A/HRC/43/51/Add.3 Nigeria 70. JAL 09/05/2019 Case no: NGA 3/2019 State reply: none to date Allegations concerning the sentencing to 12 years in prison of Mr. Ibrahim Garba Wala on charges of criminal defamation, public incitement and unlawful assembly. 71. The Special Rapporteur regrets that, at the time of finalisation of this report, no response has been received from the Government of Nigeria. He encourages the Government to engage with the mandate holders of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. 72. In relation to the allegations outlined in his communication dated 9 May 2019, the special Rapporteur remains concerned about the use of criminal defamation charges against Mr. Ibrahim Garba Wala, in relation to a post he made on social media. The Special Rapporteur has expressed his consistent view, in line with General Comment No. 34 of the Human Rights Committee, that “States parties should consider the decriminalisation of defamation and, in any case, the application of the criminal law should only be countenanced in the most serious of cases and imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty” (CCPR/C/GC/34, para 47). He would like to stress that criminal sanctions, in particular imprisonment, for libel and defamation are not deemed appropriate responses and he is especially concerned at the severity and length of the prison term, which are disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. 73. The Special Rapporteur expresses further serious concerns regarding the prosecution of Mr. Wala for leading protests against corruption and other human rights violations in Nigeria. The judgment appears to imply that an assembly becomes a priori unlawful if organised by an unregistered organisation, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards. Sierra Leone 74. JOL 22/02/2019 Case No: SLE 1/2019 State reply: 27/02/2019 Allegations concerning the Development Cooperation Framework (DCF) (20192023), which defines the overall objectives and principles surrounding the development partnership as well as undertakings by the various partners supporting development process in the country and recently submitted to the Cabinet. The DCF contains a number of provisions interfering with the right to freedom of association and freedom of expression. The policy is due to be launched on 28 February 2019. 75. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Sierra Leone for its reply to the communication dated 22 February 2019 and its answers to the concerns raised in it. 76. The Special Rapporteur expressed his upmost concern in the previous reporting period about restrictive NGO policy regulations, which had been adopted in Sierra Leone December 2017. He is seriously concerned that many of the issues raised in the previous communication have not been addressed in the new iteration of this policy under the Development Cooperation Framework (DCF). The Special Rapporteur remains concerned that the provisions of the DCF relating to the functioning of civil society organisations may have a severely detrimental effect on NGOs’ ability to carry out their work and impinge greatly on the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and association which are guaranteed under international human rights law, particularly by articles 19 and 22 of the ICCPR. 77. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government for its response to the allegations and welcomes the changes made to the DCF following consultations with NGOs, particularly the reduction in registration fees. However, he remains concerned about the lack of consultation in the revision process, and the registration requirements, which may constitute an unnecessary financial burden, especially on small organisations and preclude them from carrying out their work to the best of their resources. The Special Rapporteur would like to underscore that the right to freedom of association protects equally associations, which are registered and not registered. 15