By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa 

ABUJA, Nigeria – Yesterday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) began investigating a man who allegedly tortured his son.

NHRC Executive Secretary Bem Angwe released a statement condemning the act as “inhuman, barbaric and wicked.”

A month ago, Mr. Christopher Ogbeun, a principal of a local government secondary school in Kogi state, found his son destroying a letter of approval from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) which authorized his school to be a center for regional examinations. Infuriated by what his son had done, he took an electric iron and burnt his 10-year old boy, Stephen.

Meanwhile, the police received a call from other family members asking for help to stop Mr. Ogbeun. When the police arrived at Mr. Ogbeun’s residence, they caught him tying his son’s hands. “If not for the intervention of the Special Ambush Squad, he would have killed the son,” said Mohammed Musa Katsina, the State Commissioner of Police.

During an interview with a local newspaper, Mr. Ogbeun explained, “when I asked him to tell me the truth, he refused, then I used the iron on him. He made me threaten him with the iron which I pressed on him.”

Stephen suffered several high-degree burns and remained in critical condition for weeks.

Since the incident, Mr. Ogbeun has been charged with unlawful detention and attempted murder under Section 325 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C. Vol.2, Laws of Lagos State 2003.

According to Angwe, the NHRC has taken a serious interest in the case hoping to put an end to such acts which he described as “unacceptable in the 21st Century Nigeria.” “The action of the perpetrators of all forms of violence contradicts Section 34 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which prohibits torture, inhuman and degrading treatment,” said Angwe.

He also told the press that the NHRC is about to hold a stakeholders’ meeting that will look into other issues of domestic violence. Stakeholders in this meeting shall include community leaders, civil society organisations, the academia and faith based organisations, who will collaborate with the NHRC in resolving cases similar to Stephen’s.

In 2003, Nigeria passed the Child Rights Law in compliance with the United Nations Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, which over 178 countries including Nigeria ratified. The Child Rights Law criminalizes any form of assault and abuse on children. However, although it was passed at the federal level, the law has not been effective in several states in the country. To this date, only 16 out of Nigeria’s 36 states have implemented the law.

 

For further information, please see:

Vanguard – NHRC probes teacher’s torturing of his 10-year-old son – 7 February 2013

All Africa – Nigeria: Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Leadership – Stop Crimes Against Children – 29 January 2013

Nigerian Tribune – Principal inflicts injury on son over WAEC approval letter – 22 January 2013

 

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KANO, Nigeria — At least nine women who were inoculating children against polio have been shot dead in northern Nigeria by gunmen suspected of belonging to the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram.  The attacks took place in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, where families typically feel more comfortable allowing women inside their homes.

On Friday morning gunmen arrived by three-wheel taxis and opened fire in the Hotoro Hayi neighborhood, killing at least eight female vaccinators.  Four more people were killed in a second attack in the Unguwa Uku neighborhood.

The final death toll remains unclear; however, a Kano police spokesman, Musa Magaji Majia, said the attacks killed nine women who were administering oral drops to children as part of a polio vaccine drive.

Unfortunately, this is not the first strike against polio vaccinators in Kano.  For example, in October police reported that two officers who were involved in guarding an immunization drive were shot and killed.

While officers said there were no immediate suspects for the shootings, witnesses said the Islamist militant group Boko Haram was responsible.  Boko Haram, whose Hausa name is often translated into “Western education is sacrilege/forbidden,” has been behind a series of violent attacks across northern Nigeria.  Boko Haram continues to fight the country’s weak central government as the death toll climbs.

The sect has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.  This includes an attack in Kano in January 2012 that killed at least 185.

The attack on vaccinators highlights the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of three nations where polio still remains endemic.  Last year, Nigeria registered 121 new polio infections, more than half of all cases reported around the world, according to data from the World Health Organization.  The other two countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there were 58 polio cases in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan in 2012.

Moreover, in the past month, polio workers have also been targeted and killed in Pakistan, where the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts.  The Taliban accused health workers of working as U.S. spies and alleging that the vaccine makes children sterile.  These rumors have only grown since it was revealed that a Pakistani doctor helped the CIA discover Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts by maintaining a pretexual polio vaccination program.

For more information, please see:

ABC – Gunmen Kill Nigeria Women Giving Polio Vaccine– 8 February 2013

BBC News – Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano – 8 February 2013

Reuters – Gunmen Kill Nine Polio Health Workers in Nigeria – 8 February 2013

Washington Post – Suspected Islamic Extremists Kill at Least 9 Women Giving Polio Vaccines in Northern Nigeria – 8 February 2013

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Today, Wednesday February 6, 2013, a 17-year-old South African girl died of injuries inflicted on her in a gang rape several days before. Her death stimulated outrage today in a country that has one of the world’s highest levels of sexual violence.

The young victim had been sliced open from her navel to her genitals and left on a building site in the town of Bredasdorp, about 130 kilometers east of the country’s capital. The victim was able to identify one of her attackers before she died as the hospital staff who fought to save her life also counseled her due to the horrific nature of her injuries.

In the hours after the attack, the young girl was taken to three different hospitals—the town’s Otto du Plessis hospital, then the main hospital in Worcester, and finally the Tygerberg hospital.

Troy Martens of the ANC Women’s League said, “It is difficult to find reason behind the many different acts of gang rape, child rape, rape of the elderly, corrective rape and male rape.” The South African police figures and records show that about 64,000 sexual offense cases were reported last year, and that many attacks still go unreported.

South Africa’s statistics agency concluded 13 years ago, in the year 2000, that it had the highest reported rape rate of all 120 Interpol member countries. The report also recognized that even when suspects are caught, only about 12 percent of cases end in a conviction. With these statistics comes the reality that sexual crimes rarely spark outrage; until today.

The death of this young girl has sparked outrage in South African and has been condemned by female politicians of the country’s governing party. Martens argued that the women’s league and the other few women’s non-governmental organizations would no longer be the “lone voices crying out against rape.”

Martens continued saying, “Men and women need to join hands around this issue and fight this epidemic together. The Women’s league and a few women’s NGOs can no longer be the lone voices crying out against rape.”

 

For further information, please see:

BBC News – South African Gang Rape Murder Angers ANC Women – 6 February 2013

IOL News – Girl, 17, Identifies Attacker Before Dying – 6 February 2013

Reuters – South African 17-Year-Old Dies of Gang Rape Injuries – 6 February 2013

Voice of America – South African Teen Dies of Gang Rape Injuries – 6 February 2013

By Hannah Stewart
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A Somali woman who accused state security forces of rape and the journalist who interviewed her were each sentenced to a year in jail on Tuesday.  The judges held that Luul Ali Osman, 27, had falsely accused the government.  Human rights groups condemned the decision, stating that the government is attempting to conceal rampant sexual abuse of women by the security forces.

Osman was charged on multiple counts.  She faced charges for insulting a government body, inducing false evidence, simulating a criminal offense, and asserting a false accusation.  Freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur was charged with insulting a government body, and inducing the woman to give false evidence.

During the trial, the judges refused to entertain evidence from three witnesses who intended to testify on behalf of Osman and Abdinur.  It was reported that the judges largely based their decision upon medical evidence that showed Osman was not raped.

The National Union of Somali Journalists described the trial as a suppression of press freedom.  Moreover, it expressed shock that Abdinur was convicted of entering Osman’s home without her husband’s permission, although he was never charged with that crime.

Three others charged in the case, including Osman’s husband, were acquitted Tuesday.  Osman’s prison term will be delayed, as she is currently breastfeeding her child.  Osman and Abdinur plan to appeal the court’s decision.

“The court’s decision to convict an alleged rape victim and the journalist who interviewed her is a terrible miscarriage of justice, and sends a chilling signal to victims of sexual assault in Somalia,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Reporters Without Borders ranks Somalia 175th out of 179 countries surveyed in its 2012-2013 World Press Freedom Index.  This placed Somalia one place ahead of Syria.

In September, the international community applauded Somalia for its first peaceful elections since military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.  The United States State Department referred to the case as “a litmus test” for the future of Somalia.

Thus far, the international outcry surrounding the case serves as an embarrassment for current Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.  After the elections, the international community welcomed Mohamud as the beginning of a new era following decades of Somalian conflict and instability.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Somali Woman Who Alleged Rape Given Jail Term – 5 February 2013

NY Daily News – Somali Court Sentences Rape Victim, Journalist to One-Year in Jail Over “False Accusations” – 5 February 2013

Reuters – Somali Court Sends Alleged Rape Victim and Journalist to Jail – 5 February 2013

The Guardian – Somali Woman is Jailed for a Year After Claiming She Was Raped – 5 February 2013

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DR Congo—The Democratic Republic of Congo has already been struggling to stem unrest in its eastern region. Now another challenge arises. A newly formed armed rebel group has just announced its goal of seeking to topple President Kabila’s government regime.

This group claims to have the support of other civil society members as well as political figures from South Kivu and North Kivu. The group also claims to be striving for justice “for high treason” by the President. This group has entered a busy arena. DR Congo has already been trying to contain rebels from the M23 (Movement of March 23) group that have been fighting the DR Congo army since last May in a neighboring North Kivu province.

The new rebel group said that it wants the United Nations to help it organize “democratic elections and rapidly reinstate political order capable of reducing the misery of Congolese people, and build the foundations of a real republic with proper participatory democracy.”

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Franz Rauchenstein, noted that “many people have had to flee out of fear for their safety. Civilians have also suffered violence, looting and extortion,” he added.

Laetitia Courtois, the head of the ICRC sub-delegation in the province, also commented on the violence: “Violence between armed groups is now on the rise again in South Kivu. The fighting is getting closer and closer to the city of Bukavu. At the same time, clashes are affecting remote areas, such as the Kahale territory to the north of Bukavy, and the Walungu and Shabunda territories to the southwest.

During the month of January, the ICRC has transferred dozens of people wounded in the fighting from Walungu to nearby hospitals in Bukavu. The ICRC has also moved six severely malnourished children from the Kabare territory to Bukavu.

Over the past few decades, the DR Congo has faced many problems including extreme poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east that has continued since 1998 and that has also left 5.5 million people dead.

In response to this violence, the United Nations have agreed to add another 2,000 soldiers to its already in place peace keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This, what they call an “intervention brigade,” will help to tackle the armed group that have continued to prolong conflicts in the eastern part of the country.

 

For further information, please see:

The New Age – New Rebel Group Forms in DR Congo – 3 February 2013

PressTV – Humanitarian Situation Worsening in DRC – 3 February 2013

AllAfrica – Civilians Suffer Amid Shifting Centers of Violence – 1 February 2013

Political Analysis South Africa – UN Increases Commitment to the Democratic Republic of the Congo – 29 January 2013