Advocacy within the Commonwealth

Submission of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group's meeting, April 1999

Summary

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) recommends:

• that the Nigerian Government be readmitted to full Commonwealth membership at the end of May 1999 when President-elect Obasanjo takes office
• that CMAG focuses Commonwealth effort on the crisis in Sierra Leone and sends a mission to Freetown as soon as possible
• that specific interest in The Gambia is formally concluded
• that concern is expressed at recent human rights violations in Malaysia and Zimbabwe
• that Commonwealth states and non-governmental bodies are invited to give evidence to assist a reappraisal and strengthening of CMAG prior to the Durban Summit (CHOGM) in November.
  

Nigeria

In the light of the electoral process now concluded the CHRI believes it would be right for CMAG, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to authorize the full return of Nigeria to membership when President-elect Obasanjo takes office. This is not to say that the process was without flaws, or that Nigeria could yet be described as a functioning democracy, but the minimum conditions of civil government set out at Millbrook and underlined at Edinburgh will have been met. There is now an opportunity to strengthen the culture of rights and responsibilities.

In reality, as the CHRI has argued in previous submissions, it must be recognized that the consolidation of democracy and a human rights culture is going to be the work of many years. Among many challenges, going beyond an overdue improvement in the day-to-day conditions of life, are: the need to root out pervasive corruption which has impoverished ordinary Nigerians and drastically reduced their economic and social rights; the need to professionalise and democratize the military, security and police services, to build accountability and a human rights awareness; the need to provide rights, tolerance and protection for different ethnic communities; and the need to build democratic standards from local to national levels.

CMAG members and the Nigerian Government should make use of the final report (March 1999) of the UN Special Rapporteur on Nigeria, Mr Soli Sorabjee, the Attorney-General of India, as a check-list of what still needs to be done. The new Nigerian Government should be encouraged to supply a progress report to CMAG and the United Nations Human Rights Commission by the end of this year.

CMAG and the Commonwealth Secretariat should maintain a dialogue with the new Nigerian Government to assist in the entrenching of a sustainable democracy. Among priority areas will be: the Federal Constitution to be promulgated, where Commonwealth experience could enrich the national debate; advice, particularly from South Africa, if the new government wishes to combine processes of amnesty and truth and reconciliation; use of the "Harare scheme" devised by Commonwealth Law Ministers to retrieve funds corruptly removed from the public purse; and prison reform in Nigeria.

CMAG should appeal to Commonwealth non-governmental organisations to join hands with Nigerian partners during this transitional phase. Similarly, although certain Nigerian bodies retained membership of Commonwealth NGOs during the period of suspension this was not true of others (e.g. for Nigerian members of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and Commonwealth Broadcasting Association). The new Nigerian Government should be requested to encourage a process of rejoining. Commonwealth NGOs are significant supports for civil society, and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Commonwealth Loval Government Forum are among several which could contribute much at the present time.

The government should be advised that, if it is to benefit fully from its renewed Commonwealth membership, it should subscribe not only to the Secretariat but to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, Commonwealth Foundation, and other intergovernmental agencies. Commonwealth cooperation in the 1990s has faced difficulties in countries which have joined or rejoined, but where governments have not subscribed to all the official agencies.

Sierra Leone

The horrific human rights situation in Sierra Leone, arising from the prolonged and brutal civil war, is a stain on the reputation of the Commonwealth. Earlier this month reliable reports suggested that Freetown is home to 300,000 refugees, 15,000 amputees, 2500 lost of abandoned children and hundreds of demolished child soldiers. More than 2,000 young girls have been raped.

The CHRI would concur with the statement by Chief Anyaoku, Secretary-General on 2 February 1999 that "Sierra Leone faces a tragedy unprecedented in its history and horrendous even by the standards of a world increasingly inured to the brutalities of war. The entire population of Sierra Leone, without exception, is at the mercy of a murderous rebel war machine which makes no distinction between women and children on the one hand and combatants on the other." CHRI hopes that a cease-fire may be reached by Independence Day, 27 April, at the current talks in Togo.

The CHRI was surprised that the Secretary-General's statement, with its appeal for support for the elected government of President Kabbah, made no mention of CMAG. Although urgent international action was called for, the Group itself was not recalled. Yet CMAG was charged by Commonwealth Heads with a concern for Sierra Leone in 1995; the situation there has been on the agenda at every meeting since. The absence of effective involvement by CMAG has been taken by its critics to mean that even the Commonwealth has lost faith in the instrument devised to secure compliance with the Harare Commonwealth Declaration, 1991.

CMAG must exert itself at its April meeting, taking account of the talks in Togo. It should:

Send its Chair, Dr Stan Mudenge, and Vice-Chair, Mr Don McKinnon, to Freetown to devise a strategy with President Kabbah for Commonwealth support; this would encompass the rebuilding of military, police and other government services; humanitarian relief; disarmament of the RUF rebels; involvement of NGO as well as Commonwealth government assistance. It would be vital that this mission should be accompanied by journalists from key Commonwealth countries.

Name and shame those states which have been supporting the RUF rebels, and coordinate political action to isolate the Liberian government and others which have been helping to maintain the war.

Coordinate action to cut off financial support for the rebels, especially through unregulated diamond sales. Certain Commonwealth players, including the United Kingdom, South Africa and relevant member states, assist the difficult processes of negotiation and reconciliation.

CMAG should respect the desire of a democratizing Nigeria to scale down its involvement in Sierra Leone in the context of ECOMOG. In the short-term it should see whether other West African states may be willing to replace the Nigerian troops. In the longer-term it must assist the build-up of a new Sierra Leone army which may, as happened in the case of Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique, include combatants from both sides. It has been curious that a democratic government has had to rely so heavily on external arms.

The Kabbah government should also be encouraged to raise human rights standards as part of a peace settlement. Motives of revenge have led to unacceptable abuses by government officials and forces in the past.

Other issues

Although some human rights concerns are still being reported, the CHRI would argue that the situation in The Gambia no longer calls for the special scrutiny of CMAG. It is not significantly worse than in other member states and it is time CMAG exercised the mandate given it by Heads of Government, and looked beyond West Africa.

Over the last few months there have been substantiated allegations of torture of journalists in Zimbabwe, where President Mugabe called for Supreme Court justices to resign when they requested confirmation of the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; and there was a disgraceful beating up of the former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, who faced a trial and sentence which international observers found to be unfair. Demonstrators in Kuala Lumpur, protesting at the trial and its outcome, have also been abused.

Since both Zimbabwe and Malaysia are represented on CMAG - and Zimbabwe was the birthplace of the Harare Declaration - it would be appropriate if the Group sought assurances which could be made public that, for example, allegations of torture and physical abuse will be independently investigated and, where found, will lead to punishment and compensation. If the Group as a whole is not satisfied with such explanations it should not feel circumscribed by the fact that it includes the relevant Foreign Minister. CMAG should start considering how its scrutiny processes may apply, where necessary, to states represented in its own membership.

The CHRI believes that CMAG which has now been in operation since 1995, needs a fundamental reappraisal. It has not hitherto taken up any cases beyond the Gambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, for which it was mandated in New Zealand. It was ignored by the Commonwealth Secretariat in the latest crisis in Sierra Leone. It never clearly stated its opposition to the attempt by General Abacha to succeed himself as President of Nigeria in 1998. Its work is not widely known beyond official circles.

At this meeting CMAG should appeal to Commonwealth states and NGOs to provide evidence on how it may develop for the future, and the Foreign Ministers currently serving on it should be encouraged to hold consultations in their own countries. The Commonwealth Law Ministers, Commonwealth Ministers Responsible for Women's Affairs and Commonwealth Finance Ministers - all due to meet this year - should be invited to give her views.

The CHRI believes that, from a human rights viewpoint, CMAG could play a more valuable role, but it is one that will need to be carefully defined. The CHRI will provide a further submission, on the future of CMAG, later this year.

In the meantime the CHRI commends to CMAG the Latimer House Guidelines on relations between the executive, parliament and the judiciary. These were prepared by four Commonwealth bodies, of which three support the Initiative, as a means of improving the implementation of the Harare Principles. CMAG may wish to endorse these guidelines, and use them as a checklist prior to exercising their own mandate, when relations between the three institutions break down in any member state.