SERAP asks UN Rights Chief to hold session over Nigeria's violations of police trainees’ rights

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*Ms Navi Pillay

As the UN Human Rights Council session opens this week, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has sent a request to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navi Pillay, urging her to “use your good offices and position to publicly condemn the reports of dehumanising and degrading conditions of police trainees across police colleges in Nigeria.”  
The session of the Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold February 25 -March 22 2013.
The organisation also wants Ms Pillay to “call or facilitate a public session of the UN Human Rights Council and civil society to discuss the problem with a view to putting pressure on the Nigerian government to urgently address and remedy the serious and systematic violation of the human rights of the trainees to human security and dignity, and to an adequate standard of living.”
In the petition signed by Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana, SAN, and sent to Ms Pillay today, the organization said that, “publicly speaking out against the violations of the human rights of police trainees and holding of a public session on the treatment of police trainees in police colleges across Nigeria would contribute to putting pressure on the government to urgently take concrete, meaningful and transparent action to improve the conditions and treatment of the trainees, and consequently improve the ability of our law enforcement agencies to discharge their duties of maintaining law and order, and ensuring the safety and security of the citizens.” 
"This is a crucial law enforcement issue to which your office is fully committed to addressing globally including in Nigeria. Unless the Nigerian government is held responsible for its failure to respect the right to human security and dignity of police trainees across police colleges in Nigeria, the government will not be able to meet up with its international legal obligations of maintaining law and order, and ensuring the safety and security of its citizens,” the organization also said.
According to the organization, “By failing to spend allocated budgets meant to establish infrastructure and improve the conditions of police colleges in the country, the government has breached its international human rights obligations and commitments including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”
“It is impossible to produce capable, decent, efficient, knowledgeable and human rights friendly police personnel in such dehumanising and degrading conditions. In fact, police recruits trained under such inhuman conditions have always unleashed violence on innocent members of the public,” the organization also stated. 
The organization also asked Ms Pillay to:

1.    Publicly condemn in your statement to the session of the UN Human Rights Council scheduled to hold between February 25 2013 to March 22 2013 reports of dehumanizing and degrading treatment of police trainees across police colleges in Nigeria

2.    Ask the Nigerian Government delegation attending the session of the Human Rights Council to explain how the budget meant to establish infrastructure and improve the conditions of police trainees in police colleges has been spent, and what the government is doing to urgently address this serious human rights violation

3.    Call or facilitate public session of the Human Rights Council and civil society to discuss the problems with a view to putting pressure on the Nigerian government to address it.

4.    Urge the Nigerian government to invite the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment;  Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation to visit Nigeria to thoroughly investigate the violations of human rights committed against police trainees across police colleges in Nigeria, and to make recommendations to the government on what to do to address the problem


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