- As UN Body Condemns Racism
By Time Nigeria
Despite the withdrawal of October 1 Quit Notice to all Igbo living in any part of the northern Nigeria by Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, the United Nations’ human rights experts have called for the prosecution of those behind the October 1 divisive ultimatum as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination acting under it’s “Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure also condemn in totality, all forms of racial discrimination in Nigeria and across the globe.
The experts, Mutuma Ruteere, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, and Anastasia Crickley, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, described the ultimatum as a “grave concern”.
Mutuma Ruteere, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
The bodies also berate hate song and audio message being circulated on the internet and on social media targeting the Igbo extraction.
According to a statement issued by the experts, “The Hausa-language audio message urges northern Nigerians to destroy the property of Igbo people and kill anyone who refuses to leave by 1 October, the same date given in the ultimatum.
“We are gravely concerned about this proliferation of hate messages and incitement to violence against the Igbo and their property, especially considering the previous history of such violence, they said.
“The government must be vigilant, as hate speech and incitement can endanger social cohesion and threaten peace by deepening the existing tensions between Nigeria’s ethnic communities.”
The human rights experts said though some local and national figures, as well as some media representatives had publicly denounced any form of hate speech and incitement, other officials still needed to follow suit.
“We are deeply concerned that some prominent local leaders and elders have not condemned the ultimatum, hate speech and the perpetrators,” the experts said.
Anastasia Crickley, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
“We call on the government, media and civil society representatives, and local and religious leaders, to reject and condemn hate speech and incitement to violence unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms.”
The UN experts said any incidents of hate speech and incitement to violence had to be investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished.
“This includes the people behind the ultimatum and those responsible for the creation, publication and circulation of the hate song and audio message,” they added.
Following the UN experts’ report, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held its 93rd session between July 31 and August 25, 2017.
Acting under it’s “Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure,” the committee said it was deeply concerned “by the rise of racist hate speech and incitement to violence against the Igbo people, including through the recording and wide distribution of a song and audio message in Hausa language which describe the Igbo in hateful and derogatory terms.”
It added that the committee was “alarmed by the public ultimatum issued by a number of northern youth groups, forums, and coalitions on June 6, 2017, calling all Igbo in northern Nigeria to leave their homes by 1 October 2017,” noting that the ultimatum “may have been recently withdrawn.”
Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
The committee decried “reports that other local elders and leaders have endorsed the ultimatum and expressed their support for such racist hate speech targeting and threatening the Igbo,” adding that it was “deeply worried by the information that some Igbo families have already started moving out from their villages and homes in northern Nigeria to avoid any possible harm to their personal integrity.”
The UN body drew attention to Nigeria’s membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the African Union (UN) as well as a State party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It stated that Nigeria must “increase its efforts in systematically rejecting and condemning, including by high-level and local public officials and leaders, any form of racist hate speech, incitement to hatred and violence, and the dissemination of ideas of ethnic superiority.”
The body recommended that Nigeria “takes immediate action to stop and prevent the continued circulation and dissemination of the hate song and audio message mentioned above,” and “to exercise due diligence to halt, prevent and investigate acts of racist hate speech and incitement to hatred and violence against the Igbo people, in accordance with international human rights standards, with a view to bringing perpetrators to justice, punishing them adequately if convicted, and compensating victims.”