A/HRC/43/43/Add.1
right to adequate housing. 59 Friends and family members of lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender persons may find themselves in violation of the Same-Sex Marriage
(Prohibition) Act if they associate with their lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender relative.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons are also forced to limit visits to their own
domicile by friends who could be suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
for fear that their landlord or neighbours may report them to the police. As a consequence,
not even their home offers a safe space for socialization.
C.
Indigenous peoples
66.
Nigeria did not support the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Persons.60 Its internal legislation is not in line with international standards on
indigenous peoples’ land rights,61 affecting their right to housing as forced evictions deprive
them not only of their agricultural lands but also of their homes. The Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination has expressed deep concern regarding the failure of
Nigeria to engage in meaningful consultations with indigenous peoples, including the
Ogoni, and has stated that the Land Use Act and the Petroleum Decree are contrary to the
International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination in
relation to indigenous peoples’ rights.62 The Committee was also alarmed by the assaults,
the summary executions and other abuses carried out against local communities by police
and security personnel employed by oil companies in Rivers and Delta States. It called
upon the Government to conduct full and impartial investigations into alleged violations
committed by police and private security personnel and to provide redress to victims. 63
67.
The Special Rapporteur met with representatives of the Ogoni tribe in Rivers State,
who complained of forced evictions contrary to article 10 of the United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and article 11 (1) of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. They recounted their ongoing struggle to maintain
control over their lands and resources. The Special Rapporteur also met with the Gbagyi
community in the Federal Capital Territory. Although the Gbagyi agreed to have their lands
expropriated for the creation of a new national capital in Abuja in 1991, they have not been
afforded adequate compensation and resettlement, violating articles 8 and 10 of the
Declaration. As established in the basic principles and guidelines on development-based
evictions and displacement, compensation for all evictions need to be fair and just for both
women and men and cover, among other things, lost opportunities, including employment,
loss of earnings and the costs of legal assistance. Loss of land should be compensated with
land commensurate in quality, size and value, or better. 64 The Gbagyi continue to live in
informal settlements dispossessed of their land, without security of tenure and under the
threat of forced eviction contrary to the provisions in the Committee on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights’ general comments No. 4 and No. 7 (1997) on forced evictions.
D.
Persons with disabilities
68.
The Special Rapporteur notes positively that Nigeria ratified the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol in 2010 and adopted the 2018
Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act. The Act prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability and imposes fines and prison sentences on those
who contravene it. It also stipulates a five-year transitional period for modifying public
buildings, structures and motorized vehicles to make them accessible to and usable by
59
60
61
62
63
64
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 4, para. 17.
https://unpo.org/article/6763.
Sylvanus Barnabas, “The role of international law in protecting land rights of indigenous peoples in
Nigeria and Kenya: a comparative perspective”, in Indigenous, Aboriginal, Fugitive and Ethnic
Groups Around the Globe, Liat Klain-Gabbay, ed. (2019).
CERD/C/NGA/CO/18, para. 19.
Ibid.
A/HRC/4/18, annex I, para. 60.
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