Waiting for Justice Vol 1

The report “Waiting for Justice Vol 1” summarises the proceedings at the public tribunals on police abuses in Nigeria, including the findings and recommendations by the various panel that presided over the various Public Hearings held across five of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria between the year 2010 to 2011. It contains the Rapporteurs’ reports and communiques issued at the end of each of the Public Tribunals. A total of 57 survivors, witnesses and relatives or other representatives of police abuses testified across the country about the brutality and abuse they or those who they represented have suffered in the hands of the police, army, navy, and airforce operatives.

The Public Tribunals was held in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the National Committee on Torture.

Public Tribunal is NOPRIN’s initiative and contribution to civil society’s effort to assist agencies of government statutorily charged with oversight of the police to discharge their functions effectively and on time.

Some objectives of the Public Tribunals are:

• To provide opportunity for victims of police abuse or their family members/legal representatives, to testify about their experiences with the police, and to seek and secure redress and remedies through mechanisms of internal control and external accountability, as well as seek sanctions against perpetrators of abuse or violation;
• To awaken and assist institutions of government charged with oversight of the police particularly, the Police Service Commission, to carry out their duties effectively and timely;
• To mobilize eminent Nigerians to join the campaign against police abuses and impunity; and
• To provide a platform for interaction between the police and members of the public to promote mutual understanding, cooperation and partnership to safety and security in Nigeria.

Each Public Tribunal was presided over by a Panel of three or four eminent Nigerians drawn from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the National Human Rights Commission, National Committee on Torture and Human Rights Experts. The Tribunal focused on cases of indefinite detention without trial, torture, extra judicial killings, forced disappearances, rape, sexual violence, and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment.