On December 3, 2008, the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) in collaboration with a US-based  leading law firm, Debevoise and Plimpton, filed another landmark communication before the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.  The Communication was brought against the state of Nigeria on behalf of the victims of the July 1990 brutal demolition of Maroko Community in Lagos state, who were forcibly evicted from their homes and businesses by the government of Nigeria in violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.  Maroko evictees have pursued their claims in the Nigerian national courts and other independent bodies for more than 19 years but are yet to obtain any relief, remedy or redress, making legal action in Nigeria both futile and unduly prolonged.

The African Commission considered and became seized of the Maroko Communication in May 2009 and intends to make a decision on its the admissibility at the  Commission's 46th Ordinary Session, scheduled to take place from November 11 to 25, 2009, in Banjul, the Gambia. View the Communication>>>

pursuant

to Articles 55, 56 and 58 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights;

regarding

actions of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria, a member state of the Organization of African Unity and a state party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, having ratified the Charter on 22nd July 1983;

involving
the widespread contamination of soil, water and air; the destruction of homes; the burning of crops and killing of farm animals; and the climate of terror that has been visited upon the Ogoni communities in violation of their rights to health, a healthy environment, housing and food;

alleging
• violations of Articles 2, 4, 14, 16, 18, 21, and 24 of the African Charter, in addition to violations of corresponding provisions of the:
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) U.N. Doc. A/810, 71 (1948)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966) ratified by Nigeria Oct. 1993)
• The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), U.N.T.S. 195 (1966) (ratified by Nigeria, Oct. 1967)
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, U.N. Doc. A/RES34/180 (1980) ratified by Nigeria June 1985)
• International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), U.N. Doc. A/RES/44/25, 1989 (ratified by Nigeria Apr. 1991);

seeking
consideration of the Complaint by the African Commission under Articles 55 and 56, and special attention by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the O.A.U. and an in-depth study by the African Commission pursuant to Article 58, based on the series of serious and massive violations alleged;

noting
that domestic remedies do not bar the communication because of the futility of legal action in Nigeria resulting from the operation of ouster clauses contained in military decrees removing jurisdiction of the courts from entertaining human rights cases (see e.g. Federal Military Government of Nigeria, Decree No. 114, 18th November, 1993, art. 13(1): Notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979, as amended, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act or any other enactment, no proceeding shall lie or be instituted in any court for or on account of any act, matter or thing done or purported to be done in respect of this Decree);

brought by
The Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC), a non-governmental, non-partisan and voluntary initiative concerned with the promotion of economic and social rights in Nigeria and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), a New York-based, non-governmental organization devoted to the promotion of economic and social rights on a global scale.