Ongoing Cases

HOUSING RIGHTS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA (Suit No. CV/437/08 Yagba Tsav & 6 others v Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the Federal Capital Development Authority)

Following the creation of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the movement of the Federal Capital of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja, the Federal Government has been developing the new capital according to a development blueprint called the Abuja Master Plan (AMP). As a result of this development, demolition of homes and forced evictions of inhabitants of Abuja have been carried out since 2003 by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), ostensibly to meet the requirements of the AMP.

The 7 Plaintiffs in this case are representing all the inhabitants of Tudun Wada village, one of the affected communities in Lugbe, Abuja. The suit is being brought against the Minister of the FCT and the FCDA to prevent them from forcefully evicting the Tudun Wada community from its present abode.

The Plaintiffs have been living in Tudun Wada Village, Lugbe Layout for over 20 years to the knowledge of the government. Through their own communal efforts they have provided schools, hospitals churches, mosques and markets and other socio-economic infrastructure. The government has stationed bulldozers and other equipment and police in riot gear in readiness to forcefully evict the whole community. The community has made several appeals to the government to follow the due process of law but these appeals been treated with contempt. Consequently the Plaintiffs have resorted to the Federal High Court to restrain the governement from forcefully evicting them from the village without recourse to due process of law.

The government continues to claim the Tudun Wada community are squatters with legal right to the land which is vested in the President of Nigeria. IHRDA is assisting the Plaintiffs in pursuing the suit.  

FAIR TRIAL FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS (ACmHPR Communication 301/05 Haregewoin Gabresellasie & IHRDA / Ethiopia)

Following the overthrow of the former Government of Ethiopia (commonly referred to as the Dergue regime) by the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), some officials of the Dergue Government surrendered to the EPRDF in Addis Ababa by 28 May 1991. They were denied habeas corpus, and limitations on delay of criminal action and submission of charges, evidence and pleading to charges for these Dergue officials were lifted. Their trials dragged on for more than 15 years after their detention.

IHRDA is co-complainant in a communication the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACmHPR) on this matter. The case has since been admitted and is awaiting a decision on the merits.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (ACmHPR Communication 305/05 Article XIX and Others / Zimbabwe)

Zimbabwe’s broadcast regulatory framework places great obstacles on the ability of independent electronic media, like Capital Radio, to broadcast freely. As a result of launching a series of legal challenges to the broadcast licensing regime in Zimbabwe, the Police seized Capital Radio’s equipment, causing its directors to go into hiding. The Minister for Information publicly stated that Capital Radio would never be granted a broadcast licence because of its predominantly white ownership. The government of Zimbabwe further pursued specific measures to prevent Capital Radio from broadcasting despite the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe affirming its legal right to on 22^nd September 2000.

Article XIX in partnership with Gerry Jackson, Michael Auret Jr, Media Institute of Southern Africa and IHRDA have filed this case is before the ACmHPR. It is currently awaiting a decision on admissibility.

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS (ACmHPR Communication 317/06 Nubian Community in Kenya / Kenya)

Kenyan Nubians entered Kenya as part of the colonial British King’s African Rifles (KAR) in the late 19^th century. The British colonial authorities allocated land, including the settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, explicitly to Kenyan Nubians. But they did not grant them colony citizenship as they did to the railway workers from the Asian sub-continent, the Arab subjects of the then Zanzibari Sultanate or the British settlers. At independence, the citizenship status of the Nubians was not directly addressed. Successive Kenyan governments have also not taken any concrete steps to address the plight of the Nubian community.

After over than a century of residence in Kenya, the Kenyan government does not recognise Nubians as Kenyan citizens even though they constitute de jure citizens as defined by Kenyan law. More so, British, Asian and Arab settlers are formally recognised as Kenyan tribes. Most Nubians therefore live as de facto stateless persons without adequate protection from the state and without fully enjoying their rights under national and international law as a result of systematic discrimination by the Kenyan government. The High Court of Kenya has been considering interlocutory matters of a case filed by the community on this discrimination for 6 years. The case is now before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

IHRDA in partnership with Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE) filed the communication before the ACmHPR in 2006.

CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN (ACERWC Communication)

Article 6, especially sub-article 4, of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child guarantees the rights of every African child to a nationality at birth. Nubian children in Kenya are born stateless, and face daunting challenges convincing the Kenyan government to grant them citizenship when they come of age. This discriminatory practice of the Kenya government is also contrary to Kenyan law as Nubians are de jure citizens.

IHRDA and Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) have filed a communication in 2009 before the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC).

Cases being developed

In addition to the cases currently before various instances of the African Human Rights System, IHRDA is working on several issues, developing and defining cases on alleged human rights violations. Research and case definition is done in collaboration with our partners in the respective localities. These are:

Citizenship Rights in Nigeria;

Mining and Human Rights in Katanga, (DRC);

Death in Detention in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo);

Housing Rights and Fair Trial Rights in N’djamena (Chad).