A/HRC/47/33/Add.2 Advance Unedited Version Distr.: General 31 March 2021 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-seventh session 21 June–9 July 2021 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, Political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Visit to Nigeria Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnès Callamard*, **,*** * ** *** * The summary of the report is being circulated in all official languages. The report itself, which is annexed to the summary, is being circulated in the language of submission only. ** The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments. ***The Appendix to the present report is circulated as received, in the language of submission only. 21 A/HRC/47/33/Add.2 Annex Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on her mission to Nigeria I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnès Callamard, visited Nigeria from 19 August to 2 September 2019. She examined violations to the right to life committed by State and non-State actors, and actions taken by the State to hold perpetrators accountable. She considered the Federal State security strategy and responses at Federal and State levels to allegations of arbitrary deprivation of life. The Special Rapporteur examined specifically the situation of women and LGBTQI persons, and as part of her gender-sensitive approach to her mandate, included a focus on Nigeria’s criminalisation of abortion. 2. The Special Rapporteur expresses her appreciation to the Government of Nigeria for their invitation. In particular, she thanks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations in Geneva for their cooperation before and during the visit. She thanks the officials she met for their availability and open discussion. The Special Rapporteur further thanks the UN Human Rights Adviser in Nigeria, the UN Resident Coordinator for Nigeria and the UN country team for their invaluable support. 3. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur conducted meetings in Abuja, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Jos, Port Harcourt and Lagos. She also met with the Permanent Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the United Nations Office in Geneva and in New York; the Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the African Union; and with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, the Department of Security Services, the National Commission for Refugees and IDPs, the National Security Advisor, the Director of Legal Services of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Commander of Operation Safe Haven, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). She held meetings with authorities at the State level, including with the Security Adviser for the Governor of Benue State; the Commissioner for Defence; the Commissioner for Police and the Director of State Security Services of Benue State; the Attorney General of Plateau; and the Governor of Rivers State. 4. The Special Rapporteur met with the diplomatic community; international, regional and national human rights organisations; with those working for human rights at the grassroots level; members of religious communities; media workers; activists; LGBTQI individuals; internally displaced women, men and children; and with victims of human rights violations and abuse and with survivors; with eyewitnesses and family members whose relatives had been killed. 5. The present report sets out the situation as it was during her visit. 1 References to subsequent developments are made where possible. II. Historical and political context A. Localised and country-wide patterns of violence and killings 6. Brewing crises and weak rule of law are intertwined with, result from, and are on top of a nation-wide population explosion and increased rates of the extreme poverty that 1 2 End-of-mission-statement and press release. A/HRC/47/33/Add.2 characterises the reality for roughly half of the Nigerian population 2. Further exacerbated by the spreading environmental degradation and desertification evident throughout West Africa3, it is also fed by an