Nigeria loses seat in UN - Over human rights records

[Richard Akindele]

Citing poor human rights record against Nigeria, the country has been denied a seat on a United Nations’ committee/Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Nigerian Mrs. Saudatu Mahdi was stopped as one of the 12 experts elected to serve on the CEDAW Committee, which holds the mandate to monitor countries’ compliance with the Convention.

Mrs Mahdi, who is the Executive Director of the Women Rights Advancement and Protection Agency {WRAPA}, confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that her loss was due to the human rights record of the Nigerian government.

She was one of the 23 experts that applied for a seat on CEDAW. Most of the voters at the election reportedly acknowledged Mahdi’s expertise, but her lobby for Nigeria was said to have been rebuffed by them, while making known their preference for the candidacy of any West African country other than Nigeria.

A protest vote reportedly saw Dorcas Ama Frema Coker-Appiah of Ghana emerge in the Nigerian’s place as one of the 12 experts elected to serve on the CEDAW committee.

The election, which was held on June 23, 2006, had 181 of 183 states who are signatories to the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women participating in the election.

Mahdi said that the controversial redeployment of the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Bukhari Bello, the arraignment of two journalists for sedition, as well as the alleged poor human rights record of Nigeria, which had sent tongues wagging in the international community, combined to make Nigeria a hard-sell for the seat, despite its glittering track record.

The successful candidates are Ferdous Ara Begum (Bangladesh), Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani (Algeria), Saisuree Chutikul (Thailand), Dorcas Ama Frema Coker-Appiah (Ghana), Cornelis Flinterman (Netherlands), Naela Gabr Mohamed Gabre Ali (Egypt), Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (Israel), Violeta Neubauer (Slovenia), Pramila Patten (Mauritius), Fumiko Saiga (Japan), Hazel Gumede Shelton (South Africa) and Dubravka Å imonovic (Croatia).

They will begin four-year terms on 1 January 2007, and will replace the 12 experts whose terms will expire on 31 December 2006. The committee members who will continue to serve until their terms expire on 31 December 2008 included: Magalys Arocha Dominguez (Cuba), Mary Shanthi Dairiam ( Malaysia), Françoise Gaspard (France), Tiziana Maiolo (Italy), Silvia Pimentel ( Brazil), Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling (Germany), Heisoo Shin (Republic of Korea), Glenda P. Simms (Jamaica), Anamah Tan (Singapore), Maria Regina Tavares da Silva (Portugal) and Xiaoqiao Zou (China).

To preside over the fourteenth meeting of states parties, the committee elected Andreas Mavroyiannis (Cyprus) as chairperson, as well as the following three vice-chairpersons: Meshak Kitchen (Zimbabwe), from the group of African States; Birute Abraitiene (Lithuania), from the group of Eastern European States; and Sean McDonald (Ireland), from the group of Western European and other states.

Tribune