NIGERIA

Special Decisions or Action Taken Re: Reporting, Including Urgent Action Procedure

CERD, A/65/18 (2010)

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Chapter II

PREVENTION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, INCLUDING EARLY WARNING AND URGENT ACTION PROCEDURES

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A. Decision 1 (76) on Nigeria

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,

Alarmed by the reports of recent attacks and killings of a large number of persons, including children, women and elderly, as a result of tensions between ethno-religious groups near the city of Jos in the Plateau State of Nigeria in January and March 2010; that ethnic and religious violence has been recurring in Nigeria over the last ten years and that it is estimated that over 13,500 people have died in such clashes (since 1999),

Taking note of the statement made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 2 March 2010 and the statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 9 March 2010 wherein she called for concerted efforts of Nigerian authorities to tackle the underlying causes of the repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria,

Recalling that Nigeria has ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and is under the obligation to prevent and protect persons against acts of hatred, incitement to racial and ethnic violence or any form of violence based on ethnicity,

Considering the situation in Nigeria under its early warning and urgent action procedure:

1. The Committee recalls its concluding observations on the eighteenth periodic report of Nigeria adopted on 19 August 2005 (CERD/C/NGA/CO/18, para. 14) where it raised serious concern about prejudices and feelings of hostility among some ethnic groups in Nigeria, including active discrimination by people who consider themselves to be the original inhabitants of their region against settlers from other states and about the persistence of inter-ethnic, intercommunal and interreligious violence in Nigeria stemming from these hostile sentiments as well as disputes over commercial interest and resource control.

2. The Committee also recalls its recommendations contained in its concluding observations that Nigeria continue to monitor all initiatives and tendencies that may give rise to racist and xenophobic behaviour and to combat the negative consequences of such tendencies; and that Nigeria endeavour, by encouraging genuine dialogue, to improve relations between different ethnic communities with a view to promoting tolerance and prejudices and negative stereotypes.

3. The Committee regrets that it still has not received the information it requested on the implementation of its recommendations within one year of its adoption of the concluding observations referred to above, and that the nineteenth periodic report of Nigeria has been overdue since 2008.

4. The Committee deplores the attacks and massacres recurring between different ethno-religious groups in Nigeria, as well as the large number of victims, in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

5. The Committee strongly urges Nigeria to take all the appropriate measures to immediately stop the ethnic violence, to protect the victims and to avoid the reoccurrence of such killings in the future in compliance with its obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

6. The Committee urges Nigeria to investigate the massacres, to bring to justice those responsible and to provide redress to the victims and their families.

7. The Committee calls on all local, regional and national authorities in Nigeria to conduct studies on the underlying causes of the ethnic violence in Nigeria; to firmly address all underlying causes of tension leading to this repeated violence; and to promote dialogue between different ethnic communities in view to achieve tolerance and peace.

8. The Committee requests that Nigeria provide information on the situation and the measures taken for its redress, not later than 30 July 2010.

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