Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that campaigns for human rights globally, has released the 2023 State of the World’s Human Rights report. The report documents human rights concerns in 155 countries, connecting issues at global and regional levels. The report also highlights different human rights violations across Africa, with Nigeria inclusive.
While detailing these human rights abuses, the human rights organization highlighted that in Nigeria, there were sanctions against the media and criminal charges against journalists for alleged defamation, with Defence and security forces using excessive force, mainly to disperse protests.
“People were tortured during police interrogation. Authorities continued to carry out forced evictions. Authorities failed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of climate change. All parties to the armed conflict committed violations of international law. Cases of enforced disappearances were documented. Sexual and gender-based violence remained rife. Men were charged under the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Resettled internally displaced people lacked sufficient food and access to basic amenities.” a part of the report reads.
Nigeria continues to face a series of human rights issues. In 2023 theglobaleconomy.com, a US-based online platform that offers up-to-date data on indicators like the economy, employment, and respect for citizens’ rights and prevailing laws of countries all over the world- ranked Nigeria as the 21st among countries with the worst record for human rights and rule of law violations in the world.
A year before, the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), a New Zealand-based organisation measuring the human rights performance of countries, in a report revealed that Nigeria’s human rights record is very poor and is worse than [the] average in sub-Saharan Africa.
However, amongst other recommendations, Amnesty International called on the Nigeria Government to end the harassment and intimidation of journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and opposition members and leaders; immediately and unconditionally release anyone who is arbitrarily detained; and ensure media freedom is respected, including by allowing media outlets to operate independently.
Download the report here