VIII. ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN SUPPORTING PEACEFUL ELECTIONS

The international community should play a stronger role in holding the Nigerian government to commitments it has made to good governance and respect for human rights. All governments should hold Nigeria to its international legal obligations, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to ensure the right of its people to participate freely in choosing their government.²⁰² Nigeria has additional commitments to good governance, human rights and the rule of law under the frameworks of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Commonwealth.²⁰³ In particular, the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance requires the government to: refrain from acts of political violence or intimidation; ensure transparency in the preparation and conduct of elections; provide for the hearing of petitions related to the conduct of elections; and cooperate with civil society to educate the public on the need for peaceful elections.²⁰⁴ The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) offers a platform for foreign governments to encourage the Nigerian government to respect human rights, and to maintain pressure on the government when it fails to do its utmost to prevent political violence or commits other violations of human rights. The much-touted African Peer Review Mechanism (PRM), an initiative of the African Union under NEPAD, purports to be an instrument for African governments to monitor each other's governance. President Obasanjo has been one of the main African leaders at the forefront of this initiative, and is the chair of the NEPAD implementation committee. Other African governments' response to the conduct of Nigerian elections offers a chance for them to prove their renewed commitment to human rights and good governance.

In addition to maintaining continued pressure on the Nigerian government to respect human rights, foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations have a role to play in providing financial and technical support for election-related programs in Nigerian government and civil society. Among others, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union (EU), the Commonwealth, and the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States have provided some form of assistance. While the number of election monitors sent by foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations is far less than the number that will be fielded by Nigerian organizations, international monitoring offers an opportunity for the international community to publicly encourage the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria and publicize and denounceabuses they might observe.

Delegations from the EU, the Commonwealth, and organizations funded by the U.S. government will be among those present at the polling booths in Nigeria in April and May. The EU will field the largest international delegation for national assembly, presidential, gubernatorial, and state house of assembly elections. Its ten-person "advance team" arrived in Nigeria one month ahead of elections; one week later a group of thirty-six observers was to arrive and disperse throughout the country, to be followed by sixty additional "short-term observers...who will follow the last phase of the election campaign, administrative preparations, election days and the post-election period."²⁰⁵ The United States has provided funding for a joint Carter Center/National Democratic Institute delegation as well as a mission from the International Republican Institute. Together, they will field a total of about fifty observers for the national assembly elections and one hundred for the presidential and gubernatorial elections on April 19;²⁰⁶ they will not be present for voting for the state houses of assembly. The Commonwealth also planned to have twenty-two observers arrive in the country nine days in advance of elections, to remain most likely until April 25, thereby also missing the state house of assembly elections.²⁰⁷

Unfortunately, none of these groups had plans to monitor local government elections, despite the likelihood that competition for local government seats was likely to be highly contentious and the importance of local government to citizens' daily lives. Only the Commonwealth Local Government Forum was planning to disperse about five to ten people through the country to monitor local government elections.²⁰⁸

The UN Electoral Assistance Division (UNEAD) of UNDP has provided technical expertise to INEC, in the form of a long-term expert in general election management, as well as experts on coordination of election observers and public affairs. UNEAD is also supporting plans for Nigerian NGOs to monitor elections through the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a civil society coalition of dozens of Nigerian NGOs planning to field ten to fifteen thousand monitors for the elections. In addition, UNEAD is collaborating with TMG and Cresnet, a network of conflict resolution professionals, on civic, voter and peace education campaigns across Nigeria. The EU has provided 6.5 million Euros (approximately $US 7.1 million) and the U.K.'s Department for International Development (DFID) 1 million Euros (approximately $US 1.1 million) for the overall UN election assistance project in Nigeria.²⁰⁹

In addition to its funding for UNEAD, DFID has supported work by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) to build the capacity of the state independent electoral commissions (SIECs), which are responsible for conducting local government elections. DFID has spent approximately £3 million (approximately $US 4.76 million) on election-related activities in Nigeria.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported a long-term conflict prevention and rapid response program in Nigeria, in large part through a contract with Idasa, a South African NGO, which has focused on resolving political conflicts in the lead-up to election. In collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Idasa is creating a communication network of journalists and researchers who will quickly gather and compile information on incidents of political violence, enabling rapid information distribution and response by security services and conflict prevention and resolution groups.²¹⁰ A piece of the funding for this network also comes from DFID. In addition, USAID has funded civil society strengthening through the Centre for Development and Population Activities and training for poll workers through IFES.

²⁰² International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 25, acceded to by Nigeria July 29, 1993; African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, art. 13, ratified by Nigeria June 22, 1983.

²⁰³ See Harare Commonwealth Declaration, signed by Commonwealth Heads of Government, October 20, 1991, available at http://www.thecommonwealth.org/whoweare/declarations/harare; ECOWAS Protocol A/SP1/12/01 on Democracy and Good Governance, Dakar, December 2001, available at http://www.iss.co.za/AF/RegOrg/unity_to_union/ecowas.html.

²⁰⁴ See ECOWAS Protocol Section II (Articles 2-10).

²⁰⁵ EU Press Release, "EU will observe Parliamentary, Presidential and States' Elections in Nigeria," March 5, 2003.

²⁰⁶ Human Rights Watch telephone discussions with representatives of National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute, March 11, 2003.

²⁰⁷ Human Rights Watch telephone conversation with Christopher Child, Deputy Director, Political Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, March 13, 2003.

²⁰⁸ Human Rights Watch telephone conversation with Carl Wright, Director, Commonwealth Local Government Forum, March 12, 2003.

²⁰⁹ Human Rights Watch interview with representative of the UN Electoral Assistance Project in Nigeria, Abuja, February 18, 2003.

²¹⁰ Human Rights Watch interview with Anastasia White, Conflict Specialist, Idasa, Abuja, February 19, 2003.