A/HRC/43/43/Add.1 2017, the High Court of Lagos State ruled in Akapo Agemo and others v. the Attorney General of Lagos State and others that the eviction/threat of forcible eviction of any citizen from his home at short notice and without any immediate alternative accommodation or sufficient opportunity to arrange for such alternative accommodation before being evicted from his current abode was totally undignifying and certainly inhuman, cruel and degrading. The Court also ruled that forced evictions that left evictees homeless violated the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment enshrined in section 34 of the Constitution, a justiciable constitutional provision. 74. The Special Rapporteur was alarmed to learn that governments in Nigeria often ignore the rule of law in a manner that violates the right to housing. This was confirmed to the Special Rapporteur in meetings with officials of the executive branch and the judiciary. One senior judge exclaimed: “We do not have guns!” in frustration regarding his court’s inability to enforce its judgments when political and economic interests were at stake. 75. Amnesty International and Justice and Empowerment Initiatives have documented this issue extensively. For example, on 7 November 2016, the High Court of Lagos State issued an injunction restraining the Government and the police from conducting the previously announced demolition of the Otodo Gbame waterfront community. Ignoring the order, only two days later, on 9 and 10 November 2016, the Otodo Gbame community was demolished and 30,000 persons were forcibly evicted. The arsons and the use of bulldozers commenced during the night, while residents were sleeping. After the Court ruled that the eviction of the Otodo Gbame community residents amounted to cruel and inhuman treatment contrary to Constitutional provisions in section 34 (mentioned above), the Court ordered mediation between the parties. The Lagos State government abandoned the mediation and continued to brutally evict members of the community. The Court was unable to hold the Governor in contempt of court due to the executive immunity he enjoyed. In another example, the demolition of the homes of between 10,000 and 20,000 persons in an informal settlement in Abonnema Wharf, Port Harcourt, was carried out in June 2012 despite a Rivers State High Court order in November 2011 restraining the Government from evicting residents and demolishing the community. 76. Such disregard for high court orders and judgments suggests that State governments believe that their conduct is not subject to the law, or that human rights do not extend to the indigent. Engaging judicial processes to protect one’s home requires courage and resources. In a democracy, it is reasonable to expect States to respect the judiciary. 77. Advocates in Nigeria have also used regional mechanisms to protect the right to housing. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights was successfully used to claim the right to be free from forced eviction by referring to the rights to property, family and health.69 In another example of successful international litigation, the Community Court of Justice of ECOWAS ruled that the Government had violated the right to peaceful assembly when security forces shot at unarmed protesters in Bundu Ama, an informal settlement in Port Harcourt, killing at least 1 person and injuring 12 others in 2009. 70 Protesters were marching against an attempted forced eviction. 78. The Nigerian National Human Rights Commission has been another important institution and mechanism for the implementation of the right to housing. The Commission’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Department has housing one of its focus areas. The Commission takes on individual complaints, also on housing issues and forced evictions. Although it does not hold hearings on individual cases, it can play a mediation role. 79. The National Human Rights Commission created a special panel in 2013 with the task of travelling across the country and collecting testimonies of victims of forced evictions and forceful acquisition of land and property. The aim of the panel was to document the extent of forced evictions and associated human rights violations, with the 69 70 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Social and Economic Rights Action Centre and Centre for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria (2002). Community Court of Justice, Socioeconomic Rights and accountability Project v. Nigeria (2010). 17