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UN Committee Criticizes Nigeria for Failing to Prevent Torture in Detention Facilities

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The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has expressed deep concern over Nigeria’s failure to improve conditions for individuals in detention and prevent acts of torture. This follows a visit by the SPT delegation from 8 to 19 September 2024 to assess the country’s detention practices and its adherence to international human rights obligations.

Shujune Muhammad, head of the delegation, condemned the lack of cooperation from Nigerian authorities, stating, “We were confronted with a climate of hostility and faced access issues in several places of detention. Receiving the SPT’s visit and allowing it to exercise its mandate without obstruction is an international obligation under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which Nigeria ratified in 2009.”

The delegation visited various detention facilities, including those for men, women, and children, as well as police stations and facilities run by agencies combating drug and human trafficking. Muhammad described the conditions in most detention centers as “abysmal,” urging Nigeria to take immediate action to prevent torture. “Legal safeguards must be immediately implemented, and the current impunity of perpetrators for acts of torture must end,”she said.

The SPT, made up of 25 independent human rights experts, monitors the adherence of States to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, which has been ratified by 94 countries to date. The experts serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. As part of its mandate, the Subcommittee can visit any place where individuals are deprived of their liberty in States that have ratified the Protocol, with the aim of assisting those States in preventing torture and ill-treatment.

It has been a decade since the SPT’s first visit to Nigeria, yet the country has not established a functional National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to address these issues. Muhammad emphasized, “This unfortunately shows that the prevention of torture and ill-treatment is not taken seriously by the State party, and the horrific situation we have documented speaks to this.”

At the conclusion of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Nigerian government, expressing serious concerns about the lack of commitment to preventing torture and improving detention conditions. 

The Subcommittee will provide Nigeria with a confidential report containing recommendations, which they encourage the government to make public to facilitate necessary reforms.

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