WRITTEN QUESTION P-3648/01

by Guido Podestà (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(9 January 2002)

Subject: Situation of women in Nigeria Case of Mrs Safia Husaini Tungar Tudu

Mrs Safia Husaini Tungar Tudu is a 30-year-old Nigerian woman who, having been a child bride at 12, now has four children herself, the youngest of whom was born as a result of rape. On those grounds she has been sentenced to death by stoning. Her case raises disquieting questions about the current situation of women in many African countries, not least Nigeria.

According to the Sharia, a married woman commits adultery when she has sexual intercourse with another man, even if she is divorced and, as in the case referred to in this question, the intercourse is the consequence of rape.

The political and military authorities that take power in non-democratic regimes insist on controlling the lives of those under their rule, extending even to their personal privacy. Such scrutiny is also brought to bear on the birth of children, and women are thus more likely to be subjected to cruel and very often inhuman laws.

How will the Commission, therefore, intensify and increase the effectiveness of the programmes already launched to improve the situation of women in countries of this kind? What new steps will it take to help eradicate practices which violate fundamental human rights?

In addition, how will it encourage democratisation and secularisation in countries such as Nigeria, where the interpretation of religious law (which, moreover, distorts the true meaning of the religion that it invokes) encroaches first and foremost on women's rights?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(6 February 2002)

The Commission is concerned by the application of increasingly harsh judgements handed down by certain sharia courts in Nigeria, and by their particular impact on women's rights. The Commission acts in several ways to help end these practices and to palliate their impact on women.

The Union Guidelines to Union Policy towards third countries on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment(1), which were adopted by the General Affairs Council on 9 April 2001 apply to punishments such as flogging and the stoning referred to by the Honourable Member.

The Union referred to the situation in Nigeria at the 57th Session of the Commission on Human Rights expressing concern regarding sentences under the Sharia penal code introduced by certain states in northern Nigeria.

In addition, the Union has been in direct contact with the President of Nigeria in order to raise concerns that the interpretation of religious laws is encroaching on women's rights in Nigeria.

The Community's Country Support Strategy for Nigeria identifies the promotion of human rights and civil society as themes and provides for funding of a foundation for human rights to allow more Nigerian knowledge and involvement in human rights projects.

Democratisation will be promoted by way of support to the election process, and civil society. The goal is to empower women specifically through improved access to information on democracy and elections and inform them of their rights and obligations in a democratic setting. This is a theme in the on-going project on Citizens Participation and Gender in the Electoral Process.

The Commission supports human rights projects to strengthen civil society in Northern Nigeria and to raise women's awareness concerning their legal rights. In addition, other projects have a gender component and stress inclusion and mainstreaming of women.

Within the framework of Chapter B7-7 of the Union budget (the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights) funds to combat torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Nigeria and other third countries will continue to be available.

Moreover, the Union will continue to encourage the Government of Nigeria to abolish the death sentence, to strengthen respect of human rights, and to raise women and men's awareness of their legal rights.

(1) Doc. No 2342, 9.4.2001.