HC Deb 06 December 2001 vol 376 cc464-5W
Mrs. Spelman

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment her Department has made of human rights in Nigeria; and what actions her Department is taking to improve human rights in Nigeria. [20637]

Clare Short

We welcome steps taken by the Nigerian Government and the National Assembly towards ratification of the Convention against Torture, the drafting of a National Action Plan on Human Rights, strengthening of the National Human Rights Commission and the removal of existing laws that contravene international human rights obligations. There remain areas of concern including the handling of tensions between ethnic groups, the use of capital and corporal punishment, prison conditions and the high numbers of Nigerians that live in extreme poverty.

I recently approved a £30 million programme to support Nigerian efforts, at both federal and state level, to enable poor people to obtain rapid and fair justice. This involves the whole justice system—courts, police, prisons, legal aid, and traditional and informal mediation. We will focus this programme in our four partnership states. These are Benue, Ekiti, Enugu and Jigawa. We will ensure that the assistance programme is taken forward in all four states in ways that uphold international human rights standards.

We are also providing £2.4 million to civil society organisations in Nigeria working for better governance and the realisation of the rights of the marginalised people in Nigeria.

In order to address the economic and social rights of poor people in Nigeria, we are currently designing and implementing a range of programmes (in basic health, support to the electoral process, state and local government reform, among others) with a probable value of some £140 million.

We are working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to establish a high-level bilateral human rights dialogue with the Nigerian Government on issues such as child and women's rights (including trafficking issues), and international and regional human rights obligations.