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UN expert on extrajudicial executions to visit Nigeria

By agency reporter
August 19, 2019

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, will visit Nigeria from 19 August to 2 September 2019 to investigate issues concerning her mandate.

“I look forward to understanding the scope of the challenges confronted with regard to arbitrary deprivations of life and measures taken by the Government on such issues as the implementation of counter terrorism policies and the conflicts between communities in Nigeria”, Callamard said.

“I will also investigate violations of the right to life of women, minorities, indigenous people, members of the LGBTI community, internally displaced persons and human rights defenders.”

Callamard will also consider abuses committed by State security agencies and non-State actors, particularly in the North East and South of the country, as well as actions taken by the State to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.

She will also assess measures adopted by the State to address and prevent killings in clashes between herders and farmers in the central part of the country, with a special focus on the impact of climate change on rural communities.

The Special Rapporteur will also examine issues relating to safeguards over the use of the death penalty, mainly in relation to the situation of inmates on death row and the laws applied by Sharia courts.

Callamard will meet officials at federal and state level, as well as the national human rights institution and representatives of UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and civil society. She will also visit areas outside the capital, Abuja.

At the end of her visit, the Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference on 2 September 2019 to share her preliminary findings with the media. Her final report on the visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June 2020. 

* Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/Home.aspx

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