done in Nigeria and a host of underdeveloped and developing economies to tackle the issue of mental health and indeed the law governing that very field of Medicare.

In actual fact, the society more often than the other, turn the proverbial blind eye whenever confronted with the very obvious and not too obvious cases of mental infirmity, disorder and or illness.

A NATIONAL HERO Rashidi Yekini, National hero, Nigerian Professional Footballer with immense talent had a successful career spanning over 20 years. After displaying his talent for local Nigerian teams including the defunct Abiola Babes F.C. of Abeokuta, UNTC of Kaduna and my own darling Shooting Stars Football Club of Ibadan (Up Shooting!), he had an eventful career overseas playing mostly in the European continent especially for the Portuguese club, Victoria Setubal, where he scored 93 goals in 122 appearances.

He also played for Olympiakos in Greece, Sporting Gijon in Spain, FC Zurich in Switzerland and Bizerte FC in Tunisia. He returned from Europe to play in Cote D’Voire for Africa Sports and then the Nigerian League (now Nigerian Premier League) with Julius Berger of Lagos and Gateway FC of Abeokuta. Yekini’s international career saw him play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria 58 times between 1984 and 1998. During his exploits in the national team, he scored 37 goals including Nigeria’s first ever goal at the World Cup Finals. This was indeed a glorious career.

Since his untimely demise at the age of 49, the press has been awash with several controversial headlines including “Was Rashidi Yekini Killed?”, “Untold Story of Rashidi Yekini’s Last Days”, “Ex-Eagles Striker, Rashidi, Dies in Herbal Home” and “How Rashidi Yekini Died of Depression”.

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The above point to the fact that the death of ‘Gangling Yekini’, (as he was fondly called), was shrouded in mystery and was probably related to his state of health. We do not know what his state of mind was but what comes to fore is the issue of utmost neglect of special people in need of the attention of the State.

Another issue of utmost importance is also the re-examination of the enabling legislation regulating mental health issues.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The history of mental health regulation in Nigeria dates back to the pre colonial period through the English statutes of 1845 and 1890, applicable to Nigeria as a Statute of General Application.

In 1906, the Lunacy Ordinance was passed in the then southern province of Nigeria. The Ordinance empowered the colonial government to establish a lunatic asylum. Consequently, the first asylums were built at Yaba in Lagos and at Calabar. Lunatics under the Ordinance include idiots. Medical supervisors appointed had the power to detain a person suspected to be a lunatic for not more than a month but ultimate authority lay with the District Commissioners who had the power not only to detain but hold hearings and appoint medical supervisors.1 The established asylums functioned more as a prison than a treatment centre. As such lunatics that is the inmates were kept without any care and were secluded from the society as if they were outcasts.

With the growing need for a law that will take care of the affairs, well being and fundamental rights of lunatics, reports were commissioned on mental health in Nigeria.2 The reports advocated an expansive approach to the provision of mental services and this led to the enactment of the Lunacy Act 1958. This Act has remained the basic legislative framework on mental health in Nigeria. This legislation made provisions for the detention of lunatics by medical practitioners3 and the courts4 in designated hospitals. It was however grossly blank on salient issues of consent to treatment, appeal against detention and it was grossly inadequate on important issue the management of the affairs and property of the lunatic.

STATE OF FACILITIES Nigeria, unlike most countries of the European Union, is yet to have an effective legal framework to regulate, cater for, or provide for the management of mentally ill persons and their affairs.

The state of the law is rather insufficient to meet the challenges of proper regulation of mental health. Just about 3.3% of government’s annual expenditure on health is earmarked for mental health in a country where the proportion of budget on health to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 3.4%. Most resources on mental health in Nigeria are provided by government. The total per capital expenditure on health is US$31 and out of this, US$7 represents government expenditure. Out of the proposed health budget and that granted to the mental health department, 90% of this has been put into recurrent maintenance of mental hospitals only. The infinitesimal amount dedicated to mental health cannot be enough to embark on any new capital infrastructural on mental health; rather, it has been used to maintain the ones already existing. It is noteworthy to state that our mental hospitals are in deplorable condition. In Nigeria today, there are seven (7) mental health facilities, six (6) of which are owned by the Federal Government. The hospitals are poorly equipped with a total of 1092 beds. Even other developing African countries have better equipped hospitals with a better ratio of medical personnel to patients and patients to beds. The Nigerian government owned mental health facilities are inadequately funded and underdeveloped but they can boast of about 95% of trained Psychiatrists while the remaining 5% work for Non Governmental Organizations, for profit and private practice. As such there is a pool of expertise in government owned institutions that are not being maximized as they should be to boost the mental health sector.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK The legal framework for regulation of mental health and their patients are moribund as even subsisting laws are inadequate. The operative law in Nigeria is the Lunacy Act of 1958. New efforts aimed at formulating a new law to include current trends and advances in relation to laws of other countries have not been

successful. Nigeria formulated mental health policies in 1991 with objectives to advocate, promote, prevent, treat and rehabilitate mentally ill patients.

Most of these objectives have not been implemented effectively.

Nigeria’s legal framework regulating the affairs of mentally ill persons as aforesaid is largely based on the repealed Mental Health Act 1959 of the United Kingdom. This law has been replaced with the Mental Health Act 1983 (United Kingdom) and the current law now in the United Kingdom is the Mental Health Act 2007 with accompanying amendments.

Mental disorder was defined in the United Kingdom 1983 Mental Health Act as; any disorder or disability of the mind excluding those of severe mental impairment and psychopathic disorder which were included in the lunacy laws in force in Nigeria as a result of the 1959 Act which was copiously enacted. This definition has further widened the term and persons that fall under the definition of mentally disordered persons as this category is now not limited to just persons suffering from the now omitted ailments but also other persons that were not or might not have been envisaged under the 1959 Act with exceptions to learning disability or alcohol dependence. A lunatic, as stated in the Public Trustee Law for the purpose of the management of his property and affairs is described as ‘a person found lawfully adjudged to be a lunatic by the magistrate court and includes: -

Persons suicidal or dangerous to himself; or

-

Persons not dangerous to himself but dangerous to others;

-

Persons incapable of managing himself; or

- Persons capable of managing

himself and not dangerous

either to himself or others, but

incapable of managing his own affairs -

A criminal lunatic while insane or under confinement

-

Any person not detained and not found to be a lunatic, but

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whom through mental infirmity arising from either disease or age, is not capable of managing his affairs.”

Understanding the criminal responsibility5 of a person with unsound mind or Mental disorder, Section 28 of Criminal Code provides that ‘a person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission if at the time of doing the act or making the omission he is in a state of mental disease or natural mental infirmity as to deprive him of capacity to know whether he ought not to do the act or make the omission’. In protecting people with mental disorder or of unsound mind, Chapter 25 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 2004 also allows for the defense of insanity and ways in which it can be proved in the court of law.

immediately after the killing and any past history of mental abnormality of the accused. See Karimu v The State (1989) 1NWLR (Pt. 96) 140, R. v Inyang 12WACA 5 at 7, James Anyim v The State (1983) 1 SC NLR 370 at 377 etc.” iii.

i.

Nature of mental that can avail an of the defense of

disorder accused insanity:

Per Edozie, J.S.C. in the case of Guobadia v State6 stated that ‘It must also be borne in mind that it is not every form of mental disorder that can relieve an accused person from criminal responsibility. The law requires that such mental disorder that can avail an accused person as a defense must fall within the ambit of section 287 of the Criminal Code Law’.

iv.

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Whether the defense of insanity based on delusion can avail an accused person: Per Ikyegh, J.C.A. stated in the case of Adelu v The State11 that “Apart from the clear wording of section 28 which amply support the reasoning of the trial court and the Court of Appeal, there are a host of authorities coming from this Court making it abundantly clear that before the defense of insanity based on delusion can be of any avail to an accused person, the reaction of the accused person to the state of things as believed by him must be such that it could be regarded as legitimate and natural reaction to such a state of things.

ii. Nature of Insanity: In case of Ani v State8, Per Iguh, J.S.C.9 stated thus “The law is settled that insanity is primarily a question of fact to be determined by the trial court which ought to take into consideration each and every admissible piece of evidence tendered before it, including medical evidence, where available, together with the whole of the facts and surrounding circumstances of the case, particularly such vital facts like the nature of the killing, the conduct of the accused before, at and

What must be shown in order to establish the defense of insanity: “In order to establish the defense of insanity, the defense must first show that the accused was at the relevant time suffering from either mental disease or from natural mental infirmity.

Then it must be established that the mental infirmity as the case may be was such that at the relevant time the accused was as a result deprived of capacity to (a) understand what he was doing or (b) control his actions (c) know that he ought not to do the act or make the omission.

If there is incapacity or defect of understanding, there can be no consent of will, the act is therefore not punishable as a crime.” See Edoho v State10 Per O. O. Adekeye, J.S.C. (P. 27, paras. C-G)

Apart from statutory laws as showed above, the superior courts of record in Nigeria have had to take decisions with regards to persons of mental health issues. Therefore case laws have developed over the years with regards to determine issues such as;

v.

relevant time, suffering either from mental disease or from natural mental infirmity; (b) that the mental disease, or the natural infirmity was such that, at the material time, the prisoner was as a result deprived of capacity to understand what he was doing or control his actions or to know that he ought not do the act or make the omission.”

Proof of Insanity: Per Ogbwuegbu, J.S.C. in the case of Ogbu v State12 stated thus ‘‘In order to establish the defence of insanity, it must be shown that:- (a) the prisoner was at the

vi.

Whether Court must rely solely on medical evidence in determination or otherwise of proof of insanity: In the case of Ani v State13, Per Iguh, J.S.C. stated that “Although medical evidence is usually of great assistance in the establishment of insanity, a Judge may none the less make up his mind on the issue in spite of such expert evidence, taking into consideration the totality of all the evidence tendered before the court. However, due weight ordinarily ought to be attached to such medical evidence. See R. v Ogor (1961) 1 SCNLR 121; (1961) 1 All NLR 70, Mboho v The State (1966) 1 All NLR 69, Benson Madugba v Queen (1958) SCNLR 17, (1958) 3 FSC 1, Oden Ikpi v The State (1976) 12 SC 71 etc.”

MANAGEMENT OF PROPERTY AND AFFAIRS OF THE MENTALLY DISORDERED The properties of mentally disordered persons properly so called are issues of private law over which the state has no power over save certain instances known to law. However, mentally disordered persons are subject to state protection and therefore there is a state responsibility to handle their affairs. As such, in the United Kingdom, the Mental Health Act 1983 provides that the affairs of the mentally disordered persons (including their properties and belongings) are to be handled by the state through Lord Chancellor who has the power to nominate Judges of the Supreme Court to manage such properties and affairs. The Supreme Court has created a court called the Court of Protection to be in charge of this. The court has a head called the Master of the Court of Protection. The existence and the powers of the Court of

Protection are entirely statutory by virtue of the Mental Health Act 1983. Section 17 of the High Court Law of Lagos State states as follows: “...the High Court shall have the powers and authorities of the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain in relation to the appointment and control of guardians of infants and their estate, and also keepers of the persons and estates of idiots, lunatics and such as being of unsound mind are unable to govern themselves and their estates” By the above, the High Court of Lagos possesses the power of the Lord Chancellor to the extent that it can appoint guardians for infants and to manage and control the affairs and estate of lunatics who are unable to govern such themselves. Before such management can be embarked on, it must be shown that the subject is incapable of managing his property and affairs by himself through medical evidence given by a registered medical practitioner.

Therefore, the equivalent of the Court of Protection is to be found in the powers of the High Court to appoint a ‘committee in lunacy’ entrusted with the management of the estate of the patient. Where it is believed that such a person is incapable of managing and administering his property and affairs. Powers conferred on the High Court can be exercised after considering medical evidence proffered by the medical expert that such a person is incapable of managing and administering his property and affairs.

While the practice and procedure of the Court of Protection in England has significantly developed over the years, same cannot be said of the Nigerian practice even though there are relevant but insufficient provisions in the High Court laws of Lagos State and indeed other states of the federation. See for example, Section 11 of the High Court Law of Oyo State 2000.

In the United Kingdom, there are settled principles with regards to the powers of the Court of Protection. By section 16(1) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, such power (which by section 20(1) includes the power of the deputy acting with the Court’s authority) becomes exercisable only when the patient lacks mental capacity in relation to his or her personal

welfare, property and affairs. Other powers of the court includes, the power to make declarations concerning capacity which is a new power of the Court of Protection granted under section 15 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, statutory power of the court under section 49 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to call for a report from a public guardian, a Court of Protection visitor, a local authority or an NHS (National

Section 135 defines a Place of Safety as a residential accommodation provided by a local social service authority under part III of the National Assistance Act 1948 and under paragraph 2 of the National Health Service Act 1977, a hospital as defined by the act, a police station, mental nursing home, residential home for the mentally disordered persons or any other suitable place where the occupier willfully receives the patient.

Health Service) body, power in relation to the patient’s welfare, property and affairs under sections 17 and 18 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 which include choice of patient’s residence, contact persons of the patient, consent to treatment, choice of medical practitioner for the patient, power in relation to enduring and lasting powers of attorney as well as independent mental capacity advocates who are service officials to advice, assist and safeguard persons that lack the capacity to make a specified decision at a particular time, are facing a decision on a long term move or serious medical treatment or have nobody else to be able to represent them as stated in sections 35-41 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The practice has also settled principles relating to proceeding parties thereto and the manner of notices to be issued. Furthermore, practice rules are established governing hearings, taking of standings, evidence, enforcement of decisions and appeals. With regard to appointed deputies, principles governing the mode of application, the structure, duties and power of the deputy and the termination of the deputy’s tenure are also firmly established.

It is indeed a sad commentary that the Nigerian legal system has not developed a proper and efficient legal framework to protect the most vulnerable of its citizens and it is about time, legislation is encouraged in this field. We have not developed our legal framework while social distaste and ostracization remains the unfortunate order of the day in Nigeria with regards to the mentally ill.

THE NEED FOR URGENT ACTION One of the most common situations in mental health situations in most jurisdictions is the presence of lunatics on the streets without care or any attempt to take them in and treat them.

In the Nigerian jurisdiction, there are no provisions for taking such lunatics in or detaining them. As such they sleep on the streets and in public properties causing danger to themselves and innocent passersby. In the United Kingdom under the Mental Health Act 1983, Section 136 provides for a lunatic to be removed from places where the public have access to by a constable for the protection of the lunatic and the public. Such lunatic will be removed to a ‘Place of Safety’.

This article is dedicated to all the victims of abuse who have been let down by the system and who are still waiting for justice. However these people may still be better off than the likes of Rashidi Yekini who unfortunately may have been let down by the nation he served with his all.

END NOTES 1

Medical Supervisors were persons required to certify persons as lunatics 2 Insanity in Nigeria, Care and Treatment of the mentally ill in British west African colonies, On the Psychiatric services of Nigeria 3 In civil matters 4 In criminal matters 5 Criminal Responsibility can be said to mean ‘to be responsible for a criminal act whereby the perpetrator must have the capacity to understand what he is doing, capacity to know that he ought not to do the act or make the omission and capacity to control his action’ 6 Guobadia v, State (2004) 6 NWLR (Pt.869) 360 Per Edozie, J.S.C (P. 12, paras. D-F) 7 A person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission if at the time of doing the act or making the omission he is in such a state of mental disease or natural mental infirmity as to deprive him of capacity to understand what he is doing, or of capacity to control his actions, or of capacity to know that he ought not to do the act or make the omission. A person whose mind, at the time of his doing or omitting to do an act, is affected by delusions on some specific matter or matters, but who is not otherwise entitled to the benefit of the foregoing provisions of this section, is criminally responsible for the act or omission to the same extent as if the real state of things had been such as he was induced by the delusions to believe to exist.

8 Ani v. State (2002) 10 NWLR (Pt.776)644 9 (Pp. 18-19, paras. F-B) 10 Edoho v. State (2010) 14 NWLR (Pt. 1214) 651 S.C. 11 Adelu v. The State [2011] LPELR-CA/1/134/07 12 Ogbu v. State (1992) NWLR (Pt. 259) 255 13 Ibid 8

*Chief Ayorinde, OFR, SAN is the Principal Partner of B. Ayorinde & Co., The Chairman, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria and Former Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomosho

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AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF MINERAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND OIL BEARING COMMUNITIES IN THE NIGER DELTA Dr. Okechuwu Ejims* Introduction It is pertinent to note that the growth of mineral resource development affects the physical environment in which it operates. In the light of this consideration, this paper will seek to highlight the impact of mineral development activities on the rights of indigenous peoples. More specifically, the paper will illustrate how mineral resource development has caused contested ownership of land and natural resources within indigenous communities and how industrial development has also caused severe environmental damage. Following the examination of the adverse impact of mineral development on the rights of indigenous peoples, this paper will compare how mineral resource development has adversely affected, in particular, the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta. Primarily, it will highlight parallels between the concerns of indigenous peoples and those of the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta and show how the adverse impacts of mineral resource development are essentially similar to the disadvantages suffered by indigenous peoples. Additionally the paper will show that the adverse impact of mineral resource development presents the need for addressing the situation of indigenous peoples with the international legal obligations relating to indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources. On a wider level, the impact of mineral resource development illustrates the case for highlighting a relationship between indigenous peoples and the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta in terms of similar effects of the disadvantages suffered. This however raises the demand for the application of the concept of indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources in addressing the issues between mineral resource development and oil producing communities of the Niger Delta.

The paper is broken down into two main sections. Firstly, it provides a discussion of the impact of mineral resource development on the rights of indigenous peoples. Secondly, it provides an examination of the same on oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.

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1.1 Mineral resource development and indigenous peoples’ rights 1.1.1

Impact of mineral resource development activities on the rights of indigenous peoples to land and natural resources

International law and municipal law have both recognised the inalienable rights of indigenous peoples to their land and natural resources. This includes the ownership and possession of the land and resources they traditionally own or occupy and the right to subsistence on those lands and resources.1 Indigenous peoples also have a distinct cultural and social relationship with their land and resources. According to the UN Rapporteur on indigenous land: (i)

A profound relationship exists between indigenous peoples and their lands, territories and resources;

(ii)

This relationship has various social, cultural, spiritual, economic and political dimensions and responsibilities;

(iii)

The collective dimension of this relationship is significant; and

(iv)

The intergenerational aspect of such a relationship is also crucial to indigenous peoples’ identity, survival and cultural viability.2

The use of land and resources for the livelihood and subsistence of indigenous peoples is often characterised by subsistence based economy through farming, fishing, hunting, gathering and other means of livelihood.3 Since the activities of extractive industry such as mineral resource development are such that they involve the displacement of indigenous peoples from their ancestral land, distortion and degradation of the environment, mineral resource development presents a great challenge to the subsistence economy of indigenous peoples, owing to destruction of the land surface and appropriation of land by state government for mineral development operations.4 Due to the appropriation of indigenous peoples’ lands, mineral resource development also presents a

serious potential to destroy indigenous peoples’ socio-cultural affinity to their land.5 Most of the time, indigenous peoples displaced from their territory live in poor conditions.6 Moreover, the appropriation of indigenous peoples’ land, which displaces them from their territory, leads to conflict between mineral development interests and those of indigenous peoples.7

peoples and communities who are most affected by the impact of these development projects. This is due to the fact that indigenous peoples inhabit almost all areas identified for mineral resource development.

of indigenous peoples

The impact of mineral resource development on the environment arises from the pollution of rivers and land resulting in environmental degradation.

The environmental issues include the killing of plants, decline in marine biodiversity and agricultural production and human health problems. Recently, the Camisea oil and gas exploration project in Peru has experienced five oil spills of LNG that have been a result of ruptures in the LNG pipeline.10 During these incidents the LNG evaporates, contaminating the air, and large quantities of liquids have caused contamination to waters and rivers.

For example, there has been a report by indigenous communities that the effects have included contamination of water and resultant degradation of fish and plant life, which has given rise to large number of dead fish floating in a river and the decline of plant yield and harvest.11 Moreover, there have been reported cases of fever, attributed to the consumption of contaminated fish.12 Oil exploration in Russia has likewise affected the environment of indigenous communities. The operations of Shell (Sakhalin project) have begun to cause many problems for indigenous peoples.13 For instance, the construction of the Molikpaq platform has caused damage to the fish resources of the indigenous communities. Additionally, there have been reported cases of a decline in forest animal and plant life, on which the indigenous people depend for their livelihood. This is attributed to the construction activities under the project.14 The Sakhalin project has also witnessed oil spills that have seriously degraded salmon spawning areas and fishing grounds.15

The development of mineral resources raises issues of numerous environmental impacts. The people most affected by the impact of this development are people living in the locality where the mineral development is carried out and to all intents and purposes, it is indigenous

The neglect of the environment of indigenous peoples inevitably invites conflict between indigenous peoples and mineral resource development interests.

This conflict has been expressed in significant protests amongst the affected communities.16

Another important aspect in law is the right of indigenous peoples to ownership of the natural resources found beneath in their land. Indigenous peoples have always claimed rights to natural resources beneath their land, which include their right to participate in the use and management of these natural resources.

Although this right has been developed by international law, most state practices run contrary to this. The state practice confers ownership of sub-soil resources to the state. This practice has a long history8 and is enshrined in modern international law through the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1803 of 1962. This gives states absolute rights to control and develop natural resources contrary to the interests of indigenous peoples in their territory.

The implication of this may be that states and transnational companies may not recognise the rights of indigenous peoples to own, develop, control and use their communal lands, territories and mineral resources. This may also result in depriving indigenous peoples of their land and resources without consultation or consent for the benefit of mineral development activities.9 1.1.2

Mineral resource development and indigenous peoples’ environment

1.1.2.1 Impact of extractive industry activities on the environment

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1.1.3

Transnational financial institutions and indigenous peoples’ environment

Considering the nature of human rights violations by companies in the extractive industry, it is important to include and account for the banking industry. Even if this industry may not be directly involved in human rights violations perpetuated by these companies on the ground, the role of the banks is very critical to such enterprises through project finance. As such, banks may be complicit in human rights violations in much the same way as other companies in the extractive industry.17 It is becoming ever more widely accepted that banks have human rights responsibilities.

Reference is frequently made to the equator principles, a well-known voluntary environmental and social finance standard of the International Finance Corporation for projects over US $10 million.18 The imposition of human rights responsibilities on banks, however, remains voluntary at the present time.

However, even amongst banks that subscribe to the equator principles, NGOs and others have identified problems with their implementation. It has been noted that banks continue to finance and invest in projects that are in conflict with the principles and continue to cause environmental issues, including detriment to indigenous communities.19 The Phulbari coal mine is a prime example. According to reports, Barclays bank (an Equator bank) and UBS continue to back GM Resources to develop the mine in Bangladesh despite the potential environmental and social problems that will be caused by the project.20 Similarly, a report published in 2007 has shown that major equator banks involved in the financing of extractive companies in the Sakhalin II oil and gas projects have not complied with the desired environmental policies.

This has eventually led to human rights violations in indigenous communities.

This 2007 report shows that indigenous communities did not participate in decision-making and that assessment of environmental and social impacts were inadequately conducted.21 The fact that these principles are

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non-binding and voluntary makes it difficult to protect the human rights of indigenous communities. On the other hand, whatever the legal position of banks with regard to shouldering human rights responsibilities, it is the duty of governments to take measures to counteract such human rights violations in the loan market. This is because there is an obligation on governments under international law to protect and promote human rights.

of these economic spaces, often result in indigenous peoples emigrating out of the area of their original habitat into urban areas and because of their poor economic status, they end up in the poverty belt within the urban areas.22

1.1.4

Further, absolute ownership of mineral resources by states takes its toll on the economic life of indigenous peoples.

The absolute ownership of mineral resources by the state leaves indigenous peoples without rights in the economic negotiating process relating to the development of their mineral resources.

The most telling impact of this is that it has led to depriving indigenous peoples of the use and enjoyment of their mineral resources.

Socio-Economic impact of the extractive industry on indigenous peoples

The encroachment on indigenous peoples’ territories through the activities of the extractive industry, such as oil production for economic interests, has a socio-economic impact on indigenous peoples or communities which we shall now explore. The most

On the other hand, land appropriation results in massive displacement of indigenous peoples. This has the effect of depriving indigenous peoples of the traditional sources of their livelihood, viz. farming and hunting.23

2.1 Addressing the adverse effect of mineral development activities on indigenous peoples

obvious socio-economic impact of these activities on indigenous peoples is the systematic destruction of their traditional subsistence economy due to degradation of the environment and appropriation of land, which is the basis upon which their traditional economy is built. The environmental concerns include oil spills and construction activities relating to natural resource development. As shown earlier in this chapter, the effects of oil spillage and heavy construction activities impact upon fish resources, forest animals and plant life, thus seriously jeopardising the local economy, much of which is based on fishing and hunting. The destruction

The adverse impact of these activities on indigenous peoples gives rise to the need to protect the rights of indigenous peoples. These include protection of their land and natural resource rights in order to prevent conflicts and address the socio-economic and environmental impact of the mineral development activities of the extractive industry.

The following sections look at ways of addressing the adverse impact of mineral resource development on indigenous peoples.

2.2.1

Addressing environmental issues

Due to the adverse effects of the extractive industry, most governments and international companies are now developing methods to curb its environmental and socio-economic impact. These include the imposition of strict environmental legislation, self-regulation procedures and environmentally friendly mining technology to mitigate or eliminate environmental risk.24

2.2.1.1 Environmental Impact Assessments (the EIA) Considering that, in most cases, there is enormous complexity involved in estimating environmental damage in financial terms, it has also been difficult to find an appropriate trade-off between environmental and social impacts on the one hand and the economic benefits of mining and extraction on the other.

Techniques called Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) have been developed as instruments for predicting possible effects of the extractive industries’ activities on the environment. A formal Environmental Impact Assessment will also contain participatory elements designed to enable citizens to engage in the process in order that comments, concerns and questions can be raised.

The results of these assessments should help provide an analysis of the environmental impacts of mineral resource development activities. These include a thorough consideration of how the mineral development project would affect the environment and, where possible, the provision of advice on how to mitigate the adverse environmental impact that the project would have.25 With regard to indigenous peoples, environmental impact assessments have provided a means for them to participate in the consultation process during mineral development.

2.2.1.2 ILO Convention Analysis of Best Practice The ILO has strengthened this process when analysing best practice for effective consultation during mineral development. The ILO Convention provides that: …in cases in which the state retains the ownership of mineral or sub-surface resources or rights to other resources pertaining to lands, governments shall establish or maintain procedures through which they shall consult these peoples, with a view to ascertaining whether and to what degree their interests would be prejudiced, before undertaking or permitting any programmes for the exploration or exploitation of such resources pertaining to

lands”.26 2.2.1.3 The Rio Declaration The Rio Declaration is very instructive in this regard. The declaration provides as follows: …indigenous peoples’ and their communities have a vital role in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional

indigenous peoples from participating in the natural resource sector is wrong.

Indeed, instead of reducing investment risks in the extractive industry, ignoring indigenous peoples’ participation in mineral resource development becomes an impediment to mineral development, leading to violent disruptions and decline in production and revenue from the industry.29 This shows that it is economically wrong to exclude indigenous peoples from decisionmaking processes in mineral resource development.

2.2.1.6 Problems with the EIA Process

practices and States should involve them in effective participation to achieve sustainable development.

2.2.1.4 The World Bank’sOperational Policy on Indigenous Peoples The World Bank’s operational policy on indigenous peoples clearly provides that indigenous peoples should be informed through consultation processes of the potential effect of commercial development of their mineral resources on their environment.27 Despite this, there is almost total exclusion of indigenous peoples in decision-making processes in the natural resource sector.

2.2.1.5 The Role of Governments and Companies For instance, in the Peruvian Amazon, the government and companies have excluded the indigenous communities from participating in development activities that affect them.28 The reason for this corporate and government attitude towards indigenous peoples may be the government’s claim to sovereignty and ownership over natural resources.

The conflicts that often erupt between indigenous communities, governments and companies in the extractive industry show that the decision to exclude

However, there are major problems with the EIA process. One of them is that it is put forward by the industry itself. It is the industry that appoints and pays the consultant. As a result of this, EIAs will inherently lack complete independence and credibility because the company seeking final approval of the project that they are developing has the responsibility of providing an EIA. The lack of independence and credibility can have significant impacts on the environment because the EIA may not focus on certain potential environmental issues, as it is intended to. So, for example, EIAs of oil development projects in indigenous communities in Latin America have often failed to provide detailed analyses of the environmental impact of these projects, which has caused adverse impact on the environment of indigenous communities.30 The Sakhalin II oil project in Russia is also a prime example.31 The oil spills that seriously degraded the environment of indigenous communities in Russia were as a result of their issues not having been adequately addressed in the environmental impact assessment carried out prior to the commencement of the project.

Another problem is that governments and companies, in carrying out token Environmental Impact Assessments in order to meet the requirement for these, and in attempts to shunt public opinion aside whilst nominally complying with paperwork requirements, do not provide indigenous peoples with adequate information to facilitate their full participation in the EIA process.32

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Harvard’s Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs notes that most governments that implement public hearings upon the completion of the EIA process do not give the public access to the entire EIA. The public receives only a prepared summary. It goes without saying that that this limits the public’s ability to evaluate the EIA independent of a prepared summary.33 Further, even when governments require companies to release EIAs and executive summaries, the companies are required to release these 30 days in advance of public hearing and consultation. Since these documents are dense, it will be very difficult, even for experts, to understand all the issues in a very short space of time.

Therefore it will be even more difficult for indigenous peoples to understand these documents within this timeframe, since they lack the technical expertise.

Because they are ill-equipped to fully participate in the public hearing, the process is not adequate for meaningful participation. For participation to be meaningful, it would require a series of meetings in which the issues could be explained to the interested parties and during which they could carry out further investigations. Potentially affected parties should be provided with the support and resources to be able to check the information provided for them.

This means the resources to use experts and sufficient time for those experts to be instructed and respond properly to the issues in hand.34 International institutions have underscored this point. The International American Development Bank states: Information distributed in the context of the bank’s participatory processes…will be provided proactively and for the process of permitting and encouraging dialogue. The information should be made available in a form and at a time which permits substantive assessment of projects and affords adequate time for comments.

The World Bank also states: Information should be provided sufficiently in advance of consultations so that stakeholders

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can contribute more meaningfully to discussions over mitigation and compensation options…

These recommendations, if stringently adhered to, could go some way towards meeting the justified demand of stakeholders for proper processes to enable them to analyse the impact of development projects, in order to mitigate the adverse impact on their environment.

3.1 Protection of indigenous peoples rights to land and natural resources As discussed earlier in this chapter, the security of indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources is fundamental to their economic livelihoods and subsistence. It has been made clear that most governments do not recognise the rights of indigenous peoples to land or resources, which includes subsoil resources during mineral resource development. This indicates failure on the part of the government to identify lands belonging to indigenous peoples. There is abundant evidence of widespread violation by governments of the internationally guaranteed rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources which can be found in United Nations Treaty body jurisprudence concerning indigenous peoples.35 3.1.1

The Need for Delineation of Boundaries

However, for actual recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to land and resources to be implemented, the formal identification of the boundaries of indigenous peoples’ lands and territories needs to be undertaken. A good example is the case of Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community v Nicaragua, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights placed an obligation on the government of Nicaragua to formally demarcate and recognise indigenous peoples’ land and resources as its enables them to exploit their communal property.36 Therefore, governments should take measures to protect indigenous peoples’ land and resources by recognising these rights within their domestic legal system.

Failure on the part of the government to recognise and acknowledge indigenous peoples’ rights to land and resources will leave indigenous peoples susceptible to practices by government that may deprive them of their land and resources during mineral resources development, which will lead to conflict between indigenous peoples and the mining industry.

The ILO convention clearly expresses this obligation on the part of states as follows: …governments shall take steps to identify which [areas] indigenous peoples traditionally occupy, and to guarantee the protection of their rights of possession and ownership.37 3.1.2

The Need to Recognise Rights to Sub-surface Resources

Other principles of international law support indigenous peoples’ right to natural resources, which includes subsurface resources. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, for instance, has recognised ownership rights of indigenous peoples to natural resources, which includes subsoil resources pursuant to the right to property in Article 5(d)(v) of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. In March 2006 the committee recommended that a reporting state recognise and protect the rights of all indigenous communities to own, develop and control the lands which they traditionally occupy, including water and subsoil resources.38 This is not to say that there has been no improvement in national laws pertaining to indigenous peoples’ rights. Most national legislations recognise the rights of indigenous peoples to own land and natural resources, including subsoil resources. Examples of these improvements can be found in different jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Latin American countries.39 One might be forgiven for thinking that the full protection of indigenous peoples’ rights will have been achieved through the promulgation of the legislation

discussed. But this is not the case because most states continue to reject indigenous land and resources rights in various ways.

3.1.3

Legal Strategies Employed to Reject Rights of Indigenous Peoples

For instance, most states, with the support of their domestic courts, have rejected indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources which include subsoil resources. In Ward v Western Australia v Ward 40 the court found that there was no evidence to show that the indigenous claimants traditionally exploited minerals. The approach taken by the court means that they cannot claim mineral rights, since they did not exploit the same traditionally. Moreover, the application of rigid evidentiary requirements by domestic courts has also made it difficult for indigenous peoples to make claims for their rights. In Yorta Yorta v Victoria41 the court, in denying the existence of the native title rights of indigenous peoples, gave preference to the written account of European settlers over the oral history of the indigenous peoples.

In most cases governments that have promulgated national legislation to protect indigenous peoples’ rights have lacked the political will to implement these laws and regulations or to monitor compliance. By not enforcing national laws enacted for the purpose of protecting indigenous peoples’ right to land and natural resources, the government of the Philippines has allowed the activities of mineral resource development interests to deprive the indigenous peoples of their rights to own land and natural resources.42 Even though most governments have enacted laws that protect indigenous peoples’ land and natural resources, ownership of subsoil resources are vested with most of

these governments.43 On the other hand, United Nations Treaty bodies have shown serious concerns about the maintenance of practices and the adoption of laws that negate indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources in Canada.44 These bodies have also shown the likelihood of the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights to land in the United States of America.45 Accordingly, measures to protect indigenous peoples’ rights to land and natural resources will be helpful in preventing or minimising destruction of their means of subsistence by extractive industry owing to mineral resource development.

3.2 The Need to Add Effective Regulations to Voluntary Selfregulation Efforts by Transnational Companies (TNCs) A growing number of activities by transnational companies (TNCs) in the extractive sector have caused human rights violations in areas where they operate. As a consequence, pressures from civil society have forced TNCs to develop the concept of social responsibility. The intent is that the TNCs play a powerful, positive role in meeting the challenge of sustainable development by helping business focus on its potential to do well. This has led TNCs to engage in self-regulation through the adoption of voluntary corporate codes of conduct.46 These corporate codes are designed to be a set of voluntary principles adopted by companies as to how they will operate with respect to local communities and the environment, human rights and labour standards. Amnesty International and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum give an indication of one motivation which has given rise to this development: The drive for new resources can lead extractive firms into association with human rights violations. Unlike some aspects of political risks, companies cannot readily insure themselves against this, except through having effective policies to deal with the human rights issues confronting them.

Experience has shown that problems are most likely to arise when resources are

located in zones of conflict and in territories with indigenous peoples…47 This implies that TNCs recognise that a degree of broad social concern can be in their best interests in the long run. The recognition of social concerns can be said to help TNCs find a balance between economic and social interests.

In spite of the merits of corporate codes of conduct, they give rise to problems of accountability. This is because they are not instant law. They are voluntary in nature and are not legally enforceable.

Specifically, one commentator doubts the effectiveness of corporate code of conduct, since TNCs make their own rules and decide how they should be applied. This makes them accountable only to themselves. He states that Shell had to rewrite its business principles after the dumping incident at the Brent Spar oil rig in the North Sea and after realising the implications of doing business with the military regime in Nigeria which executed Ken Saro Wiwa.48 There is also ample evidence to support the conclusion that these corporate codes of conduct are often ineffective.

The case of the Lokono indigenous peoples of West Surinam is one example which demonstrates the inadequacy of corporate codes of conduct. In 2003, subsidiaries of BHP Billiton failed to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment of their exploration work in a traditional indigenous territory in Surinam, even though it had significant impact on the environment of the indigenous communities.49 Even where the company contracted a firm to carry out the impact assessment plan, it did not adequately account for indigenous peoples’ issues relating to their environment.50 The activities of BHP Billiton have also caused environmental issues for indigenous communities in the Philippines.51 The case of the indigenous communities in the Amazon of Peru is another example. The exploration of oil and gas (Camisea project) by Pluspetrol had untold environmental consequences.

Some of the environmental consequences of the project so far have been disease and death of indigenous peoples, pollution and soil erosion

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and landslides resulting from pipeline construction.52 These consequences demonstrate that these companies had not implemented effective programs to address environmental issues, despite the fact that BHP Billiton and Pluspetrol both have corporate policies that commit them to upholding environmental and international human rights principles when operating in indigenous and local communities.53 Moreover, since corporate codes of conduct are not law, it is essential for governments to provide stronger regulation and monitoring through lawmaking, so that indigenous peoples’ interests can be fully served. This is perhaps the most desirable way of protecting the human rights of indigenous peoples. Moreover, there is some evidence in contemporary law that human rights obligations and responsibilities can also apply to nonstate actors such as TNCs.54 Owing to the fact that international law is slow to change in that it has not strengthened the existing human rights system to place direct responsibilities on TNCs, it is therefore incumbent on states, pursuant to their obligations under human rights law, to protect peoples within their jurisdiction and to take upon their own shoulders the primary responsibility of protecting these rights.

3.3 The impact of mineral resource development on the Niger Delta communities Nigeria has proven oil reserves of at least 36.2 billion barrels. Most of these reserves are located in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta.55 Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producers, with an economy which largely depends on increased oil exports.

Given the dependence of the Nigerian economy on oil and the increasing foreign investment in this sector, there has been growing attention to the socioeconomic and environmental impact of these developments. On the one hand, as oil developments expand relentlessly into the Niger Delta region, local communities are raising concerns about the impact on their livelihoods, as well as issues of how to engage effectively in mineral resource development to ensure that oil and gas development

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provide sustainable local benefits. On the other hand, the vast size and the increasing importance of the oil industry in Nigeria do not guarantee the social and economic security of Nigeria’s oil producing communities. Large-scale oil development often results in negative outcomes, including social disharmony and adverse environmental impact.

A study undertaken by environmental groups will attribute most of the social and environmental issues in the oil producing communities to oil development.56 A World Bank environmental study has also identified oil development as one of the environmental problems in the oil communities.57 We shall now attempt to appraise the impact of these developments for oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.

3.3.1 The Environmental Impact of Oil Exploration on Oil Producing Communities in the Niger Delta Oil development comprises different phases which have numerous environmental effects. For the purpose of this outline, they are categorised into (1) the Exploration Phase and (2) the Production and Transportation Phase.

The exploration phase firstly involves seismic surveys and exploratory drilling. Secondly the production and transportation phases involve production drilling, gas flaring, and transportation by pipelines. Some of the main environmental problems within both those categories are discussed below.

3.3.1.1 Exploration Phase The exploratory stage of oil development begins with seismic surveys. This involves examining the surface structure of the earth and determining areas where it is geographically likely that oil might exist. This survey is carried out by the use of explosives to send sound waves into the earth.58 This operation is a cause for environmental concern. The use of explosives can lead to serious vibrations that can affect soil structure, which can cause substantial damage to buildings. The use of explosives can also cause serious disturbance to humans and wildlife due to the level of noise that is caused by the explosion.59 This

threat is very real in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta.

By surveying the surface and subsurface characteristics of the earth, the geologist can extrapolate which areas are most likely to contain oil reservoirs.

Once the geologist has determined an area where it is geologically possible for oil to exist, it is up to the drilling experts to dig down to where the actual oil is thought to exist in order to confirm the presence of oil. This is called exploration drilling.60 This process involves the clearing of vegetation and the removal of topsoil. The resultant loss of vegetation and topsoil from forest clearings, for example, has its own environmental impacts. These include possible erosion and changes in surface hydrology.61 On the other hand the major excavated waste products of drilling operations such as baryotes and bentonitic clays, present serious disposal problems. These materials, when dumped on the ground, prevent plant growth; when dumped in water, they may kill living organisms in the water.62 An important case that illustrates this issue is Umudje & Anor.

V Shell-BP.63 In that case the plaintiff filed an action claiming compensation for damage caused by overflow from a waste pit dug by Shell-BP. The statement claimed that Shell dug an oil waste pit for dumping exploration waste at one of its sites located in the EnenurhieEvwreni community which became full and the waste was spread into the plaintiff’s farm land, ponds and lakes, thereby destroying the land and killing the living organisms in the pond. The Supreme Court held that the defendants were liable and awarded damages.

3.3.1.2 Production and Transportation stage Once oil is drilled, and it has been verified that commercially viable quantities are present for extraction, an oil well must be completed to allow the flow of oil out to the surface before it is processed and transported.64 During this process the oil is lifted from the ground to the surface, and then transported through pipelines to a separation plant or production facility where it is processed. The production plant separates out the fluids such as gas and water which are lifted up to the surface along with the oil. The oil

is then transported through pipelines for export. At this stage of production and transportation, there are attendant environmental risks. In addition to the environmental issues at the exploration stage, there is increased risk of soil and water contamination from oil spillage and leakage from oil pipelines. Gas flaring at the separation stage constitutes yet another source of environmental concern.65

Oil Spillages With the expansion of oil production in the Niger Delta, the environmental risks of oil production and transportation have increased considerably in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta region. Between 1976 and 1980, there have been 784 incidences of oil spills involving 1.3 million barrels of oil discharged into the environment.66 Estimates made by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation place the quantity of oil jettisoned into the environment yearly at 2,300 cubic metres, with an average of 300 individual spills annually between 1991 and 1993 in the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta region.67 According to a recent study, statistics from Shell show that between 2000 and 2004 a total of 1,350 incidences of spills occurred.68 Other spills are the Idoho oil spill in January 1998, in which 40,000 barrels were spilled into the environment.69 In August 2004, there was a spill at Chevron’s Ewan oilfield close to the Ubale and Kerere communities along the coastal line in Ondo State.70 Furthermore, in Ogoni, between 1993 and mid- 2007, there have been a recorded 35 incidences of oil spills.71 Whatever the figures may appear to be, one important fact is that oil spills have a disastrous impact on

oil producing communities of the Niger Delta region. This has been confirmed by studies, which have shown that the chronic occurrence of spills has a detrimental effect on the environment.72 This could be seen from the impact of large volumes of spills on the mangrove system and the socio-economic consequences on peoples’ life. In the Ogoni communities, the oil spills that occurred between 1993 and mid-2007 destroyed Mangrove forests. It was also noted that the spills damaged marine life, sources of water for domestic use and farmland. In addition, the oil spills in Ogoni communities have affected the people by contaminating the drinking water and this has led to the outbreak of diseases .73 Another study has shown that oil spillages in the Edjeba and Kokori communities in the Niger Delta have caused extensive damage to the farmland and bodies of water.74 Another impact of oil spillage is evident from the oil spill at Chevron’s Ewan oilfield. The spill devastated the fishing grounds of the Ubale and Kerere communities close to the oilfield.75 Having seen the numbers of oil spillages and their impact on the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta, it is pertinent to note that oil spills occur due to a number of causes, including: corrosion of pipelines and tankers (accounting for 50 percent of all spills), sabotage (28 percent), and oil production operations (21 percent), with the remaining 1 percent of spills being accounted for by inadequate or non-functional production equipment.76 The largest contributor to oil spills in the Niger Delta is corroded pipelines and tanks. This is due to lack of regular inspection and maintenance.77 Sabotage, which is another major cause of oil spillage, involves inhabitants of the Niger Delta engaging in oil bunkering and from time to time destroying oil pipelines in their efforts to collect oil from them.78 While there is a wide knowledge of sabotage, there is lack of enthusiasm to prosecute alleged saboteurs.79 This has made allegations impossible to prove.

However, the defence of sabotage often raised in court by oil companies in order to avoid liability for damage resulting from oil spillages has rarely succeeded.80

Gas Flares Apart from the incidence of oil spillage, another source of environmental concern in oil production in the Niger Delta communities is the flaring of gas. As part of the oil production process in Nigeria, the gas associated with oil extraction is generated and flared. The World Bank estimates the annual volume of associated gas flared in Nigeria amounts to 18 billion cubic meters.81 Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest oil producer and the world’s 6th largest oil exporter, and indeed the 7th largest gas reserve province, is the largest in gas flaring in the world.82 Data has shown that since 1963, Nigeria has been flaring between 75 to 95 percent of associated gas. A more recent study estimate by Shell Petroleum Development Company puts the amount of gas produced by Nigeria at 2.6 billion standard cubic feet per year and until 1999 about 75 percent of it was flared.83 The position in relation to the flaring of gas in Nigeria has not changed in spite of the government and oil companies’ efforts to cut the flaring of gas.

It will not surprise the reader to learn that gas flaring is associated with significant environmental problems. For example, a World Bank study shows that continuous flaring of associated gas has significantly contributed to the release of greenhouse gases which cause global warming and acid rain.84 Moreover, various environmental and health agencies have claimed that gas flares involve the release of toxic substances, mostly benzene but also others which include toluene and xylene, into the atmosphere.85 According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency exposure to benzene causes blood disorders such as leukaemia.86 In the absence of a comprehensive study on the impact of gas flaring on oil producing communities of the Niger Delta, it is only possible to state that flaring may harm the inhabitants of these communities.

3.4 Socio-Economic Impact The oil producing communities of the Niger Delta depend on their land and environment for their livelihood. Fishing and agriculture are the main occupations of communities in the Niger Delta, and this is the basic means, not only of Pivot

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subsistence but also of livelihood in the region. In this context it is important to note that most of the farming and fishing are particularly for commercial purposes, i.e. to be sold on and earn the communities the wherewithal to acquire goods and services which they cannot themselves produce. However, all these economic activities have declined since the ascendancy of the oil industry. This has posed a challenge to the socio-economic rights of the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta. With respect to these economic activities, the socio-economic impact is already felt by the communities at the production stage of oil development.

Oil spillage, however, has continued to cause a considerable negative socioeconomic change in the area. As noted in the previous section of this chapter, it can destroy farmland, rivers and fishing lakes. Reports have shown the effect of oil spills on the economic life of these communities. In the Ogoni communities, the effect of oil spillage has been soil contamination, which affects crop yields.87 Also the spills in Ogoni communities have destroyed their mangrove forests, which serve as a habitat for fish as well as a source of wood for building.88 The spillage of oil into the rivers and waters in the Ogoni communities has resulted in the destruction of their marine life.89 The Funiwa V oil spill also affected fishing activities in the community. The loss of fish stock indicates the devastating consequences of the spill on the economic life of the community.90 Examples of compensation cases involving oil companies and communities show the impact of oil spillage on the economic life of the communities.91 The principal impact of this is food shortage, which has affected the ability of most families to feed themselves. The implication for the livelihoods in the Niger Delta communities is that it has led to poverty in the area and emigration into the city where the people become refugees.92 In giving credence to the nexus between the environmental issues of oil development in the area and poverty, there is empirical evidence to establish that poverty is a result of environmental problems.93 Another socio-economic impact of oil spillage on these communities arises from the health hazards it poses to the

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people in the region. The contamination of water sources such as rivers and streams in the area by oil spillages constitutes one of the most pressing issues in the region.94 Since the people in the region depend primarily on these sources of water for drinking, they may be open to health hazards. Reports have alleged that contamination of water sources has resulted in several health problems in the region. 95

wells and other oil installations, riotous protests, violence and hostage-taking.98 Some communities have produced charters and declarations to express their demands. These began with the Ogoni Bill of Rights in 1990 and the Kaiama Declaration.99 These Bills Of Rights sought to fight environmental degradation and inequities arising from the exploitation of oil resources in the area.

It is often alleged that oil development in the Niger Delta region brings with it an increased prosperity and a major source of national income for Nigeria as a whole. Notwithstanding these allegations, it must be acknowledged that oil development in the Niger Delta region has not brought positive economic impact for the people of that region in terms of the vast mineral resources in the area. Despite its massive mineral resources, the region is suffering from abject poverty. The huge revenue from oil does not have any positive impact in the region. Instead there is increasing incidence of poverty in the region. A report has established that poverty has become a way of life due to economic stagnation, unemployment, shortages of essential goods and facilities, government insensitivity, lack of medical care, education and the exclusion of the communities in matters relating to their interests.96 This is in addition to the negative impact of the oil industry, already discussed, on their environment, which has led to economic deprivation resulting from the damage done to their land and water.

It is also pertinent to note that frequent recourse to these violent activities has resulted in shortages of petroleum products and energy and the country losing billions of dollars in revenue owing to drop in production of petroleum products.100 This affects the international markets through rises in crude oil prices. The concern for the Nigerian Government is that it leads to loss of foreign exchange needed to finance national development. Oil companies have also lost revenue due to seizure of pipelines, and illegal bunkering. The estimated loss to bunkering is 10 to 15 percent daily.101 In an attempt to bring peace and security to these communities, the Nigerian Government has deployed police and military into these areas but instead of providing peace, the presence of the armed forces has provoked a sense of insecurity amongst these communities in the Niger Delta region.

It is important to remember, as well, that amidst these violent conflicts, the poverty and environmental degradation in the communities of the Niger Delta persists.102

3.5 Political Action, Unrest and Conflict in the Area As a consequence of the foregoing, there is intense feeling among the communities in the region is that they ought to be well off. This is based on the considerable quantity of resources in their midst, of which they are aware.

Reports have revealed that the incidence of poverty in the Niger Delta seems to be around 44 percent.97 The issue of poverty in the midst of vast oil resources has sparked agitation within the local communities for a piece of the region’s vast oil resources. Their dissatisfaction is expressed in various forms, including sabotage of pipelines, seizure of oil

3.6 Addressing the concerns of the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta As seen in the preceding sections, oil development in the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta has given rise to the issues that exist in the area. The experience within the oil producing communities demonstrates the need to address the current issues within the communities. Looking at the experience of these communities has pointed to a number of possible issues with oil development. Since oil development could well be a significant reason for the conflicts, the government should tackle this problem. The demand of the oil producing communities to own

and control their natural resources has drawn our attention to addressing these issues from this perspective.

Considering that the concerns of the oil producing communities are similar to those expressed by indigenous peoples elsewhere, it warrants a close look at the possibility of applying the rights of indigenous peoples elsewhere to the situation of the oil producing communities in areas where mineral resource development is taking place.

However, it is important to bear in mind that this article is limited to accessing the impact of oil development on the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta. On the other hand, addressing the issue from a multidimensional approach which includes the rights of indigenous peoples looks promising, considering the situation of the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta. Perhaps the thorny and challenging issue would be to satisfactorily argue for the applicability of the concept to the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta.

ENDNOTES 1 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (adopted 27 June 1989 entered into force 5 September 1991) ILO No. C 169 see Preamble. This portrays a right to self-determination. Also, See M Tomie and L Swepston, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples: A Guide to ILO Convention No. 169 (ILO Geneva, 1996) Sec 1. 8 2 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, paras.

39-40.

3 J Connell and R Howitt, Mining and Indigenous People in Australasia (Sydney University Press, Sydney 1991) 8 4For the environmental and social impact of mineral resource development, see G Pring, ‘Trends in International Environmental Law Affecting the Mineral Industry’ (1999) 17 (1) JENRL 43-45.

For a discussion of the impact of mineral resource development on the land rights of indigenous peoples, see G Winstanley, ‘The Human Right to Natural Resources’ in J Hancock, Environmental Human Rights (Ashgate 2003) 143-148; W Holden and A Ingelson, ‘Disconnect between Philippine Mining Investment Policy and Indigenous Peoples Rights’ (2007) 25 JENRL 385 5The dispossession of indigenous peoples from their land deprives them of their special relationship and attachment with the land.

6 UNCHR, Report by Special Rapporteur R. Stavenhagen on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples 59th Session (2003) 7Holden and Ingelson (n 4) 386 8 O Ostensson, ‘A Brief Background on Social Issues and Mining’ in Management of Commodity Resources in the Context of Sustainable Development: Social Impact of Mining, Proceedings of the Asian/Pacific Workshop on Managing the Social Impact of Mining, Bandung, Indonesia 14-25 October 1996 UCTAD/ITCD/ COM.5 4 –11 available at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ poitcdcomd5.pdf 9 Most disputes that arise between indigenous peoples and states are with regard to ownership of land and mineral resources. For example, see Bernard Ominayak, Chief of the Lubicon Lake Band v Canada Communication No. 167/1984 (26 March 1990) UN Doc. CCPR/C/38/D/167/1984; Delgamuukw v. British Columbia [1997] 3 S.C.R 1010.

10 CS Tirado, Evaluation of Camisea Project Piping Failures and Long-Term Solutions, Report of E Tech International (26 February 2006) available at http://www.etechinternational.org 11 Amazon Alliance, Amazon Update No 109 (January 2005) available at http://www.amazonalliance.org/upd_jan05_en.html 12 Ibid 13 Letters from representatives of Indigenous Peoples in Sakhalin to JBIC and 3 Banks 8 December 2004 available at http://www. foejapan.org/en/aid/jbic02/sakhalin/050114.html 14 Ibid 15 Risky Business – the new Shell. Shell’s failure to apply its

Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines to Sakhalin II, WWWF-UK, November 2005. Available at http://www.banktrack. org/doc/file/projects/sakhalin%20russia/risky-bussiness-final2.pdf 16 For example, the fourth spill that occurred during the Camisea project on 16 September 2005 encouraged an obstruction of the project by the indigenous communities. See Claves: ‘Los incidents en el ducto de TGP’, El Commercio, 7 March 2006 available at http://www.elcomercioperu.com.pe . There are also planned projects from indigenous communities affected by the Sakhalin project. See Letters from representatives of Indigenous Peoples in Sakhalin to JBIC and 3 Banks 8 December 2004.

17 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights defines complicity in this context as follows: “A company is complicit in human rights abuses if it authorises, tolerates, or knowingly ignores human rights abuses committed by an entity associated with it, or if the company knowingly provides practical assistance or encouragement that has a substantial effect on the perpetration of human rights abuse.” The Global Compact and Human Rights: Understanding Sphere of Influence and Complicity, OHCHR Briefing Paper, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights (2004), 6 18 “Equator Principles” A Financial Industry Benchmark for determining, assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing. Available at www.Equator-principles.com 19 The Camisea Project has had tremendous impact on indigenous communities and detriment to their environment. Despite this impact, these projects have received finance from equator banks.

Therefore this is contrary to the Equator Principles, which state that projects financed by these banks should be carried out in an environmental friendly manner so as to avoid negative impact on the environment. Dodgy Deals: Camisea: Amazon and gas exploration – Peru. 24 January 2008. Available at www.banktrack. org.

20 UBS alerted over Phulbari Coal mine: Human Rights Concerns for Bangladesh Mine Investment. Available at www.banktrack.org, also see Kashagan Oil Project Kazakhstan. Available at www. banktrack.org 21 Risky Business (n 15); also Sakhalin II: New Environmental Violations Brought to Light: Banks once more warned for the risks of being involved June 27 2007 available at www.banktrack.org 22 Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development Strategies 141 ‘Development Co-operation with Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean’ (2006) 8 23 The UN Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples concurs by stating that the deprivation of indigenous peoples of their land, territories and resources undermines their economic security. See Indigenous People and their Relationship to Land. Final Working paper prepared by Special Rapporteur Mrs. Erica-Irene A. Daes UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/21 para 123 24 T Walde, ‘Environmental Policies Towards Mining in Developing Countries’ (1992) 10 JENRL 327- 351; N Usman, ‘Environmental Regulation in the Nigerian Mining Industry: Past, Present and Future’ (2001) 19 JENRL 230-243 25 For a general discussion of Environmental Impact Assessment, see P Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law (2nd edn CUP Cambridge, 2003) 799-826; P Birnie and A Boyle, International Law and The Environment (2nd edn OUP Oxford, 2002) 130-137 26 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 1989 (adopted 27 June 1989 entered into force 5 September 1991) art 15(2). See also art 6 & 7, which state that indigenous peoples must participate in all development activities that affect them.

27 S Errico, ‘The World Bank and Indigenous Peoples: the Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (O.P.4.10) Between Indigenous Peoples Rights to Traditional Lands and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent’ (2006) 13 International Journal of Minority and Group Rights IJMGR 367-390 28 E Greenspan, ‘Strategies for improving Government Consultations with Indigenous Peoples in the Peruvian Amazon’ Study supported by the United States Agency For International Development (USAID) (4 April 2006) 29 Ibid 30 For a discussion of lack of independence of Environmental Impact Assessment, see S Turner, ‘A Substantive Environmental Right? An examination of the legal obligations of decision-makers towards the environment’ (PhD thesis, Queen Mary University of London 2007) 159-161 31 Risky Business (n 15) 32 The public was not involved in the development of the

environmental impact assessment of the Kashagan Oil Project in Kazakhstan ( n20) 33 Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs, Cambridge MA, ‘Perspectives on Consultation: A Review from the Dialogues on Oil in Fragile Areas: Program on Non-violent Sanctions and Cultural Survival’ March 2000 34 S Turner (n 30) 35 Indigenous peoples and United Nations Treaty Bodies: A Compilation of United Nations Treaty Body Jurisprudence 1993-2004. Available at http://www.forestpeoples.org/documents/ law_hr/un_jurisprudence_comp_sept05_eng.pdf accessed on 6 January 2008; A Compilation of United Nations Treaty Body Jurisprudence 2005-2006. Forest Peoples Programme, Moreton in Marsh. See also CERD General Recommendation XXIII: Indigenous Peoples, U.N. Doc. CERD/C/51/misc13/Rev.,(1997) para. 3 the Committee has pointed out that indigenous peoples have been deprived of land and resources by colonists, commercial companies and state enterprises. In this sense, see also S J Anaya, ‘International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples: the move toward the multicultural state’ (2004) 21 Ariz. J. Int’l & Comp. L 13. See further, SJ Anaya and R William Jr, ‘The Protection of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights over Lands and Natural Resources under the Inter-American Human Rights Systems’ (2001) 14 HHRJ 33. SJ Anaya, Indigenous Peoples in International Law (2nd edn OUP Oxford, 2004). This author shows that the greatest demonstration of discrimination against indigenous peoples is the failure of states to recognise their customary possession and use of land.

36 Awas Tingni Community v. Nicaragua Judgment of August 31, 2001, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., (Ser. C) No. 79 (2001) para. 153 37 ILO Convention No. 169 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989 Art 14. See Chapter 2 for more detailed discussion 38 Concluding Observations: Guyana. UN Doc. CERD/C/GUY/ CO/14, 4 April 2006 para 16.

39 For the national laws concerning the rights of indigenous peoples See Chapter 2. J Warden-Fernandez, ‘Indigenous Communities Rights and Mineral Development’ (2005) 23 JENRL 395. Holden & Ingelson (n 4) 375 40 [2002] 191ALR 1(HCA) 113 41 [2002] 194 ALR 538 42 For examples see Holden & Ingelson (n 4) 43 See J Warden-Fernandez (n 39). Most Latin American countries have enacted laws that protect the rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources but still retain ownership of subsoil resources.

44 Concluding Observation of the Human Rights Committee: Canada, CCPR/C/CAN/CO/5 20 April 2006 paras 8 & 9 the human rights committee stated that it is concerned about the practises that extinguish indigenous peoples’ rights and recommends that Canada re-examines its policy and practises to ensure that they do not result in depriving indigenous peoples of their rights. The committee was also concerned about information that the Band Indigenous peoples continue to be deprived of their land by large-scale oil and gas projects. For concerns in other countries see generally,The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman Annual Report FY2010 And Review FY2000-10 (2010) 45 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Decision 1(68), United States of America, (Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure). CERD/C/USA/DEC/1, 11 April 2006.

The committee found out that there are legislative efforts to privatise Western Shoshone ancestral lands for transfer to multinational extractive industries and energy developers.

46 R Jenkins, ‘Corporate Codes of Conduct: Self-Regulation in a Global Economy’ United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Technology, Business and Society Programme Paper No.2 (2001) 47 Business and Human Rights: A Geography of Corporate Risk.

Extractive Sector, Amnesty International and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders’ Forum, 5. Available at http://www. iblf.org/docs/geography/extractives.pdf 48 S Subedi, ‘Multinational Corporations and Human Rights’ in K Arts and P Mihyo (eds) Responding to the Human Rights Deficit: Essays in Honour of Bas de Gaay Fortman (Kluwer Law International The Hague, 2003) 179-180 49 R Goodland, ‘Environmental and Social Reconnaissance: The Bakhuys Bauxite Mine Project. A report prepared for the Association of Indigenous Village Leaders of Suriname and the North-South Institute’ 2006. 6. Available at http://www.celarc.ca/ cppdoc1-12/203944.pdf

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50 Ibid 9-10 51 Mineral Policy Institute, Locals Say No to BHP Billiton’s Pujada Bay Nickel Mining Activities. Available at http://www.mpi. org.au/campaigns/protected/pujada_bay/ . The indigenous peoples complain that the creek that provides them with drinking water smells of crude oil.

52 Dodgy Deals: Camisea: Amazon and gas exploration-Peru. 24 January 2008. Available at www.banktrack.org 53 BHP Sustainability Report 2005. Available at hsecreport. bhpbilliton.com/2005/repository/socio-Economic/caseStudies/ caseStudies40.asp. For Pluspetrol’s human rights commitment see www.pluspetrol.net 54Amongst others, see ‘Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action’ UN Doc A/CONF.166/9 (1995); ‘Commentary on the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights’ UN Doc E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/38/Rev.2 in M Addo (ed), Human Rights Standards and The Responsibility of Transnational Corporations (Kluwer Law International The Hague, 1999); Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. I) Chapter I, Annex I; J Paul, ‘Holding Multinational Corporations Responsible Under International Law’ (2001) 24 Hasting Intl and Comp Law Rev 285; UN Global Compact (UNGC); P Muchlinski, ‘The Development of Human Rights Responsibilities For Multinational Enterprises’ in R Sullivan (ed) Business and Human Rights (Greenleaf Sheffield UK, 2003) 33 55 Nigeria-Oil Country Analysis Briefs. US Energy Information Administration (2007) available at www.eia.due.gov/emeu/cabs/ Nigeria/Oil.html 56 The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities (Human Rights Watch New York, 1999); see also Ighodalo Akhakpe, ‘Oil-Environmental Degradation And Human Security In The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Challenges and Possibilities’ (2012) 8 European Scientific Journal (ESJ) 57 World Bank, Defining an Environmental Development Strategy for the Niger Delta, (Washington DC, 1995) Vol.1 86-88 58 Environmental Management in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production: An Overview of Issues and Management Approaches (1997) UNEP 4 59 Ibid 17 60 Ibid 6 61 Ibid 17 62 Oil of Poverty in the Niger Delta: A publication by African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (2004)

63 (1975) 9-11 SC 155 64 Environmental Management in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production: An Overview of Issues and Management Approaches 7 65 Ibid 19 66 E Hutchful, ‘Oil Companies and Environmental Pollution in Nigeria’ in C Ake (ed) Political Economy of Nigeria (Longman London, 1985) 113-140 67 The Price of Oil (n 56) 68 Shell Petroleum Development Company Annual Report 2004 69 The Price of Oil (n 56) 70 Niger Delta Human Development Report (United Nations Development Programme, 2006) 182; 71 LS Pyagbara, The Adverse Impacts of Oil Pollution on the Environment and Wellbeing of a Local Indigenous Community: The Experience of the Ogoni People of Nigeria (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2007) 72 For the impact on bodies of water and land see O Osibanjo ‘Industrial Pollution Management in Nigeria’ in Aina & Adedipe (eds) Environmental Consciousness for Nigerian National Development (1992) 97; see also Powell and White, ‘An Impact of the 1983 Oshika Oil Spill’ (1985); E Hutchful (n 66). For the impact on mangrove forests see MERCK, Indigenous Plants to the Rescue: Science in Africa (2002) available at http://www. scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/february/oil.htm 73 Pyagbara (n71) 74 OM Agbogidi and BC Okonta, ‘Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact of Crude Oil Exploration and Production on Agricultural Production’ (2005) 4 Global Journal of Environmental Sciences 171-176 75 Niger Delta Human Development Report (n 70) 182 76 P Nwilo and O Badejo, Impacts and Management of Oil Spill Pollution Along the Nigerian Coastal Areas available at www.fig. net/pub/figpub/pub36/chapters/chapter_8.pdf 77 Ibid 78 Ibid 79 O Adewale, ‘Sabotage in Nigerian Petroleum Industry: Some Socio-Legal Perspectives’ (NIALS Lagos, 1990) 80 Shell v Isaiah (1997) 6 NWLR pt 508 236, In a recent case, a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch was responsible for pollution irrespective of Shell’s argument that the pollution was caused by sabotage. Ivana Sekularac & Anthony Deutsch, ‘Dutch Court Says Shell Partly Responsible For Nigeria Spills’(2013) Reuters 81 F Gerner, B Svensson, and S Djumena, A Regulatory Framework and Incentives for Gas Utilization in Public Policy For the Private Sector (Gas Flaring and Venting) (2004 Note No. 279)

available at http://rru.worldbank.org/PublicPolicyJournal 82 The Price of Oil (n 56) 72 83 Ibid 84 The World Bank: Defining an Environmental Development Strategy for the Niger Delta (1995) Vol 1 58 Report No. 14266-UNI 85 See Canadian Public Health Association, Background to 2000 Resolution No. 3 available at http://www.climatelaw.org/cases/ country/nigeria/cases/case-documer 86 See Carcinogenic effects of Benzene: An Update: US EPA (1997) available at http://www.epa.gov/NCEA/pdfs/benzenepdf 87 Pyagbara (n 71) 88 Ibid 89 Ibid 90 See Hutchful (n 66) 91 Niger Delta Human Development Report (n 70) 348 92 Pyagbara (n 71) 93 J Arnold and P Bird ‘Forests and the Poverty-Environment Nexus’ (1999) UNDP/EC. See also ‘Linking Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management: Policy Challenges and Opportunities’ (2002) DFID, EC, UNDP and World Bank 94 JP Eaton, ‘The Nigerian Tragedy, Environmental Regulation of Transnational Corporations, and the Human Right to a Healthy Environment’ (1997) 15 BUILJ 261-267 95 Pyagbara (n 71) 96 For a discussion of the issue of poverty in the communities of the Niger Delta see Niger Delta Human Development Report (n 70) 97 Ibid 98 A compilation of recent violent activities and conflicts in the communities of the Niger Delta see Niger Delta Human Development Report (n 70) 99 Ogoni Bill of Rights 1990 available at http://www.waado.org/ nigerdelta/RightsDeclaration/Ogoni.html , Kaiama Declaration 1998 available at http://ijawcenter.com/kaiama_declaration.html 100 J Havens, Unrest in the Niger Delta (2007) Young Professionals in Foreign Policy available at www.ypfp.org/unrest_ in_the_niger_delta 101Niger Delta Human Development Report (n 70) 102 See K Campbell, ‘Bringing Peace to the Niger Delta’ (2008) United States Institute of Peace Briefing available at http://www. usip.org

*Dr. Ejims is a lecturer at the School of Law, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

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Sexual Abuse & Slavery:

A FORMIDABLE THREAT TO FAMILY RIGHTS IN NIGERIA *Ifeolu John Koni, Esq. LLM, M.Phil (Ife), BL

The right to private and family life is one of the fundamental rights entrenched in Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)1. That family right is made a subject of constitutional protection is axiomatic of the importance Nigeria, like other civilized members of the global community, attaches to the family, an institution that is oftenand rightly – regarded as the microcosm of the society. As a corollary to the provision above cited, the Constitution further states in section 34 (1) (a) & (b) that: “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly (a) No person shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment; (b) No person shall be held in slavery or servitude.”2 Any act done or omission made by any person or group that has the effect of causing discomfort or disillusionment to any family is thus a gross violation of this right and can ground an action for remedies under the law. It is in the light of the foregoing that one finds the new trend of subjecting females particularly young girls who fall victims of the nation’s growing political, religious and social crises to sexual abuse and slavery objectionable. The trend, which began with the phenomenon of kidnapping

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and abduction, has heightened with the emergence of the Boko Haram insurgency.

The abduction of about 300 female students of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Chibok, Borno State, North East Nigeria, otherwise called the Chibok girls, may have for now, climaxed the growing security challenges facing the girl child in Nigeria yet the incident was not entirely new. There had been other cases before the Chibok tragedy; there have also been other cases thereafter, though they may not be of comparable magnitude.

In this article, we shall examine the phenomenon of sexual abuse and slavery and show how it has affected the enjoyment of a happy, private family life and the right to dignity of human persons as eloquently entrenched in the Constitution.

Conceptual Definitions Three terms are germane to the topic of this paper. They are; sexual abuse, sexual slavery and private family life. It is important to define them so as to bear out the sense in which they are to be understood in this discourse. We shall begin with sexual abuse.

Sexual Abuse This has been defined by the Black’s Law Dictionary as “an illegal or wrongful act especially one performed against a minor by an adult. It is also termed carnal abuse.”3 It

is clear from the above definition that for sexual abuse to occur, the sex act must be illegal or wrongful, that is to say, it must have been done without the consent of the victim, otherwise referred to, in criminal law, as “the prosecutrix”. It is easy to understand why this definition makes a particular reference to a minor. In law, a minor is generally deemed incapable of giving consent to a sexual act owing to tenderness of age. A sex act done against a minor by an adult – whoever the fellow is – is, in the eye of the law, an abuse.

Sexual Slavery The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines the word “slavery” as “the act of submitting to dominating influence.” The word is synonymous with bondage, servility or servitude. In regard to illegal or unlawful sex, sexual slavery occurs when a woman or girl is made subject to the dominating influence of a man. It is similar to sexual abuse but worse than it in the sense that here, the woman or girl is subject to a humiliating or degrading experience for a long period of time. Whereas sexual abuse, simpliciter, may be a onerun event, sexual slavery is a continuous experience. A good example is what the Chibok girls are allegedly going through in the hands of their captors in the forest.

Slavery or servitude of any sort, worst of all, sexual slavery or servitude, can be a very terrible and traumatic experience for the victims. It is no wonder that the Nigerian Constitution views it as violation of a fundamental human right.4 Private Family Life The key word in this concept is “private”.

The word, when used in its adjectival form, means “belonging to one person or group; not public”5. When related to a family life, it means the right that members of a family have to live peacefully without unlawful interference from intruders. This is well protected under the 1999 Constitutions, as earlier stated.

Any act done, such as kidnapping or abduction, burglary or housebreaking, etc, that has the effect of undermining the peace or comfort of a family is an invasion of this right. The Nigerian criminal jurisprudence is so protective of this right that it makes the search of person or premises and the arrest of individuals from the latter wrongful, except in circumstances that are sanctioned by law.6

Legal Protection Against Sexual Abuse The protection that the law offers against sexual abuse and slavery can be discussed under five main sub-headings, namely, rape, kidnapping, abduction, indecent assault, and defilement of girls under 13 years.

Rape This has been defined as an unlawful sexual intercourse committed by a man with a woman not his wife, through force and against her will.7 A more elaborate definition of this crime is contained under section 358 of the Criminal Code. It reads thus: Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of married woman by impersonating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape.8 The ingredients of rape include legal capacity to commit the offence 9, carnal knowledge, that is to say, there must be penetration, 10 and consent. With respect to the last ingredient, the consent must be involuntary, that is, it must not have been obtained by force, or duress or through fraudulent representation.

Kidnapping and Abduction The Criminal Code provides that any person who unlawfully imprisons another and takes him out of Nigeria without his consent, or unlawfully imprisons him within Nigeria in such a manner as to prevent him from applying to a court for his release or from disclosing to any other person the place where he is imprisoned or in such a manner as to prevent any person entitled to have access to him from discovering the place where he is imprisoned is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for ten years.11 The above provision describes the offence of kidnapping. Abduction differs a little and is more relevant to this discourse as it refers specifically to unlawful acts done against females of different ages. Section 361 of the Criminal Code embodies the crime of abduction. It states that

“It is an offence which attracts seven years imprisonment for any person who with intent to marry or carnally know a female of any age, or to cause her to be married, or carnally known by any other person, takes her away, or detains her, against her with” The Code further provides that “any person who unlawfully takes an unmarried girl under the age of 16 years out of the custody of his father or mother or other person having the lawful care or charge of her, and against the will of such father or mother or other person, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years. 12 By the provision of section 225 of the Criminal Code, it is an offence, punishable with two years imprisonment, for any person, with intent that an unmarried girl under the age of 18 years may be unlawfully carnally known by any man, whether a particular man or not, to take her or cause her to be taken out of the custody of her parents or other person having the lawful care or charge of her and against the will of such parents or other person. It is, however, a defence to any charge laid under the latter offence if the accused can prove that he believed, on reasonable grounds, that the girl was of or above the age of 18 years.

A careful perusal of the above shows that the case of the Chibok girls comes properly within its umbrella. Their captors have persistently stated that they have no business being in school pursuing western education; that they ought to have been married and be giving birth to children. And to show that they meant what they said, the insurgents reportedly married the girls out a few weeks after they were abducted. But is the law on adduction cited above strict enough to deter the prospective abductors? We shall return to this later.

Indecent Assaults It is an offence under the Criminal Code to assault a woman or girl. It attracts imprisonment for two years. 13. It is equally an offence to unlawfully or indecently deal with a girl under the age of 16 years.

The offender is liable to imprisonment for two years. If the act is done to a girl under the age of 13 years, the offender is

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guilty of felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years, with or without caning. What will amount to indecent assault is not clearly stated in the Criminal Code but any unlawful use of force or threat of same designed to intimidate or harass the affected girls may suffice.

These provisions are intended, primarily, to protect females – the weaker gender – against unlawful violence by their male counterparts.

Defilement of Girls The Criminal Code states that any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 13 years is guilty of felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. An attempt to commit this offence renders the accused liable to 14 years imprisonment with or without caning.14. The law further provides that the prosecution of either of these offences must commence within two months and that a person cannot be convicted there for upon the uncorroborated evidence of one witness.

Evaluation and Concluding Remarks From the above review, it will not be correct to say that sexual abuse or sexual slavery is not protected by law in Nigeria. Both the 1999 Constitution and the two dominant codes of criminal law in Nigeria embody provisions which deal directly or, at least by implication, with this subject. The problem, however, is the question of whether or not the legal protection is adequate. Of great concern also is the adjectival aspect of the law which requires evidence of the prosecutrix to be corroborated in sexual offences. Let us first deal with the former.

The relevant law on abduction has already been stated. The legal implication of what the insurgents did to the Chibok girls can be gleaned from what the law says regarding abduction. In this regard, section 361 of the Criminal Code says they (the abductors) have committed misdemeanor and are liable to imprisonment for two years.

Although section 275 of the Penal Code prescribes ten years imprisonment for same offence, it is ridiculous that a crime of this magnitude could be lightly punished by law. The maximum punishment those who abducted the Chibok girls can get under the law is ten years imprisonment. And this is even because the

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offence was committed in Northern Nigeria where the penal code applies. Suppose the offence was committed in the South, the offenders could not be punished beyond two years imprisonment. 15 The most unfortunate aspect of extant the legal framework is the requirement of corroboration in sexual cases. By the provisions of sections 218, 221, 223 and 224 of the Criminal Code, an accused person cannot be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of one witness.

Even in other cases not directly falling under the aforementioned sections, the courts have always regarded it as unsafe to convict on the uncorroborated evidence of the prosecutrix (the complainant) only. As this writer stated in his book, “Appreciating Criminal Law in Nigeria.”16, if the requirement of corroboration were to be applied loosely, it would be difficult for a young girl of 12 years raped and dumped in a forest by her abductors(s) to establish a case of defilement against him/them even where she is able to identify the evil main/man and remember all the details of the act.

It does appear from the foregoing that even though the phenomenon of sexual abuse or slavery involving minors, is on the rise in Nigeria, constituting a formidable threat to a blissful family life, the legal safeguards leave much to be desired. Consider this scenario: A man and his wife were watching film in their sitting room with their children one quiet evening. Suddenly, some hoodlums, numbering five, decided to invade their privacy. They made their way into the sitting room and abducted a 12 year – old daughter of the couple.

They took the girl away, detained her in a house, against her will, with intent to carnally know her. Under section 361 of the Criminal Code, this offence attracts a maximum punishment seven years only. If the girl was sexually abused in an uncompleted building but there is no corroborative evidence of another witness who saw the rapists doing the act, it would be impossible under our law to get them (the rapists) convicted.17 The above scenario shows some serious lacunas in our law. It is an accepted norm in many other climes that women and children are vulnerable members of the society who deserve special protection of the law. The continuous surge in cases of sexual abuse and slavery in Nigeria,

particularly with respect to minors, may be due largely to inadequacies in legal safeguards. As long as this trend continues, the much desired blissful family life envisaged under section 37 of the 1999 Constitution will remain a mirage. The current push for the unification of the Criminal and Penal Codes into a single, vibrant Code of Criminal Law in Nigeria provides a golden opportunity to correct some of the loopholes in our criminal jurisprudence. In so doing, the law on sexual abuse deserves a drastic reform.

And this must be done as a matter of urgency.

ENDNOTES 1. Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended (hereafter referred to as “the Constitution”) which provides that “the privacy of citizens, their homes. correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected.”

2. Underlining supplied for emphasis.

3. See Bryan A. Garner. Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th edition at page 10.

4. See again section 34 (1) of the Constitution. Paragraph (b) of this provision states specifically that no person shall be held in slavery or servitude.

5. See the Oxford Advanced English Dictionary page 143 6. The law is that for a premises to be searched, there must be a search warrant issued to the police officer conducting the search.

A search warrant will only be dispensed with if a person to be arrested under a warrant of arrest is suspected to be hiding in a premises. (See section 7 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). And by section 107 (1) of the CPA a search warrant can only be issued by a magistrate or a police officer of the rank of Cadet ASP upon information on oath that a reasonable ground exists for believing that any premises is being used for the commission of an offence.

Similarly, except where a serious offence is suspected to have been committed and other circumstances sanctioned by law, a person cannot be arrested without a warrant issued by a court to a police officer or any other person carrying out the arrest (see section 376 of the Criminal Code).

7. See the Black’s Law Dictionary, at page 1374.

8. See section 282 of the Penal Code for a similar definition.

9. By section 30 of the Criminal Code, a boy below the age of 12 years is deemed incapable of committing this offence i.e he is presumed, irrebutably, to be incapable of having carnal knowledge.

10. See Ogunbayo v State (2007) 8 N.W.L.R (pt. 1035) 157.

11. See section 364 of the Criminal Code. For a similar provision, see section 273 and 274 of the penal code.

12. See section 362 of the Criminal Code. This section further provides that in any proceedings in respect of the above offence, it is immaterial that the offender believed the girl to be of or above the age of 16 years. It is also immaterial that the girl was taken with her own consent or at her own suggestion.

13. See section 360 of the Criminal Code.

14. See section 218 of the Criminal Code.

15. See again section 362 of the Criminal Code.

16. See John K. Ifeolu. Appreciating Criminal Law in Nigeria, Iqra Publishing House, Ilorin Nigeria, 2012 at page 289.

17. See the case of Sambo v State (1993) 6 N.W.L.R (pt. 300) 399.

In this case, the only evidence before the court was the testimony of a ten year old girl who was defiled by a man in his bedroom.

The Supreme Court, while allowing the appeal lodged by the appellant against his conviction by both the trial court and the Court of Appeal, took the view that for the unsworn testimony of a child to ground conviction, it must be corroborated *Mr. Koni is a lecturer at the College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Principal Partner at Dunamis Chambers in Kwara State and author of the book ‘Appreciating Criminal Law in Nigeria’

NEWS AND DEVELOPMENTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

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Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi win 2014 Nobel peace prize Pakistani teenager and Indian children’s rights activist beat Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the Pope and Vladimir Putin to the prestigious prize

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alala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage education campaigner shot on school bus in 2012 by a Taliban gunman, won the 2014 Nobel peace prize.

Malala won along with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist.

The two were named winner of the £690,000 (8m kronor or $1.11m) prize by the chairman of the Nobel committee - Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland.

Speaking after finishing the school day at Edgbaston High School for Girls, in Birmingham, Malala said: “My message to children all around the world is that they should stand up for their rights.”

She added: “I felt more powerful and more courageous because this award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room.

“This is encouragement for me to go forward.”

Malala, was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan after coming to prominence for her campaigning for education for girls.

She won for what the Nobel committee called her “heroic struggle” for girls’ right to an education. She is the youngest ever winner of the prize.

After being shot she was airlifted to

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Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she was treated for life-threatening injuries.

She has since continued to campaign for girls’ education, speaking before the UN, meeting Barack Obama, being named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people and last year publishing the memoir I am Malala.

A gang of 10 Taliban fighters who tried to kill her were arrested, the Pakistan army claimed.

In a statement, the Nobel committee said: “Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.

“This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances.

Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.”

Malala explained how she completed the rest of her school day after learning she had won the prize.

“When I found I had won the Nobel peace prize I decided I would not leave my school, rather I would finish my school time,” she said.

“I went to the physics lessons, I learned. I went to the English lesson. I considered it like a normal day.

“I was really happy with the response of my teachers and my fellow students. They were all saying they were proud.”

Satyarthi, the Nobel committee said, had maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests.

“Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the committee said. “He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.”

The Nobel committee said it “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism”.

Satyarthi, 60, dedicated his prize to children in slavery, telling CNN-IBN: “It’s an honour to all those children who

are still suffering in slavery, bonded labour and trafficking.”

He founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan or the Save the Childhood Movement - in 1980 and has acted to protect the rights of 80,000 children.

“It’s an honour to all my fellow Indians.

I am thankful to all those who have been supporting my striving for more than the last 30 years,” he said.

“A lot of credit goes to the Indians who fight to keep democracy so alive and so vibrant, where I was able to keep my fight on.

“Something which was born in India has gone globally and now we have the global movement against child labour. After receiving this award I feel that people will give more attention to the cause of children in the world.”

Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman said Malala and Satyarthi were worthy winners and that Satyarthi had taken part in an “outstanding and long struggle for the rights of the child”.

There were a record 278 nominations, 19 more than ever before – including US whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Pope Francis. Also on the list of nominees was an anti-war clause in the Japanese constitution and the International Space Station Partnership.

Previous choices include illustrious names such as Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Martin Luther King and, controversially, Barack Obama in 2009.

Paul Owen, Matthew Weaver and agencies, The Guardian, 10 October, 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/10/winsnobel-peace-prize-2014> accessed 14 October 2014

Women’s Rights Threatened in Democratic Republic of Congo

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n the Democratic Republic of Congo, politicians have begun a legal process that threatens the few rights women and girls have been able to sustain in the country. But civil society groups aren’t sitting idly by.

What’s Happening n January 17, 2015, members of the National Assembly in DRC passed a revision of the electoral law.

The opposition MPs called for a boycott of the plenary sitting to adopt the bill and did not participate; yet, it still passed with some 337 members voting in favor.

The bill calls for a nationwide census to be carried out before elections can be organized. While the government has explained that this is a necessary step in the country’s electoral process, the opposition is denouncing a “constitutional coup” aimed at prolonging President Joseph Kabila’s tenure

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Presidential and legislative elections that were initially planned for 2016 will most likely be delayed at least one year.

Clashes in Kinshasa between police and protesters, many who are students, opposed to the electoral changes have resulted in at least 12 civilian deaths.

Social media is saying the figure could be as high as 40 people. Other parts of the country are also seeing a crackdown on demonstrations.

The bill must pass the Senate to become law, but so far the Senate has delayed a vote, with Senators saying they need more time to consider the bill. Whether this will ease tensions isn’t yet known.

How DRC’s Women Are Impacted amage to the democratic electoral system in DRC is not the only threat civil society groups have identified. The bill has deleted all mention of equality between the sexes, as well as parts of the old electoral bill that addressed parity issues.

This could turn out to be a real step backwards for women’s participation in the electoral process in DRC, and it could present a new struggle for women’s rights

advocates. But the risk of exclusion of women from the electoral process is not the only thing worrying women’s rights advocates The country’s long civil unrest has affected women struggling to survive on very low incomes. About 93 percent of women in DRC are employed, yet only 7.3 percent work in the formal economy.

Others work in or own small businesses, and during periods of civil unrest such as the current situation, shops are closed due to the threat of violence and lack of security.

The resulting loss of income is a real blow. With food security and malnutrition still a major problem in DRC, families are made even more vulnerable. Despite the number of women working, 95 percent are living in absolute poverty—well below accepted average income levels.

Local advocates are also deeply concerned about police targeting women and girls during the crackdowns, telling us that many women and girls fear leaving their homes amid reports of rape by soldiers or police officers.

Emily Bove and Oscar Mungaliki, Women Thrive Worldwide, 23 January, 2015 <http://www.womenthrive.org/blog/women%E2%80%99s-rights-threatened-drc> Accessed 26 January, 2015

What companies can do to promote, respect and support for children’s rights

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hile the past decade has seen significant progress on child labour, more than 168 million children are still suffering worldwide

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hildren are affected in global supply chains in significant ways. More than 168 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour. The sectors

in which they often work – such as agriculture, services and manufacturing – can have direct links to the supply chains of multinational companies.

Beyond child labour, however, there is a range of other direct and indirect impacts on children that often receive less attention. Globally, women account for the majority of workers in labour intensive manufacturing industries. In many countries, childcare responsibilities conventionally rest with women, and poor working conditions and lack of maternity rights can therefore directly affect their children’s lives and wellbeing.

While the past decade has seen significant progress on child labour, companies too often fail to understand the range of other ways in which children are affected in supply chains. Crucial aspects such as living wages, length and flexibility of working hours, provisions for breastfeeding and pregnant women, family health care, special needs of migrant workers, parental leave, and childcare facilities rarely feature in supplier codes of conduct and auditing frameworks.

Towards good practice Addressing children’s rights in supply chains can seem daunting. As more and more countries integrate into the global economy, supply chains can stretch to virtually all parts of the world. In light of their limited control over business partners, what can companies do to promote respect and support for children’s rights in their sourcing activities?

The Children’s Rights and Business principles call on companies to act with human rights due diligence to safeguard the interests of children. They also articulate measures companies are encouraged to take to help support and advance children’s rights.

Human rights due diligence, as outlined by the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGP), requires the assessment of impacts, implementation of mitigation steps, and monitoring and reporting of progress across the full spectrum of human rights, including those of children.

Both the UNGP and the Children’s Rights and Business principles stress that human rights due diligence applies to business relationships in supply chains, and is not

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limited to a company’s own operations.

Identifying risks to children and understanding impacts on their lives in supply chains is a crucial first step for companies to implement informed mitigation measures. Some companies have already started this process.

Millicom, for example, a global telecommunications company, undertook an assessment of the risks to children in its supply and distribution networks in one of its operating countries. Using a tool developed by UNICEF and the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the assessment included how working conditions for employees affect their children.

Marshalls, a natural stone manufacturer, has teamed up with UNICEFto undertake research in the Indian stone quarrying sector to tackle child labour and create sustainable change for children.

Assessing the range of actual and potential impacts on children needs to go beyond the obvious interactions to be effective. A study by Oxfam and the Ethical Tea Partnership concluded that the lack of childcare facilities in Indian tea estates can force daughters of plantation workers to forego education because they have to look after their younger siblings.

Efforts to promote education are therefore unlikely to be successful if they are not accompanied by investment in childcare.

Crucially, tackling the systemic causes that underlie children’s rights violations necessitates a review of a company’s own policies and practices. The impact of living wages and fair purchasing practices can be as important as voluntary contributions to health and education.

Companies also have an important role to play in using their leverage and influence to build supplier capacity and reinforce community and government efforts to protect and fulfil children’s rights.

UNICEF’s work with the private sector UNICEF has a long history of global action on child labour in the context of business supply chains. Their partnership with Ikea, for example, began over a decade ago and supported the development of the Ikea Code of Conduct on child labour. It also included

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a comprehensive programme to address child labour in carpet production in India.

Building on this work, UNICEF will launch a set of innovative projects in 2015 to further promote respect and support for children’s rights in global supply chains.

With pilot projects in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, this work will draw on existing experience and concentrate on the development and testing of innovative concepts and solutions with industry leaders, workers’ organisations, civil society and governments.

In Bangladesh, for example, UNICEF has been working with several corporate partners on a range of issues such as health, nutrition and education. UNICEFis now engaging global fashion retailers and local factories to collaboratively identify and respond to the wide spectrum of adverse impacts of the ready-made garment sector on children – from exploitative working conditions for parents, to the provision of fundamental services in urban slum communities that have grown with and around the factories.

Tackling complex challenges in supply chains requires concerted efforts that empower affected individuals and communities at the local level where adverse impacts occur. By integrating children’s rights into their sustainability frameworks – and developing collaborative solutions with key stakeholders – companies can play a major role in building sustainable supply chains and improving outcomes for children.

Subajini Jayasekaran and Chris Kip, The Guardian, 21 January, 2015 <http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/ jan/21/what-companies-can-do-to-promote-respect-andsupport-for-childrens-rights> Accessed 26 January, 2015

Nigerians face killings, hunger in Boko Haram’s ‘state’

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oko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria’s medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse.

The Islamist group’s five-year-old campaign has become one of the deadliest in the world, with around 10,000 people killed in 2014, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Hundreds, mostly women and children, have been kidnapped.

It remains the biggest threat to the stability of Africa’s biggest economy ahead of a vote on February 14 in which President Goodluck Jonathan will seek re-election.

But while it has matched Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) in its brutality - it beheads its enemies on camera - it has seriously lagged in the more mundane business of state building. “The Islamic state is a figment of their imagination.

They are just going into your house and saying they have taken over,” said Phineas Elisha, government spokesman for Adamawa state, one of three states under emergency rule to fight the insurgency.

Unlike its Middle East counterparts wooing locals with a semblance of administration, villagers trapped by Boko Haram face food shortages, slavery, killing and a lock down on economic activity, those who escaped say. “(They) have no form of government,” Elisha, who saw the devastation caused by Boko Haram after government forces recaptured the town of Mubi in November.

Boko Haram, which never talks to media except to deliver militant videos to local journalists, could not be reached for comment.

“Muslim territory” Boko Haram’s leaders talk about reviving one of the West African Islamic empires that for centuries prospered off the Saharan trade in slaves, ivory and gold, but they demonstrate little evidence of state building.

In August, a man saying he was Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau - the

military says it killed Shekau - issued a video declaring a “Muslim territory” in Gwoza, by the Cameroon border.

There were echoes of ISIS’s proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria two months earlier. Boko Haram controls an area just over 30,000 square km of territory, about the size of Belgium, according to a Reuters calculation based on security sources and government data.

But while in Syria, after initially brutal takeovers, Islamic State has tried to win over communities, those who escaped Boko Haram say the rebels do little for them beyond forcing them to adopt their brand of Islam on pain of death. “They provide raw rice to cook, the rice that they stole from the shops. They provide a kettle and ... scarves to cover up the women,” said Maryam Peter from Pambla village. “People are going hungry. They are only feeding on corn and squash. No meat, nothing like that. The insurgents are not providing anything else,” she added.

Maryam said most daily interactions with the militants involved them questioning villagers on their movements and forbidding them from trying to escape - a rule she managed to flout when she fled. A government-run camp in a former school is now her home, along with 1,000 others, where mothers cook on outdoor fires while children run around. Some 1.5 million people have been rendered homeless by the war, Oxfam says.

Bodies pile up And those the militants kill, they often fail to bury. The first thing the Nigerian Red Cross has to do when a town falls back into government hands is clear the corpses, Aliyu Maikano, a Red Cross official, said. After the army recaptured Mubi in November, Maikano had to cover his nose to avoid the stench of rotting corpses.

Those still alive “were starved for food, water, almost everything there. There’s no drinking water because (in) most of the wells there you’ll find dead bodies,” Maikano said. Many residents looked tattered and malnourished, and some were unable to speak. “They are heartless. ISIS is a kind of organized group, it’s a business.

These guys are not.” A former resident of Mubi said the rebels had renamed the town “Madinatul Islam” or “City of Islam.”

But when government spokesman Phineas Elisha walked into the Emir’s palace after its recapture, everything had been looted, even the windows and doors.

“Mubi was a ghost town ... Virtually all the shops were looted.” he said. It took him hours to find a bottle of water.

Sometimes the rebels simply loot the unprotected villages and hide out in bush camps, security sources say. Murna Philip, who escaped the occupied town of Michika five months ago, said a few dozen fighters had occupied an abattoir, a school and a lodge, but little else.

To survive under their watch you have to pretend to support them, said Andrew Miyanda, who escaped the rebels after walking for days to the Benue river.

“They would write Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (Boko Haram’s full name) on their trouser legs in marker or the back of their shirts,” he said. “You had to turn up your trousers with the marker on to show that you are a member.”

Buildings were torched and boys were abducted for “training”, he said, a practice reminiscent of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army.

Slowly, with the help of traditional hunters armed with homemade guns and a reputation for magic powers, government forces have pushed Boko Haram out of some of its southern possessions.

Morris Enoch, a leader of the hunters, says they found an arsenal of military weapons: rocket launchers, machine guns, dynamite, anti-aircraft guns and grenades.

The rebels rarely leave behind much else.

Julia Payne/Reuters | Nigeria 20 January, 2015 <http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/2015/01/20/ Nigerians-face-killings-hunger-in-Boko-Haram-s-state-. html> Accessed 20 January, 2015

Somalia ratifies UN convention to improve children rights omalia government has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), setting a course to improve the lives of its youngest citizens, the UN children’s fund said.

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A statement from UNICEF issued in Nairobi said the ratification process will be finalized once the government of Somalia deposits the instruments of ratification with the United Nations in New York.

“By ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the government of Somalia is making an investment in the wellbeing of its children, and thus in the future of its society,” the statement said.

The ratification means that Somali children now hold legally binding rights with the CRC providing a framework for the Government to promote and protect those rights.

The Somali Government will have to bring its legislation, policy and practice into accordance with the standards in the CRC. The ratification provides the basis for the system building and capacity development of the Government.

By ratification, the Horn of Africa has become the 194th state party to ratify the Convention as the world enters into the 26th year of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“The central message of the Convention is that every child deserves a fair start in life. What can be more important than that?,” UNICEF said.

UNICEF lauded the crucial step taken

by Somalia and vowed to continue supporting the nationwide effort to translate the rights of the Convention into practical action for every child.

According to UNICEF, Somalia’s children continue to face daily challenges posed by conflict, displacement, malnutrition and disease. Child and maternal mortality rates are among the worst in the world.

One in seven children die before reaching the age of five mostly from preventable illnesses and a polio outbreak still poses

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a risk. Only four in ten children are in school while nearly 800 children were recruited by armed groups in 2014.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted on November 20, 1989 by the UN General Assembly.

The ShangaiDaily.com, 20 January, 2015 <http://shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=264021> Accessed 26, January 2015

Almost 1,000 Children Murdered in Honduras in 2014

relationships with the politicians, the biggest businessmen from the country and from transnational companies, said Moreno.

On the vulnerability of children, Gustavo Cardoza, Social Investigator who is in charge of one of these investigations said, People identify the Honduran children [first], in second place women and in third youth, as the three population groups most vulnerable in their human rights.

Honduras is actually a very dangerous place for children.

Torres Gerardo, Telesur, 21 January, 2015 <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Almost-1000-Children-Murdered-in-Hondurasin-2014-20150121-0027.html> Accessed 26 January, 2015

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n Honduras minors have problems in education and with criminalization.

In Honduras minors have problems in education and with criminalization.

According to children’s rights organizations in Honduras violence against children is increasing. During 2014 in Honduras 947 children were violently murdered, 21 more than in 2013.

The increasing murder rate makes infants the most vulnerable group in the country, which has an average of 20 violent murders daily and more than the half are minors. People under 23 years old are mostly responsible for the murders.

Ismael Moreno of the Reflection, Investigation and Communication Team, an organization of special investigators commented that in the absence of public education they are taken away, marginalized from the right to work criminalized, blamed as responsible for what’s going on in the country.

For Moreno everything that minors are facing isn’t coincidence. It is part of a state policy that benefits the powerful.

Its service is not one of the state of law, but a function in service of those who use the law of strength. In this case politicians, organized crime, which has

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Nigeria: UN rights envoy urges action to protect children in country’s wartorn northeast

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hildren growing up in Nigeria’s crisisriven northeast are in desperate need of protection from relentless violence, said Leila Zerrougui, the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict as she wrapped up a weeklong visit in the country.

On a day when the UN refugee agency has reported a steady stream of people fleeing violence in the region with ‘harrowing tales of killings and destruction,’ a news release from Ms. Zerrougui’s Office notes that throughout 2014, the armed conflict in north-eastern

Nigeria was one of the world’s deadliest for children.

There was a dramatic rise in violence, growing recruitment and use of children, sometimes very young, as well as countless abductions and attacks on schools, said the release, underscoring Ms. Zerrougui’s concern at reports of sexual violence against girls, including forced marriages and rapes.

The news release goes on to note that the beginning of 2015 brought relentless violence with the appalling suicide bombing committed by a girl allegedly as young as 10, killing several people in a market in Maiduguri, as well as what some organizations have termed as Boko Haram’s deadliest attack in Baga.

During her week-long visit to Nigeria, Ms. Zerrougui assessed the conflict’s impact on children. She met the country’s federal authorities, the authorities of Adamawa state, the UN, the diplomatic community, civil society and other partners to galvanize efforts to gather and verify information on grave violations committed against children.

This will help the Government and its partners provide better protection for children and promote accountability.

In Yola, the Special Representative met with displaced people from the conflictaffected areas, including children and women.

“I witnessed people’s shock and disbelief at the devastation suffered by their communities. I saw trauma in children’s eyes. The scale of the suffering is beyond what I anticipated to find. The people I met demand and deserve urgent protection” said Ms. Zerrougui.

In northern Nigeria, over 900, 000 people, many of them women and children, have fled their homes. More than 300 schools have been severely damaged or destroyed, hundreds of children have been killed, injured or abducted from their homes and schools, said the release.

The Special Representative was encouraged by her open dialogue with Nigerian authorities and their commitment to collaborate with the UN, investigate allegations of violations committed against children and take the necessary actions to hold perpetrators

accountable.

“I commend the Minister of Justice and Attorney General for his willingness to respond to reports of recruitment and use of children by government-affiliated self-defense groups in the three northeastern states. He has agreed to issue an advisory recalling the prohibition of such a practice,” said Ms. Zerrougui.

The Special Representative also met with the representatives of the movement ‘Bring Back our Girls’ and remains deeply concerned by the fate of the more than 200 school girls abducted in Chibok in April 2014. She is equally concerned by the fate of all children abducted by Boko Haram.

The UN continues its advocacy with Nigerian authorities and supports all efforts that could lead to the children’s release, said the release.

UN News Centre, 16 January, 2015 <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49817#.VL5x5kfF-xY> Accessed 20 January, 2015

Human rights lawyer urges police to stop public parade of suspects

called it illegal and said the parades were prejudicial. He said parading suspects is offensive to the constitutional provision which stated that a suspect was to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise before a competent court of law.

He also blamed journalist who report news of the parades saying that they are were just as complicit as the police in executing the overzealous, irresponsible and illegal parade of suspects.

Falana also noted an observation that only the poor suspects are paraded by the police while suspects who are connected to members of the elite are never paraded.

The human rights lawyer said that this inconsistency with parades shows that it is an inhuman act to oppress the poor, who do not have the resources to challenge the police in court.

Falana also accused the police of killing most of the paraded suspects in detention extra-judicially and thereafter urged the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba to put an end to the parading and illegal killing of suspects.

“In spite of the presumption of innocence, which inures in favour of criminal suspects by virtue of Section 36 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act, the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria have continued to expose accused persons to media trial before arraigning them in courts. By subjecting suspects to media trial before arraignment in a criminal court, their fundamental rights to fair hearing and the dignity of their persons are infringed upon,” Falana said while addressing newsmen.

Steve Dede, Pulse Nigeria, 14 January, 2015 <http://pulse.ng/gist/femi-falana-human-rights-lawyer-urges-police-to-stop-public-parade-of-suspectsid3407463.html> Accessed 15 January, 2015

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r. Femi Falana, SAN, a human rights lawyer, has urged the Nigerian police to stop the parade of suspected armed robbers, kidnappers and other alleged criminals before the press prior to charging them to court.

The Nigerian police and other security agencies are known for parading suspects of various crimes before the press after arrests. The human rights lawyer however

Lebanese women not safe despite domestic violence law

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he Lebanese parliament passed a new law on domestic violence April 1, 2014. The idea for such a law was born in 2007 in the offices of the group Kafa [Enough] Violence Against Women.

The project for a law protecting women against violence brought together 64 nongovernmental organizations, which

submitted the draft to the government in 2009. Five years and two revisions later, the new law little resembles the original text. The wording used in the final draft says it all — “domestic violence,” not “violence against women.”

Two days after the vote on the law, Human Rights Watch declared the legislation “good, but incomplete.” Maya Ammar, Kafa’s media officer, shared this opinion, “This is a big step for women’s rights, but it is not enough.” According to Ammar, the only real breakthrough is that the law simplifies some legal mechanisms.

Among the undesirable changes made to the original text is the provision involving marital rape, which is now “marital rights by force” and is condemned only if it involves physical evidence of violence.

After six months of adapting the association’s work to the new law, Ammar came to the conclusion that the implication of the law is not so bad. She said, “Most of the judges are fair in their decisions, protecting the children as well, which is good.” Regardless, Ammar still thinks improvements are necessary. She stated, “We should unify the [complaint] procedures, so there is a straight line of action to follow, and also expedite the process. Sometimes, women don’t have the time to wait for the judges to decide!”

This was the case for Nisrine Rouhana, killed by her husband while she tried to obtain a divorce after complaining of domestic violence. Ammar stated, “Her parents said that the police didn’t arrest the husband, who didn’t respect the restraining order, a fact that was never declared to the authorities by her own lawyer.”

Kafa’s priority is to raise awareness among Lebanese women about their rights. To this end, the organization created Zalfa, a fictional character who explains the law and provides answers to

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those wanting to know what they can do in specific situations.

“Women are often scared to file a claim, but speaking up early limits the risks,” Ammar said. “We hope that this approach will give them tools to pull through.

Since January 2014, 1,050 women have been supported by Kafa, which is much more than usual. We are overburdened, this is too much for a small center like ours. The state has to take responsibility and act. One of the actions could be to open shelters for women.”

Florence Massena, Lebanon Pulse, 2 January, 2015 <http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/12/ lebanon-law-domestic-violence-women.html> Accessed 15 January, 2015

International Human Rights Day 2014, Theme: Rights 365

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he UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.

The slogan for 2014, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.

“I call on States to honour their obligation to protect human rights every day of the year. I call on people to hold their governments to account.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon United Nations, 10 December, 2014 <http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/> accessed 10 January, 2015

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Ebola Crisis Puts Pressure on Human Rights

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ome doctors in countries hit hardest by the deadly Ebola disease decline to operate on pregnant women for fear the virus could spread. Governments face calls from frightened citizens to bar travel to and from afflicted nations. Meanwhile, the stakes get higher as more people get sick, highlighting a tricky balance between protecting people and preserving their rights in a global crisis.

The world could impose more restrictions to ward off a disease that has overwhelmed several West African countries, and exposed shortcomings in medical procedures in Texas and also Spain, where Ebola cases have been diagnosed. Such measures can be legal, lawyers say, but the challenge is to ensure that quarantines, curbs on movement and other steps do not intrude too heavily on civil liberties.

“People would rather do more than less, and the problem is that it becomes a slippery slope in terms of rights,” said Paul Millus, a New York lawyer who handles civil rights and employment issues.

Already, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, where the Ebola outbreak has killed thousands, are trying to implement severe controls.

Authorities have imposed curfews, lockdowns and roadblocks. They have ordered a stop to traditional funeral rites that involve touching relatives’ bodies. An entire battalion of troops in Sierra Leone is in quarantine, waiting to deploy on a regional mission to conflict-torn Somalia.

In the United States, a second Texas health care worker has tested positive for the disease. Recently, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy

of Connecticut signed an order giving the state’s public health commissioner the ability to quarantine anyone believed to have been exposed to the Ebola virus.

John Thomas, a professor at the Quinnipiac University School of Law in Connecticut, said the world will be dealing “more and more” with the possible conflict between health policies and civil liberties.

“The tension here is how broadly to cast this protective net,” he said. Thomas cited “the positive model” of relatively effective quarantines during the flu pandemic that killed millions in the early 20th century, and, on the other hand, quarantines imposed “for no reason whatsoever” on people in the early days of the AIDS crisis.

The World Health Organization says West Africa could see up to 10,000 new Ebola cases a week within two months, dramatically up from the 9,000 cases reported so far, about half of whom have died.

Doctors there are confronting ethical dilemmas on a daily basis.

Juli Switala, a South African pediatrician with Doctors Without Borders, said her team chose not to help some sick babies who were not newborn out of fear that staff may be infected by bodily fluids. The group’s clinic in the town of Bo in Sierra Leone similarly decided to turn away pregnant women because childbirth poses a greater threat of infection.

“It’s very difficult to be the gynecologist who is making the decision to do a Caesarean section where there is going to be a lot of blood and a lot of body fluids, and you are putting your staff and team at risk if you do this,” Switala said.

She noted a curfew that bars people from riding a motorbike, a common form of transport, after 7 p.m., meaning women who go into labor after that time have no way to reach a clinic. Additionally, people worry about running into police checkpoints because they are uncertain of what will happen if they are tested and found to have a fever.

There is no cure for Ebola, which has an incubation period of up to 21 days and starts with fever and fatigue and can eventually result in organ failure and massive internal bleeding. The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected

person, or objects contaminated with infected secretions.

Congo, where the disease was first discovered in 1976, is accustomed to periodic outbreaks. Through hard experience, the government knows how to reach out to affected villages and take over their burial ceremonies, according to health professionals.

“People don’t fight and feel deprived because they understand it’s necessary,” South Africa’s health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, said while announcing health precautions.

candidate Maithripala Sirisena, who won the presidential poll with 51.3 per cent of the vote according to the official results.

“Although the campaign was marked by intimidation and attacks primarily against opposition campaigners, it was heartening to see the Election Day passed largely without violence. This is to the credit of the thousands of courageous election observers who ensured that all Sri Lankans were able to enjoy their right to political participation without fear,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director.

South Africa monitors travelers from affected countries in West Africa for 21 days, following up by telephone calls.

Experts warn that a travel ban on the affected countries in West Africa would be hard to enforce and could make things worse, disrupting efforts to help and undermining shaky economies.

Human Rights Watch said some Ebola quarantines there had been ineffective and did not meet human rights standards, “disproportionately impacting people unable to evade the restrictions, including the elderly, the poor, and people with chronic illness or disability.”

Nations fearful of Ebola face hard choices about safeguarding people’s health as well as their freedoms, said Thomas, the Quinnipiac professor.

He said: “It’s roughly impossible to find a precise balance.”

Christopher Torchia, Associated Press, 15 October, 2014, <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ebola-crisis-puts-pressure-human-rights-26218890> accessed 17 October, 2014

Sri Lanka: New government must make human rights a priority after mostly peaceful vote

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ri Lanka’s new government must urgently address a legacy of pressing human rights issues left by the previous administration, Amnesty International said.

Outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat to the joint opposition

hands of the president and removed key human rights safeguards,” said David Griffiths.

A UN-led inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by both sides during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict is due to present its findings at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015.

“The lack of accountability for past human rights violations has been the tragic norm in Sri Lanka over the past decade. Tens of thousands of victims and family members are still waiting for the justice they deserve and the new administration must work to deliver it,” said David Griffiths.

“Sri Lanka has for years resisted all international efforts to investigate the conflict years, and instead relied on domestic investigation bodies that toed the government line. This has to end – the new government should cooperate fully with the UN investigation.”

Amnesty International, January, 2015 <http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/sri-lanka-new-government-must-make-human-rights-priority-after-mostlypeaceful-vote-2015-01-09> Accessed 14 January, 2015

“The new government now has an opportunity to usher in a new era of genuine respect for human rights – it is one that must not be missed.”

In a human rights agenda aimed at the presidential candidates, Amnesty International highlighted seven key issues the new administration must make a priority.

Human Rights Abuses: Baga Massacre Has Vindicated the Military, Says DHQ

These include the repeal of the 18th constitutional amendment, which undermines judicial independence and other human rights safeguards by placing key state institutions into the hands of the President, and the repressive Prevention of Terrorism Act, which grants security forces sweeping powers to violate human rights.

The human rights agenda also calls on the government to safeguard freedom of expression and end the repressive environment for journalists and human rights defenders; and put a halt to attacks on religious minorities.

“Repealing the 18th constitutional amendment must be top of the new government’s to-do list, and it is encouraging that Maithripala Sirisena has committed to this as part of his campaign.

The amendment essentially placed the judiciary and other key bodies in the

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he Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has said recent reports from the foreign media and Amnesty International, which have relied on information from prominent Borno politicians about the recent massacre of over 2,000 civilians in Baga town, have absolved the Nigerian military of human rights abuses and barbaric killings previously attributed to it by the same groups.

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(DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, while responding to enquires said the human rights bodies, northern and foreign groups have finally been confronted with the atrocities of the Boko Haram terrorists.

Tanzania: Siha Girls and Their Cry for Freedom From GBV

According to Olukolade, “This interpretation of the recent terrorist attacks on Baga is quite valid.”

He recalled that the DHQ had always maintained that the military was never engaged in any massacre in Baga, as some activists and the media had alleged in 2013.

He said: “We have been insisting that such barbarism was more typical of the terrorists’ pattern of operation than the action of our troops.

“It is unfortunate that some interest groups for whom it was more convenient continued to insist on labelling the Nigerian military.

“Let’s hope that this will encourage them to begin placing blame where it actually belongs. The priority of all our military actions in this campaign has been the protection of the civilian population.”

In 2013, the military, on the one hand, and human rights groups and some Borno State politicians, on the other hand, had traded blame over who was responsible for the death of hundreds in Baga following a clash between Boko Haram terrorists and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) in the Borno town.

Leading this group of politicians were the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Borno elders, some foreign media organisations and Senators Ahmad Zanna and Maina Ma’aji Lawan who have been the avowed critics of military presence and operations in Borno State.

The groups had even threatened to drag the former Chief of Army Staff, LtGen. Azubuike Ihejirika, before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague for human rights violations.

This Day Live, 12 January, 2015 <http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/human-rights-abuses-baga-massacre-has-vindicated-the-military-says-dhq/198985/> Accessed 14 January, 2015

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HESTS were beaten, heads shaken, eyebrows raised and tears shed as young girls came out to tell the world the naked truth that their parents and guardians force them to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and subsequently are shown their potential suitors before even completing primary school education.

The scene is Naibili Primary School grounds, Siha District in Kilimanjaro region, where that happens at a children’s festival being held at Biriri Network Against Female Genital Mutilation (NAFGEM) which has organized a children’s festival, bringing together the kids, some parents, teachers as well as activists and other stakeholders.

It is here that plain unadorned facts, without concealment or embellishment are spelt out, akin to a fable in which Truth and Falsehood went bathing, Falsehood then dressed in Truth’s clothes, and Truth, refusing to take another’s clothes, went naked.

After songs, poems, drama, exhibition of placards prepared by the children -- boys as well as girls in campaign against FGM, Gender Based Violence (GBV) as well as denial of basic rights such as education to children, here comes the kids’ speech, read by Rogathe Daniel, a 15 years old girl, studying at Donyomurwa Primary School in Orkolili ward.

She reads a speech prepared and unanimously endorsed by the children, and actually she is escorted by some at delivering it, undoubtedly so as to avert her from trembling before the crowd, at an occasion that was graced

by District Administrative Secretary, Ms

Batilda Mhando on behalf of District Commissioner, Dr Charles Mlingwa.

The children say 30 among them have been forced out of their homes, 15 because they were lined up for marriage last month while 15 others were to undergo FGM, abandon school so as to start new families, something that is not only unethical, but also against the laws of the land.

The children, mainly from pastoralist communities at Olkolili, Makiwaru, Karansi, Gararagua and Biriri wards, say it is common for their parents to initiate marriage plans, with very cheap offers from the potential suitors, such as local brew and on their way home, a father would be handed over half a kilogram of sugar and tea leaves, apparently to please his wife and to show the daughter how benevolent the suitor is.

The 15 girls would have been married off, hadn’t teachers and activists intervened, the girls say so in their moving address.

Their parents had already contracted and received dowry and the day for send-offs was just around the corner.

NAFGEM successfully evacuated the children to a make-shift home as they wait for more action from the Government, to ensure the children are safe, happy, at conducive place to pursue education to the level they wish, meaning have to be out of snare of the parents who uphold outdated culture.

The children find it so intricate to be at the receiving end, feeling perilous hence decide to hand over to Siha District Authorities names of those affected by the state of affairs.

“Today we hand over to you names of our schoolmates who have been married, hence abandon school and names of parents have already made up their mind to marry them off and the circumcision ritual.

May you, our father, save us from the circumciser’s knife. We are children just like those at your home. “Have you circumcised your girls? Would you marry them off at an early age? Why only us?

To whom can we find refuge? What is astounding is that those who carry on FGM are known and feared so much by the community. Does the government also fear them?” reads out Rogathe and the earth feels shaky. Why do the children come up in this style?

They have the response that is spelt out

by Rogathe audaciously: “We represent other children who failed to make it to this place, we decided to attend the festival in order to demonstrate our feelings and grief caused by untold sufferings we go through due to the many outdated traditions that deny our rights, especially in the pastoralist communities.

“Family members such as fathers, mothers, aunts, grandmothers have the guts to bring men and tell them they are our husbands while we are at school.

This is such a high level of cruelty that affects us psychologically. Our dreams to excel in studies in quest of attaining good life are thus shattered. “Where are the Government leaders? May you remind them of their responsibilities.

Our society still initiates children to female genital mutilation in spite of the nation having laws that prohibit the practice. There are some very dangerous stints to us, such when we are under five years of age and when we go for holidays. “Awareness was raised among us by NAFGEM on the adverse effects of this tradition.

Sadly, some of us were initiated to it at young age, we clearly know that we will live with its effects for the rest of our lives. It is easier to contact HIV, complications on delivery, frequent urinary tract infections and reproductive organs. Save us, save the rest!”

The children shower praise on their teachers, referring them as ‘new parents’ who fight for and safeguard the children’s rights, but lack cooperation from our parents, other leaders in the society and the general public. “On several occasions they receive threats or tempted to accept bribes so that parents accomplish their missions to marry their children.

May you avail to use phone numbers

for police officers and in particular the Gender Desk and leaders who are honest and just so that we can keep reporting such incidents,” they say, adding that other GBV acts include employment at young age, especially in plantations.

Giving her own testimony, Rogathe says last year, a man approached her mother, Esther Paul, with two kilogrammes of sugar and tea leaves so that she consents to marriage. However, Rogathe says she refused categorically and reported the matter to her teacher, who in turn communicated with NAFGEM. She says her two sisters were subjected to FGM some years back and have since been married at a tender age. She says if the Government intervenes, Siha would change as all children will attain quality education they long for. Neema Israel (13) from Olkolili, who is in Standard Seven, says after negotiations with her father, a suitor arrived at their home, bringing with him sugar for the family but the girl declined.

Her father promised to bring a potential suitor from a faraway place but the girl told him she wanted to pursue her studies to best of her academic ability.

Another one is Malkia Lesule Lukumay (14), who is in Standard Five. She says she avoided the catastrophe by reporting the matter to teachers, but still her father was persuading her to give in to potential husbands who keep on calling at their home.

What does the Government say about all these? It calls on police to chip in, investigate thoroughly each issue and take legal action against transgressors.

Ms Mhando says there is no need to delay action against those subjecting children to GBV, such as FGM and early marriages, hence orders the Police Force’s Officer Commanding District (OCD) to move in quickly, investigate the matter and ensure that the children are either at school or at their homes during holidays.

Ms Mhando issues a stern warning to hamlet, village and ward executive officers and other leaders who do not

chip in to avert GBV that their days are numbered as the district authorities are not ready to carry on with them. She warns all parents and guardians whose children are not in schools or are lined up for FGM and marriage that they risk prosecution, ordering them to send back the children to school immediately.

NAFGEM Programme Manager, Ms Honorata Raymond, says many children are living in trickier environments, with their fathers, mothers, uncles and other relatives as their go-between in marriages instead of educating them.

She notes that there is no proper followup of children who are not in school in spite of the fact that teachers report all matters. “Instead, the teachers are being threatened by some parents and wouldbe-husbands,” she further notes.

Ms Raymond says a research carried out by NAFGEM has established that some parents shift children to other areas during Standard One enrolment, while some are kept indoors and fed so that they can fetch a hefty dowry after becoming fat.

She tells her audience that after her organization identified the girls who were lined up for FGM and marriage, reported the matter to village leaders who were, however, passive, claiming that they were busy with campaigns for the local government elections that were held on December 2014.

“Let us help these children; we should not leave them to cry in the wilderness.

Let us join forces to end their misery.

There are children who have run to us to find refuge because they want to go to school, but are forced into FGM and early marriages.

The children whose parents had planned for FGM and marriage are between 13 and 15 years of age and are from Standard Four to Seven,” she says. According to the activist, it is unfortunate that such practice is getting chronic when many of the pastoralists’ children have developed a great interest in studying beyond primary education and even aspire for higher education.

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam), 12 January, 2015 <http://allafrica.com/stories/201501121631.html> Accessed 14 January, 2015

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Ethiopia: Media Being Decimated

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he Ethiopian government’s systematic repression of independent media has created a bleak landscape for free expression ahead of the May 2015 general elections, Human Rights Watch said in a report. In the past year, six privately owned publications closed after government harassment; at least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers were criminally charged, and more than 30 journalists fled the country in fear of being arrested under repressive laws.

The 76-page report, “‘Journalism is Not a Crime’: Violations of Media Freedom in Ethiopia,” details how the Ethiopian government has curtailed independent reporting since 2010. Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 70 current and exiled journalists between May 2013 and December 2014, and found patterns of government abuses against journalists that resulted in 19 being imprisoned for exercising their right to free expression, and that have forced at least 60 others into exile since 2010.

“Ethiopia’s government has systematically assaulted the country’s independent voices, treating the media as a threat rather than a valued source of information and analysis,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director.

“Ethiopia’s media should be playing a crucial role in the May elections, but instead many journalists fear that their next article could get them thrown in jail.”

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Most of Ethiopia’s print, television, and radio outlets are state-controlled, and the few private print media often self-censor their coverage of politically sensitive issues for fear of being shut down.

The six independent print publications that closed in 2014 did so after a lengthy campaign of intimidation that included documentaries on state-run television that alleged the publications were linked to terrorist groups. The intimidation also included harassment and threats against staff, pressure on printers and distributors, regulatory delays, and eventually criminal charges against the editors. Dozens of staff members went into exile. Three of the owners were convicted under the criminal code and sentenced in absentia to more than three years in prison. The evidence the prosecution presented against them consisted of articles that criticized government policies.

While the plight of a few high-profile Ethiopian journalists has become widely known, dozens more in Addis Ababa and in rural regions have suffered systematic abuses at the hands of security officials.

The threats against journalists often take a similar course. Journalists who publish a critical article might receive threatening telephone calls, text messages, and visits from security officials and ruling party cadres. Some said they received hundreds of these threats. If this does not silence them or intimidate them into self-censorship, then the threats intensify and arrests often follow. The courts have shown little or no independence in criminal cases against journalists who have been convicted after unfair trials and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, often on terrorism-related charges.

“Muzzling independent voices through trumped-up criminal charges and harassment is making Ethiopia one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists,” Lefkow said. “The government should immediately release those wrongly imprisoned and reform laws to protect media freedom.”

Most radio and television stations in

Ethiopia are government-affiliated, rarely stray from the government position, and tend to promote government policies and tout development successes. Control of radio is crucial politically given that more than 80 percent of Ethiopia’s population lives in rural areas, where the radio is still the main medium for news and information. The few private radio stations that cover political events are subjected to editing and approval requirements by local government officials. Broadcasters who deviate from approved content have been harassed, detained, and in many cases forced into exile.

The government has also frequently jammed broadcasts and blocked the websites of foreign and diaspora-based radio and television stations. Staff working for broadcasters face repeated threats and harassment, as well as intimidation of their sources or people interviewed on international media outlets. Even people watching or listening to these services have been arrested.

The government has also used a variety of more subtle but effective administrative and regulatory restrictions such as hampering efforts to form journalist associations, delaying permits and renewals of private publications, putting pressure on the few printing presses and distributors, and linking employment in state media to ruling party membership.

Social media are also heavily restricted, and many blog sites and websites run by Ethiopians in the diaspora are blocked inside Ethiopia. In April 2014, the authorities arrested six people from Zone 9, a blogging collective that provides commentary on social, political, and other events of interest to young Ethiopians, and charged them under the country’s counterterrorism law and criminal code.

Their trial, along with other media figures, has been fraught with various due process concerns. On January 14, 2015, it was adjourned for the 16th time.

The arrest and prosecution of the Zone 9 bloggers has had a wider chilling effect on freedom of expression in Ethiopia, especially among critically minded bloggers and online activists.

The increased media repression will clearly affect the media landscape for the May elections.

“The government still has time to make significant reforms that would improve media freedoms before the May elections,” Lefkow said. “Amending oppressive laws and freeing jailed journalists do not require significant time or resources, but only the political will for reform.”

Human Rights Watch, 22 January, 2015 <http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/21/ethiopia-me-

and the future. Building on the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, we must look at the opportunities initiatives such as Education for All and the global movement to end child marriage provide to empower adolescent girls and must ensure that they are protected from harm, are supported by family and friends, and are able to act in their own interest. It is time to consolidate good practice and focus on actions and results, paving the way for a more genderequitable post-2015 development agenda and review of progress against the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

dia-being-decimated> Accessed 23 January, 2015

International Day of the Girl-Child (October 11) 2014 Theme: Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence

O

n December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

In recognition of the importance of investing in and empowering girls during adolescence and preventing and eliminating the various forms of violence they experience, the theme of International Day of the Girl Child for 2014 is Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence.

To take efforts to end all forms of violence against girls and women to the next level, it is important that we focus on adolescent girls and move beyond awareness-raising to investments in and support for this critical group that will shape the present

Governments, the UN system, civil society, and public and private institutions are called on to join forces and reaffirm their commitment to end the scourge of violence against adolescent girls and to promote their empowerment by: Investing in adolescent girls to equip them with skills, confidence, and life options: through family, schools, technical and vocational education and training, and health, social and economic support systems; Making infrastructure, services, and technology accessible to girls and effective in meeting their needs for safety, connectivity and mobility; Facilitating adolescent girls engagement in civic, economic and political life; Continuing to advocate for making violence against girls and women visible and unacceptable both in private and public domains; Strengthening data, measurement and the evidence base in relation to the empowerment of and violence against adolescent girls.

United Nations, 11 October, 2104 <http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/>

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October, 2014 International Literacy Day, 2014 (September 8)

The State of Girls’ Education Today This is the time to highlight the importance of literacy and the challenges ahead in promoting global literacy. The statics are shocking and reinforce the urgency behind today’s significance. According to the World Literacy Foundation, an

estimated 67 million children still do not have access to primary school education.

Gender inequality is embedded heavily in determining access. Girls’ are more likely to be illiterate than boys, further entrenching poverty. However, girl’s illiteracy is not inevitable. There are 480 days until the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It is imperative that the political will and momentum is kept apace to ensure all children, especially girls’, are given the chance to fulfil their potential and secure their future.

Every year on Sept. 8, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reiterates its call to governments and international organizations on the importance of ensuring all people have the opportunity to read and write.

The theme of International Literacy Day 2014 is “Literacy and Sustainable Development’ to highlight how literacy promotes sustainable development by allowing greater decision-making power in economic development, social development and environmental protection.

The main global celebration will take place in Dhaka, where the Government of Bangladesh and UNESCO have organized the International Conference Girls› and Women›s Literacy Education: Foundation for Sustainable Development.

Education is a basic human right, and one that remains unfilled for many children around the world. Accessing and resourcing schools is most challenging in the developing world, particularly in Africa and South Asia where a large majority of the worlds illiterate live. The problem is even more extensive when looking at the gender inequality reflected in literacy rates: almost two-thirds of the global illiterate are adult women.

Below highlights the benefits to achieving literacy and challenges that remain for girls across the globe: 1. Eradicating Poverty Women make up a majority of the world’s poor: 70 percent of the 1 billion

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poorest people are women. By investing in women’s literacy skills society as a whole benefits, given that women typically reinvest 90 percent of their income back into their families. In doing so, they deliver better nutrition and health outcomes for their families, drastically reducing the risk of child malnutrition and food insecurity. Literate women are more likely to be healthier, enabling them to be more empowered towards decision-making to lift their families out of poverty. As such, promoting literacy is directly entwined with meeting wider development goals.

2. Illiteracy and Child Marriage Illiterate families are more likely to marry their daughters off to offset financial burdens, with many subsequently dropping out of school. Yet, literacy and education is the most vital practical tool to a brighter more secure future. Educated parents are more able to understand the benefits of educating their children. In particular, an educated mother is more likely to ensure her children receive and complete their schooling. Knowing the benefits she has derived from her own education, mothers have higher expectations towards their children.

This is extremely important for girls’ as education is prioritised above work and mitigates the risk of exposure to child marriage. According to the Education For All Global Monitoring Report (GMR 2013/14), projects that child marriage would drop by 14 percent if all girls› in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia had primary education, with a massive 64 percent drop when they have access to secondary education.

3. Education and Maternal Health Every year, an estimated 300,000 women still die from pregnancy related complications. Most of these deaths occur in poverty stricken communities and rural areas, of which the main causes are hemorrhaging, eclampsia and prolonged or obstructed labour, all of which are preventable with effective and efficient treatment. Literacy and education are highly important in ensuring women are able to access and understand health services and information delivered by

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Skilled Birth Attendants; it is literally a matter of survival for women in places like Afghanistan, which has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the world.

4. It’s Not Just About Achieving Access: Improve the Quality of Education Poor quality education is increasing the number of illiterate children, far greater than previously estimated: one in four adolescents are unable to read a single sentence. UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report estimates that it will take another half a century, until 2072, for the poorest young women in the Global South to learn to read. However, significant progress has been made. For instance, in Bangladesh women’s literacy has more than doubled in 1990 to 2011.

5. Literacy and Equal Employment Opportunities The earning potential of illiterate individuals is significantly curtailed: income can be as much as 30-40 percent less then their literate counterparts. For women, the disparity is even wider: women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours and yet earn only 10 percent of the world’s income. On average, women earn 50 percent less then men. Gender inequality and illiteracy need to be simultaneously addressed to ensure equal employment opportunities.

6.

Conflict and Displacement: Continuing Education in War With 2014 being marked as one of the most violent in recent history, with conflicts in Gaza, South Sudan, northern Nigeria, Iraq, Ukraine and Syria, an unprecedented refugee crisis has unfolded. Children have borne the brunt of these conflicts, with many being unable to continue education as a result of persistent instability. Economic survival means that many children are now working to help their families. More needs to be done to ensure children in displacement camps have access to literacy programs so they can continue this vital period of their childhood, in spite of war.

7. Terrorism and the Targeting of Schools Growing instability across the world has exposed a worrying trend: children in school are targeted as part of extremist ideology. The kidnapping of around 300 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria by Boko Haram highlights the added danger girls’ face in accessing and remaining in education during escalating violence.

Many parents are keeping their daughters at home for fear that their child could be kidnapped. Moreover, Pakistan’s Swat Valley, home of education activist Malala Yousafzai, is still the strong hold of the Taliban. This has meant that nearly onethird of local girls’ do not attend school as a result of its ultra-conservative society and the lack of educational facilities.

It is clear that the road ahead is fraught with many challenges, but the benefits of achieving literacy and education has a ripple affect that impacts not just girls’ but society and the nation as a whole.

In seeing the problems ahead caused by many of the tragic events of 2014, it is vital that governments and international organizations heed UNESCO’s call for sustained progress towards promoting literacy. Given that 781 million people remain illiterate in 2014, the urgency could not be greater.

Past commitments must be implemented with renewed effort to ensure the provision of resources, funding and access to education for all. As the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova reminds us, committed investment is needed to ensure “Literacy is fully recognized as one of the most powerful accelerators of sustainable development...literacy not only changes lives, it saves them.” For girls’, education paves the way to a future determined and built by their own hands.

Vanessa Thevathasan, Huffington Post, September 8, 2014 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vanessa-thevathasan/international-literacy-da_b_5781990.html> accessed October 14, 2014

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Case review

Case Review of Edwin Ezigbo v The State (2012) 16 NWLR (Pt. 1326) 318 by *Dayo Adesina, Esq. Introduction Sexual abuse of children by adults is an abnormal situation and the perpetrators ideally should be subjected to medical and psychiatric examination. Adults who abuse children sexually are known as pedophiles. Pedophiles have sex with children or use children in a sexual way. Since 1880s, psychologists have studied and shown that pedophiles act in different ways. Some pedophiles are only sexually attracted to prepubescent children while others have a sexual preference for prepubescent children but are sexually attracted to adults as well. The former are called exclusive pedophiles whilst the latter preferential pedophiles. Victims of pedophiles are usually people they know or have some connection with.

Children are generally vulnerable, defenseless and susceptible. In the words of Muhammad, J.S.C. in the case under review, children are by nature generally like animals; they follow anyone who offers them food. There is no generally acceptable definition of a child. However, under the Penal Code, a child is any person below twelve years. The offence of having unlawful carnal knowledge of a child is known as defilement under the Criminal Code whilst under the Penal Code it is termed rape. The prevalent increase in rape and sexual abuse of minors in Nigeria is at an increase and

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needs to be curbed. In Edwin Ezigbo v.

The State (2012) 16 NWLR (Pt. 1326) 318, the Supreme Court demonstrated the need for the protection of the female child.

Facts of the Case On 8th April 2004 at about 4pm, Mrs. Cecilia Kelechi saw her two daughters Ogechi and Chioma ages 8 and 6 respectively in the company of one Edwin Ezigbo, the appellant, holding ice cream. When Mrs. Kelechi who testified as PW. 1 called the girls, the appellant changed his direction and continued to walk away with the girls who also ignored their mother. Anxious to know the fate of her daughters, PW. 1 ran after the appellant and her daughters. Sensing that he was in trouble, the appellant took to his heels and abandoned the girls, who later narrated the shameful sexual escapade meted unto them by the appellant. It was revealed that the appellant used to lure the young girls with paltry sums of money to his shop in order to satisfy his sexual urge. The information was relayed by PW.1 to her husband who later reported the matter to the Police. Upon completion of investigation, appellant was arraigned before the Suleja High Court, Niger State on two count charge of rape, of having carnal knowledge of Chioma Kelechi a six year old and Ogechi Kelechi an eight year old, both under aged girls,

contrary to the provisions of section 283 of the Penal Code. At the conclusion of trial, the appellant was convicted of the second count and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment but was discharged on the first count for want of evidence.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the trial court, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal, Abuja, where his appeal was dismissed. Hence his appeal to the Supreme Court.

Issue for determination The core of the sole issue considered by the Supreme Court was whether there was sufficient evidence corroborating the evidence of the victim. The issue as formulated is: “Can it be said that the evidence of PW5, that the disappearance of the hymen of the two children was caused by the penetration of penis into their vaginals severally, amount to sufficient corroboration of PW.2’s evidence that the appellant had sexual intercourse with her?”

Findings of the Courts The High Court found that the prosecution established by evidence all the ingredients of the offence of rape as contained in section 283 of the Penal Code and in particular there was penetration.

On the issue of corroboration, the learned trial Judge which heard the evidence found inter alia that “In view of the testimony of PW.4 that he made an assessment of sexual exploitation by a man on the two children, and since according to PW. 2 it was the accused that had sexual intercourse with her, I am satisfied that the testimony of PW. 4 and Exhibit 2 (medical report) sufficiently corroborated the testimony of PW. 2 that accused had sexual intercourse with her…”

The trial Judge based its finding and decision on the ground that the necessary corroboration required was provided by the evidence of the medical doctor.

The appellant’s appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed and the Court of Appeal affirming the decision of the trial court on the sufficiency of the corroborative evidence held as follows: “The evidence of PW. 4 a medical director who examined PW. 2 and her sister made an assessment of sexual exploitation by

a man on the two children. He found that the disappearance of the hymen of the two children was caused by penetration of penis into their vaginals severally – meaning more than two occasions. I confirm the opinion of the learned trial Judge that this piece of evidence of PW. 4 sufficiently corroborated the evidence of PW. 2 that the appellant had sexual intercourse with her … No separate medical examination is required to be conducted on the appellant for the purpose of linking him with the commission of the crime. Lack of medical examination on him immediately after the incident is not fatal to the prosecution.”

On further appeal to the Supreme Court, the court affirming the decision of the two lower courts held that the concurrent findings of facts in relation to the issue of corroboration are supported by the evidence before the court and consequently not perverse. The Supreme Court noted that from the evidence before the court, it was not in dispute that PW.2 was raped. The appellant himself admitted knowing his victims for whom he used to buy ice-cream and sobo (Zobo) drinks. He admitted undercross examination that he went to the victims’ mother and her husband to beg them to settle the matter. The Supreme Court noted that corroboration need not consist of direct evidence that the accused committed the offence charged nor need it amount to a confirmation of the whole account given by the witness or prosecutrix. In considering whether some evidence is corroborative of some other, the court must take all the little items of the former together and consider whether they add up to corroboration as a whole.

Though not specifically stated by the Supreme Court, the holding above is in line with the Supreme Court decision in Iko v State (2001) 14 NWLR (Pt. 732) 221 where it held that admission of an offence by an accused person may amount to sufficient corroboration in law. Also in an earlier case of Queen v. Francis Kufi (1960) WNLR 1 where an accused was charged with indecent assault against a young girl of 10 years.

The High Court held that the admission of the offence by the accused to the father

of the girl was sufficient corroboration in law.

Conclusion It is pertinent to state that the provision of the Evidence Act requiring corroboration in cases of defilement of girls under thirteen, defilement of girls under sixteen, indecent treatment of girls under sixteen and procuring defilement of a woman by threats or fraud or administering drugs in the old Evidence Act has been omitted in the Evidence Act 2011. In section 204 of the Evidence Act 2011, corroboration is only required for the offence of uttering seditious words. The implication of this is that corroboration in rape cases is no longer a matter of law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, where unsworn evidence is given by a child under 12 years in a rape case, corroboration is still required.

The decision of the Supreme Court in the case under review is laudable and should be commended based on the pragmatic approach adopted by the Supreme Court in ensuring that the girl child is protected.

In my view, the Supreme Court relaxed the strict principle of corroboration of the unsworn evidence of a child in rape cases. The position of the Supreme Court in this case is at variance with its earlier decisions on corroboration where it held that once there was no independent corroborative evidence coming from the prosecution, medical report alone cannot serve as the required corroboration under section 209(3) of the Evidence Act, 2011.

The medical report must go further and state that it was in fact the appellant that raped the victim. See R. v. Knight (1966) 1 All E.R 647; Francis Okpanefe v. State (1969) 1 All NLR 420. In the case under review, the medical report did not point to the fact that it was the appellant that raped the victim but the Supreme Court considering the entire case looked for other materials to hold that there was sufficient corroboration of the unsworn evidence of one of the victims.

*Dayo Adesina is a Partner in the Law Firm of Auctus Legal in Lagos

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T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F H AV I N G G O O D

E T I Q U E T T E

A S

L AW Y E R S

*Temitope Olanipekun, LLB (Essex), BL, LLM (Bristol) temitope.olanipekun@templars-law.com

observed by members of the legal profession, if I may paraphrase the Black’s Law dictionary definition, are the unwritten rules that have been traditionally observed by members of the legal profession.

Legal Etiquette is defined by the Black’s Law Dictionary as the professional courtesy that lawyers have traditionally observed in their professional conduct, shown through civility and a strong sense of honour. The word ‘etiquette’ is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as the conduct or procedure required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life. (Emphasis supplied.)

The definition provided by the Merriam Webster dictionary shows that etiquette does not end with our official hours as lawyers, but should also be a part of our social life. It is what I will describe as the omnipresent mannerism. Many wonder what the difference is between ‘ethics’ and ‘etiquette’, and although both words are often used interchangeably, for the purpose of this article I will attempt to provide a distinction between the two words.

Again, the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines ethics as ‘the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group’. These ethical principles are what I believe to be codified in the Legal Practitioners Act (‘LPA’) and the Rules of Professional Conduct (‘RPC’) for lawyers in Nigeria who are to be bound by the Rules contained therein. I assume that as lawyers, we are all well versed in the provisions of the LPA and the RPC. Therefore the ethics of the profession are the written rules as contained in the LPA and RPC, while the legal etiquettes to be

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The legal profession is a noble and learned profession, and as such, in maintaining the high standards of the profession, lawyers are expected to (i) look, (ii) sound and (iii) act learned. These three important aspects will be the main focus of this article. i. Dressing as an aspect of good etiquette “Dressing well is a form of good manners” The truth is, how we dress has little or nothing to do with our skills, knowledge or performances as lawyers. However, we are in a visual society where appearance is the very first thing we get judged by. First impressions are very important and it is very hard to recover from a bad first impression.

As lawyers, we want people to take us seriously, and as such, we must and we should dress seriously. Traditionally, lawyers in jurisdictions all over the world wear dark colours, especially as bar and bench wears, and answers abound as many have tried to cogitate on the logic behind this, the most ridiculous I have heard being that lawyers wear dark colours in order to cover their dark hearts and actions, while the more reasonable and logical answer is simply that dark colours are formal and sober colours, and as we all know, law is a noble and sober profession. Unfortunately, a walk around the court premises these days will reveal a lot of lawyers, dare I say mostly the young ones, strolling about in un-ironed shirts that were originally designed to be white by their manufacturers but turned yellow due to the disheveled nature of their owners/wearers, and the apparels

worn by the female ones which leave some of us wondering whether we are in the court premises or at a jamboree.

Wearing the traditional gown/robe as a covering once in the court room is no excuse for inappropriate dressing. Many a times I have witnessed judges walk counsel out from court as a result of such inappropriate dressings. Why learn the hard way?

How we are perceived by the world is important to our long term careers as professionals because no reasonable client will approach a lawyer who does not look crisp, confident and polished. In fewer words, always dress for success. ii. Speech as an aspect of good etiquette “Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty… when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language” Beauty starts with our outward appearance, and continues with our speech which comes from within. As lawyers, we should be gurus in the art of public speaking. A day in a court room will reveal that some lawyers struggle even with the basics of the English language.

Eloquence is not genetic; however, we are all aware that Law involves continuous learning. If there are words we have difficulties pronouncing, we can learn to enunciate properly, and thanks to the advancement in technology, there are now electronic audio English dictionaries that aid in word pronunciations. Constant practice of the pronunciations of these words will result in better command of the English language. Most lawyers use large vocabulary words in order to sound intelligent, but the unintelligent aspect remains that the words are often mispronounced, used in the wrong context and/ or in laboured repetition. Using clear and succinct vocabulary will be the more intelligent thing to do in any given circum-

stance than throwing about words that are used incorrectly/inappropriately and will leave the listeners confused. Also, the importance of speaking with confidence cannot be overemphasized. The confidence with which we speak and the manner in which we convey a message can sometimes be more important than the message we convey. This is supported by a quote from a Polish-born English novelist Joseph Conrad, which says: “he who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.”Speaking in an articulate and coherent manner will open career doors and will create powerful long lasting impressions. iii. Attitude as an aspect of good etiquette “There is no accomplishment so easy to acquire as politeness and none more profitable” The truth is having a bad attitude is not illegal, however, a good attitude is what will make the difference and give us the edge as individuals in such a competitive profession. A good attitude will put forth a positive representation of us as lawyers, our brands, our firms, companies, and the legal profession as a whole.

Clients, court staff, colleagues at the bar, and the court should be treated with civility, and we should always remember that an opposing party does not become an enemy to be automatically treated in an offensive manner.

However, it would seem that this is a point that is lost on some lawyers, as a typical day in a court room will reveal to most of us that dialogue amongst lawyers has been replaced with violence, and many a times I have witnessed judges stop lawyers midway through their sentences to caution them about their tone and/or choice of words. This should not be so because law is a noble profes-

sion. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the word noble as ‘possessing, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals.’ (Emphasis supplied.) From this definition we clearly see that nobility and violence cannot exist simultaneously. As lawyers, our voices and dispositions should be kept at the perfect level at all times. I have never come across a person who does not like being treated with respect. Polite behaviour is easily acceptable by all as it helps to forge good relationships with people and shows respect for others.

One of the most disheartening concepts I know of is that of “African time” which I am sure most of us are familiar with.

‘African time’ is a perceived notion that it is part of African culture to disregard punctuality. As lawyers, this concept of ‘African time’ should be alien to us.

We should be punctual in honouring scheduled appointments, court proceedings, and even social functions. Habitual lateness says a lot about our organizational skills. It is cliché to continuously blame our lateness on traffic or a hectic schedule. Clients, business partners and employees would rather work with a well-organized, time-conscious professional than with a frenzied professional who is constantly in a state of disorderliness and disarray. Punctuality is a habit worth cultivating, and the truth is, dressing well and speaking well will do little for a person who has missed an important or life-changing appointment. These aspects of etiquette must exist and be practised concurrently.

nise regular seminars and periodic workshops to ensure continuous training of lawyers on etiquette and ethical issues.

Law firms should also organise regular in-house seminars and presentations internally to ensure that the high standards of the profession are maintained. As human beings, our ideas of right and wrong might be subjective, but objectively, we are aware of what good manners and morals entail in the society. I will conclude this article with a quote from the society of Gray’s Inn, London “The new breed wears dark clothes reluctantly.

Even then he always appears sloppy, is always impertinent and aggressive, and has a permanently active homicidal intent towards the English language.”1 Unfortunately, this quote is not only peculiar to the new breed of lawyers in Nigeria; it is true of some of both the new and old breed of lawyers. It is our duty as lawyers to recoup and uphold the high standards with which the legal profession has always been associated with.

Endnotes Black’s Law Dictionary 9th edition 2 Merriam Webster Dictionary 10th edition 3 Thomas ‘Tom’ Ford, American fashion designer 4 Muriel Barbery ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ 2006 Gallimard 5 George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and co-founder of London School of Economics 6 Graya Magazine, Gray’s Inn, London (1981) Vol. 85 p. 3 *Temitope is an Associate at Templars

Conclusion It is impossible to discuss all the aspects of etiquette in this article due to the constraint on the number of words allowed; I will however proceed to make some recommendations. I will implore branches of the Nigerian Bar Association to orga-

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CHALLENGES OF A YOUNG LAWYER

*Motolani Oyedele

It is often said that what does not kill you makes you stronger. There is the notion that challenges are part of life and would eventually build us up to become stronger. Perhaps, it is true that every person must go through his/ her own challenges, but does this mean that no one should fix a problem for the greater good? I would like to think our forefathers and now famous leaders, in fighting for our independence and the emancipation of blacks from racial discrimination and slavery, knew the answer to this question.

My childhood dream had always been to correct the unfair system and inequality inherent in Nigeria and replace her system with one of fairness and justice.

The distressing state of lawlessness and injustice birthed ‘the dream’ – Legal Practice.

In my one year of practice, there were days when I sat down and asked myself if I truly made the right decision in choosing law. I quickly realized the feeling was much different than I thought it would be after watching Boston Legal or Law and Order. No, Sir! On several occasions I have met with senior lawyers or friends to share my challenges, but the conversation almost always ended with ‘it is part of life’ or ‘you will survive’.

Oh, well, I guess it is expected that lawyers are not as good with giving pep talks, as well as advocacy.

On the other hand, I have met some

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great lawyers who have told me about the numerous challenges they have experienced themselves. Some know of colleagues who decided to give up along the line, and yet others who are still pushing through the grain, simply because of their love for the law. This is great and I commend such loyalty and commitment, but it is unnerving to know that most of the challenges these lawyers went through many years ago still abound.

I do not want to sit pretty on the belief that since others before me have passed through it, then it is normal that I must also pass through the same problems and others after me would also have to pass through it. In actual fact it should not be regarded as normal for me to pass through it, but in the event that nothing can be done to fight these challenges now, then something needs to be done for lawyers after me. All of these have prompted me to share the challenges young lawyers are facing today and possible ways of combating these problems. I believe in the popular saying that: ‘a problem shared is a problem half solved’. Read carefully, think deeply and let us work towards eradicating the unfair stereotypes in the legal profession.

Getting Paid for ‘Love’ The very first and most important challenge is remuneration. The practicing lawyers ahead always remind the up and

coming lawyers that it is not always about money but about the experience and the love for the legal profession. A famous personality once said: ‘if you are good at doing something, never do it for free’. I mean if footballers get paid for playing a fun sport and artists for showcasing their talent, why is it difficult for a lawyer to get paid for the value he/she provides?

Times have changed from the days when only the rich practiced law and never cared about getting paid. In light of the economic realities, it is essential that lawyers get paid for the job they love, so they do not go hungry.

The senior lawyers tell the junior lawyers that in their days they did not get paid but worked for the love of the law. It is sad and embarrassing to know that in our highly prestigious profession, an average law firm pays a junior lawyer between fifteen thousand (15,000) to fifty thousand (50,000) naira monthly. Very few law firms pay higher to a lawyer who is three (3) years at the bar and be rest assured that the big paying law firms are only in Lagos. The same way we advocate for judges to get paid well so they are not susceptible to receiving bribes, is the same way young lawyers should receive better pay, so that they are not enticed to cut corners or manipulate the law.

A lawyer fresh from law school burning with passion and ambition, feels he has a meal ticket, a means of survival.

Many struggle for the first two (2) years

and afterwards they switch to the highpaying corporate firms or to a different profession entirely for the sake of earning a better income. The question to be asked is how can a lawyer earning so little survive with the abysmal economy when he has no house, no car and no capital to setup. How can such person sustain the ethics of the profession? It is obvious that these conditions make it so easy for him to be bought. Young lawyers should get paid for the profession they love.

Groomers for the Next Generation, Please!

There are great lawyers with lots of knowledge and skills without a mentor, guide or a teacher for direction. The work environment is so hostile that a young lawyer is fearful of asking a senior lawyer questions he requires answers to. It is pitiful to see that some of the senior lawyers dress down these young ones and strip them of every available confidence and self esteem. A friend of mine who went for a job interview was told that she was too inexperienced to be engaged because she was just fresh from law school. How can one expect her to ever gain experience when she wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t given an opportunity to harness her skills?

The junior lawyer who may have idolized and dreamed of working with his boss, may never get the chance to understudy him closely. He just reports to one supervisor, who reports to another and the chain continues. I have met senior lawyers who spoke about how lucky they were to have mentors groom them into being the lawyers they are today. The truth is people function better when they have cordial relationships with employers and colleagues. In top law firms in foreign countries, each partner has a set of young lawyers he mentors and trains to be better than him afterwards. However, in most Nigeria law firms and maybe other business places, the work environment is filled with tension and a fear of correction with harsh and derogatory words. There are lots of young ones who are not happy going to work because of the harsh working environment. To a very large extent, the lack of a structured mentorship

and training package, coupled with the harsh environment has contributed immensely to low productivity level of young lawyers. The young lawyers are in dire need of senior lawyers willing to patiently correct, guide and mentor them.

Bridging the Gap Interpersonal relationships are the missing elements in the Nigerian workplace. What is important is you get to work on time, clock in, do your work, clock out and get paid at the end of the month. No one cares about you and you do not care about anyone. The truth is that we are human beings not robots and our personal issues more often than not, affect our performance at work. Now, a work environment that is hostile, where colleagues want to upstage/outdo each other, and you cannot talk to your boss about your performance issues, is one that can cause a person to have a mental breakdown.

There should be competition in the work place but such competition must be healthy. A hostile work environment is not conducive for a young lawyer to grow. It is for this reason that most big companies go on one (1) week retreats with the entire staff. They understand that it promotes a healthy working relationship among employees and employers and that in turn leads to high productivity levels. There are work policies in firms that discourage healthy interaction during office hours. There are also office policies today that require lawyers to work extremely late without any incentive. This is just to mention a few. Favourable policies that enhance performance must be imbibed to ensure that young lawyers learn and at the same time grow.

hundred thousand (100,000) naira a year.

Secondly, principals of law firms can implement a mentorship styled programme for the young lawyers they employ, such that an inexperienced lawyer is attached to a partner for a period to learn from and work closely with him. Lastly, senior lawyers can and should maintain a cordial relationship with the junior lawyers, and also be approachable so that junior lawyers can easily seek their counsel whenever they are facing difficulties with a task. They can also organize retreats in a relaxed setting, where the principal can inform his employees on areas where they need to develop and, on better ways to develop the firm. It is also pertinent for young counsel to note that there is no shortcut to success in life and there will be always be challenges. I advise that young counsel should always put God first, and put in dedication, hard work, commitment and perseverance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pursue excellence and success will follow pants down.â&#x20AC;?

*Motolani is an Associate at Wole Olanipekun & Co.

I believe that there are solutions to the challenges mentioned above and there are people equipped to provide viable solutions to these problems. Possible solutions starting with the first challenge would be a standard minimum wage for junior lawyers. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) can implement a policy that lawyers with 1-3 years post call should not be paid less than a

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