Mission Statement

Origin of HURILAWS

Objectives

HURILAWS Structure

HURILAWS Activities

    Team »»

       »» Management

       »» Advisory

       »» Staff

   Contact us

HURILAWS advances human rights in Nigeria using the following tools, among others:

• Strategic Impact (test case) Litigation

• Legislative Advocacy

• Legal Aid/Assistance

• Capacity Building

• Research and Publications

HURILAWS is an independent, non-profit service, dedicated to providing public interest and human rights law services to advance the legal protection of human rights. HURILAWS assists victims, lawyers, judges and NGOs in the preparation of cases before the courts; conducts workshops and seminars on reforming the administration of justice; publishes ‘The HURILAWS NEWSLETTER’ to ensure that developments in human rights law and practice are widely disseminated; utilizes regional and international human rights treaty mechanisms to establish judicial norms. HURILAWS has working relations with the Episcopal Commission for Justice, Development & Peace Commission of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and the Inter-African Network for Human Rights & Development (AFRONET). HURILAWS holds Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. 

An independent, non-profit service, HURILAWS is dependent on support from grant makers and donations from individual supporters.

Back to top

                     Origin of HURILAWS

A 1995 country study of the legal protection of human rights in Nigeria by Olisa Agbakoba for the International Centre for the Legal protection of Human Rights [INTERIGHTS] and the Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development [AFRONET] identified a critical need for specialist human rights law service providers.

This need derived from the history and structure of the human rights movement in Nigeria. Human rights activism in Nigeria has focused primarily on campaigning, documentation, research and advocacy on violations and abuses of human rights. Nigerian NGOs acquired considerable expertise in investigating, monitoring and reporting of human rights abuses and campaigning to eradicate these abuses. By the early 1990s, a degree of specialization had developed among Nigerian NGOs along ‘strategy’ and ‘issue’ lines. Some NGOs employed litigation as a tool for advancing their respective causes from the death penalty to gender equity, but this was largely on an ad hoc basis. Experience has shown that while conventional human rights organizations are well suited to investigating and reporting on human rights violations, they do not necessarily have the time, resources or capacity to effectively engage in public interest litigation.

HURILAWS was established to advance human rights through organized and consistent public interest litigation. We decided to specialize in this field as a result of the absence of specialist human rights litigators. We considered that the provision of a specialist public and human rights law services, provided by legal professionals with extensive expertise in the field, would benefit civil society and advance the development of a rights-based jurisprudence.

The legal professionals at HURILAWS have extensive experience in litigating human rights cases under the aegis of the law firm of Olisa Agbakoba and Associates. Much of the human rights litigation done by the legal staff of Olisa Agbakoba & Associates in the months prior to January 1997 dovetailed into activities under HURILAWS. They are committed to using their experience to assist not only individual victims of human rights abuses, but also civil society institutions, disadvantaged communities and groups, youth organizations, community-based organizations and trade unions.

 The core activities of HURILAWS are public interest and human rights litigation, legislative advocacy and legal assistance.

 Back to top

                    Objectives

• Establishing human rights legal standards and advancing the application of human rights norms through high test cases

• Promoting legal and judicial reform through legislative advocacy

• Providing legal assistance to disadvantaged persons, communities and groups

• Advancing the application of international legal instruments on human rights in Nigerian law

• Advancing the application of social and economic rights in Nigerian law through legislative advocacy and constitutional litigation.

• Facilitating collaboration with national and international NGOs to promote good governance through law in Africa.

• Undertaking any other programmes, activities and initiatives that can secure and enhance the above objectives.

               HURILAWS Structure

HURILAWS is a registered charity (Non-Governmental organization) under the Companies and Allied Matters Decree 1 of 1990 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is registered with a Board of Trustees and organized around an Advisory Board and a Management Board. The Advisory Board sets policy for the organisation while the Management Board deals with the daily management and administration of the organization.

 Back to top

                HURILAWS Activities

1. Public Interest Litigation

2. Legal Aid Scheme

3. Legislative Advocacy

4. Legal/Judicial Sector Reform

5. Constitutional Reform

6. Electoral Reform

7. Human Rights/Clinical Law Education

8. Regional and International Programmes

9. Institutional and Regulatory Reforms

                ____________________________________

                       (a)                Public Interest Litigation

• HURILAWS has since 1998 litigated on constitutional matters in the following fields:

• Expansion of Access to Courts,

• Justiciability and Enforceability of Social and Economic Rights,

• Environmental Rights Enforcement,

• Housing Rights,

• Administrative Detention,

• Freedom of Information,

• Constitutionality of the Death Penalty,

• Death Row Conditions,

• Bail Procedure,

• Prison Condition,

• Election Tribunal Petitions

• Litigation to expand the process of registration of political parties, etc.

 

 The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) programme has produced landmark groundbreaking decisions in diverse fields of constitutional and public law.

The core litigation programme is the Strategic Impact Litigation (SIL) Project - a broad based test case litigation programme to bring selected human rights cases before the superior courts to establish and advance judicial norms on human rights in Nigerian law. Selected legal/human rights themes include:

 

• The constitutionality of the death penalty

 

 

 

• The constitutionality of the "Holding Charge Syndrome" (the long-term incarceration on remand without trial of suspected criminals in Nigeria). HURILAWS has pursued n Bayo Johnson this campaign up to the Supreme Court in Nigeria, and in planning to approach the African Commission on Human Rights and ECOWAS Court. Section 236 of the Criminal Procedure Act, the enabling provision for virtually indefinite remand to prison custody, was also invalidated on constitutional grounds.

 

• The status and application of social and economic rights established under the AfricanCharter on Human and  People's Rights in Nigerian law

• State provision of legal assistance

• Penal Reform

• Death Row conditions in Nigerian prisons.

• Admissibility of wrongfully obtained criminal evidence

• Open standing

• Electoral Law Reform

• Establishing and advancing environmental rights 

• Advancing women’s rights through litigation

 Back to top

---

(b)                Legal Aid Scheme

HURILAWS provides legal aid/assistance to victims of human rights violations and has been working on the reform of the Criminal Justice system since 1997. From mid 1997, HURILAWS and the Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development (AFRONET), in collaboration with the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria,              executed a pilot project in 2 Lagos prisons to test the feasibility of a major national initiative to decongest prison populations, by securing the discharge of Awaiting Trial Persons. HURILAWS continued with the JDPC and carried out extensive legal aid programmes to decongest Nigeria's overcrowded prisons. This was done in phases under the HURILAWS' National Prison Project and             began with Project 500, which provided legal services to 500 indigent Awaiting Trial Prisoners [ATPs] in two (2) Lagos prisons. Project 500 was very successful and its successful implementation provided HURILAWS with the technical skills and practical experience for the implementation of the second phase of the National Prison Project, the Enugu Prison project and the third phase, Project 100. The Enugu Prison Project (EPP) was borne out of the need to decongest, improve and bring relief to prisoners and their living conditions in the prisons.

The need for this service became apparent when Olisa Agbakoba, HURILAWS’ Senior Counsel, was detained at the Enugu prison in 1998, by the former maximum ruler, the late General Sanni Abacha. His experiences confirmed the belief that Nigerian prisons are under pressure arising from congestion and poor living conditions. With the release of our Senior Counsel from Enugu prisons in   1998, HURILAWS launched the Enugu Prisons Project (EPP) that released 579 ATPS.  The project brought to the public view and the government’s attention, the conditions of death row inmates. The then Federal military government, led by Rtd. General Abdusalami Abubaka, commissioned judges to sit in the prisons to hear cases without the usual problem of transporting the prisoners to             court, which is one of the main causes of delays in court processes. HURILAWS also got involved with the Presidential Committee on Prison Decongestion, which made a total of 7,000 releases across Nigeria’s prisons in 1999. HURILAWS and the National Human Rights Commission had been creating awareness on Nigeria’s overflowing prisons and their deplorable living conditions. The then Federal

military government, led by Rtd. General Abdusalami Abubaka, set up a task force on prison decongestion in 1998 to make recommendations on the release of prisoners across Nigeria. A staff of HURILAWS was a member of the Committee and he made a case for death row prisoners and their living conditions and the Committee started deliberating on the status of death row inmates and condemned men and made recommendations for their release, which resulted in some of them being granted amnesty and released.

EPP addressed some of the problems identified in the prison. Test cases, Edmund Okoro & 66 Ors v The Comptroller of Prison, Enugu and Arthur Onyejekwe Vs Comptroller, Prison Services, Enugu & Anor. were used in this regard to challenge the prolonged incarceration on death row and pitiable conditions of death row inmates and to establish the principle that a prisoner has a right to counsel of choice at the earliest opportunity after arrest. In June 1998, HURILAWS filed a case at the Federal High Court, Enugu, to stop further execution of death row inmates until the issue of its constitutionality was determined. The Federal High Court Judge of Enugu State granted this prayer pending the Supreme Court’s decision on two of our cases, Onuoha Kalu v the State and Azeez Okoro v the State, challenging the constitutionality and application of the death penalty and death row conditions. Unfortunately, HURILAWS lost the suit in December 1998 at the Supreme Court in Abuja, which affirmed and upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty and ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to annul the death penalty because it is a matter that can only be decided by the legislature, and Nigeria was not yet a democratic state. As a result, we decided to carry our campaign against the death penalty to the House of Representatives when Nigeria would become a democracy. For Public Advocacy, HURILAWS organised enlightenment campaigns with Amnesty International, Nigeria Section, on the need for the abolition of the death penalty.

In January 2000, President Olusegun Obasanjo granted amnesty to some categories of death row inmates to the effect that those that had spent up to 20 years and above in prison custody should be released unconditionally, while those that had spent up to 10 years and less than 20 years should have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The problem then arose as to how to determine the actual date prison custody began to run. Would it be from the date of first detention or the date of conviction? The prison officials at Enugu prison were of the opinion that the date should be calculated from the date of conviction but HURILAWS was of the opinion that the date should be calculated from the date of detention. On this wise, HURILAWS had to go to court in May 2000 to determine the actual date. HURILAWS won the case in February 2001, at Enugu State High Court, in Edmund Okoro & 69 Ors v The Minister of Internal Affairs, Attorney General of the Federation & The Comptroller General, Nigerian Prisons Service. The Judge, after considering the facts of the case before him, ruled in HURILAWS’ favour that the date should be calculated from the date of first detention. We are pushing for the calculation to be implemented across Nigerian prisons and not just for the prisoners on whose behalf we went to court. When this is done many death row inmates would be released.

HURILAWS launched another prison project called Project 1000, in late 1998, to release 1000 ATP's across Nigerian prisons. The project was supported by MISEREOR, Germany and the European Union (EU). In 2002, we concluded another Project 1000, supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), which released 1000 ATPs from South-East and South-West Prisons in Nigeria. The experiences gathered in the implementation of these projects have motivated and empowered HURILAWS to develop and set up Project 5000, the sixth phase of our National Prison Project. We recognise that providing legal aid alone is only a short-term measure to prison decongestion. While making retail releases, we have to develop the medium and long-term measures which would be, putting in place a standard penal policy that would be easy to implement and would meet International standards like the Standard Minimum Rules [SMRs] for the treatment of Prisoners adopted by the 1^st United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Geneva 1955, and subsequently approved by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1957 and 1977. We are motivated to do this by the realisation that an effective national administration of justice system is the key to human rights protection and critical to restoring the rule of law in Nigeria. In this regard, HURILAWS has been working with the British Council, Lagos and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies [NIALS], Lagos since 1997 on court procedures, tagged the Nigerian Court Procedures Project [NCPP], to unearth the problems of slow court processes. The slow pace of judicial processes, alongside undue delays and incessant adjournments that have become endemic in the Nigerian Judicial System, has ensured that many suspects remain in prison for unusually long and often indeterminate periods of time before their cases are ultimately disposed of.  The project discovered that slow court processes caused by a myriad of problems is a big contributory factor to prison congestion and so a set of rules are being drafted and printed by HURILAWS on reforming court procedures in Nigeria which will positively impact on the criminal justice system. The ripple effect on prison decongestion is all too obvious. In addition, to reforming penal policies of Nigeria, HURILAWS have used some dockets in our Strategic Impact Litigation Project (SIL) to challenge some of the practices of the Judicial and Criminal Justice sectors that fuel prison congestion. Some of the projects are the HOLDING CHARGE PROJECT and the DEATH PENALTY PROJECT. 

Further, in mid 2000, HURILAWS, with the support and collaboration of USAID, held a multi-donor Stakeholders Forum on Legal and Justice Sector Reform and there it was recognised that one of the central themes of justice sector reform is the reform of the Nigerian prison system. HURILAWS is also taking this forward by organising a stakeholders forum on penal reform, which will bring together NGOs and government bodies working on penal reform to identify areas of interest and harmonise ways of effectively carrying out penal reform and development of alternative to prison custody programmes.

 We have also developed and published a Prisoner’s Rights Manual, as part of our legal advisory service to prisoners, which was supported by the French Embassy in Nigeria.       

 Back to top

 (c)        Legislative Advocacy

 In June 1999, HURILAWS commenced the implementation of a Legislative Advocacy Programme to promote and support the quality of legislation. HURILAWS developed 37 legislative proposals and submitted bills to the National Assembly namely: Electoral Reform, Anti-Trust, Gender Equality Commission and Disabilities Discrimination, etc.   

 (d)        Legal and Judicial Sector Reform

 HURILAWS has done extensive work in Legal and Judicial sector reforms. Access to justice and civil justice reform are core activities of HURILAWS. In 1997, we began a project tagged the Nigerian Court Procedures Project (NCPP), which was an initiative to strengthen the capacity of the Nigerian judiciary to protect human rights. The project was done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) of the University of Lagos, and supported by The British Council, Lagos, and the Australian Embassy, Lagos (1997-1999). The project objective was to significantly reduce or eliminate delays in trials, including especially human rights cases, by reforming the civil procedures system in Nigerian superior courts. This project produced a Model Civil Procedure Rules for the High Courts and Courts of Appeal in Nigeria, and was adopted by the Lagos State government. HURILAWS also organized four roundtables for stakeholders in the Justice sector on behalf of a multi-donor group (World Bank, USAID, DfID, Government of Japan, European Union) in 2000. HURILAWS led an initiative with the Nigerian Bar Association [NBA] and the Multi-Sector Law Group (MSLG) to produce a National Action Plan for Justice Sector Reform in Nigeria. HURILAWS also produced a Model Electoral Law for enactment in the National Assembly.

 HURILAWS has published a lot of books, among which is the Model Civil Procedure Rules of High Courts and Appeal Courts, which deals with issues in Legal and Justice Sector Reform to help reform the Justice system in Nigeria. HURILAWS worked with the British Council, Lagos and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies [NIALS] Lagos, since 1997 on court procedures, tagged the Nigerian Court Procedures Project [NCPP], to unearth the problems of slow court processes. The slow pace of judicial processes, alongside undue delays and incessant adjournments that have become endemic in the Nigerian Judicial System, has ensured that many suspects remained in prison for unusually long and often indeterminate periods of time before their cases are ultimately disposed of. The project discovered that slow court processes caused by a myriad of problems is a big contributory factor to prison congestion and so a set of rules were drafted and printed by HURILAWS on reforming court procedures in Nigeria which will positively impact on the criminal justice system. The ripple effect on prison decongestion is all too obvious. The rules were incorporated into the Lagos State revised Civil Procedure Rules in 2002. In addition to reforming penal policies of Nigeria, HURILAWS has used some dockets in the Strategic Impact Litigation (SIL) Project to challenge some of the practices of the Judicial and Criminal Justice sectors that fuel prison congestion. Some of the projects are the HOLDING CHARGE PROJECT and the DEATH PENALTY PROJECT (1997-2000).

 Back to top

(e)        Constitutional Reform

 HURILAWS has produced a Model Constitution to enrich the conversations and discussions in respect of constitutional reform in Nigeria. HURILAWS has also published a civic education Manual for the Legal Community in Nigeria, on Constitutional matters.

 (f)        Electoral Reform

 HURILAWS conducted civic education prior to the 1999 elections in Nigeria, as part of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG). We also took part in monitoring the actual elections. In March 2001, a Model Electoral Law for Nigeria was published by HURILAWS and submitted to the National Assembly. The model was based on the Electoral Bill submitted by the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] to the National Assembly for passage into law. A public hearing was held to discuss the bill. Again in 2003, we reviewed the Model Electoral Bill and made amendments, which was then resubmitted to the National Assembly.

In 2002, HURILAWS produced a Manual on Managing Election Conflicts in Nigeria. It was later reviewed in 2003 with support from National Endowment for Democracy (NED), USA. This Manual was used as a resource tool to train at the provincial level, the Catholic Church election monitors in Benue, Anambra and Enugu states. Transition Monitoring Group & United Nations Electoral Assistance Division, also supported this project.

HURILAWS observed and through its Senior Counsel, participated in the election petition tribunals and suits in Anambra and Plateau states in 1999 and 2003 respectively. As a result of its observation, made several publications to aid easier understanding of the electoral process by simplifying the electoral law for the common man.

HURILAWS was a member of the Civil Society Engagement Secretariat for the National Political Reforms Conference and made significant contributions on electoral reforms to the Conference. It was incorporated into the Senate President’s expert think tank on electoral reforms. A body charged with making recommendations to the Senate President on electoral reforms.

HURILAWS has drafted Election Petition Rules, which it has presented to the President of the Court of Appeal. Consultations are still on going on the recommendations, principal among which is the provision granting the President of the Court of Appeal the powers to draft the election petition rules.

 Back to top

 (g)        Human Rights Education

 A key component of HURILAWS’ human rights education programme is the HURILAWS quarterly Roundtable, where Guest Speakers discuss topical issues. Eminent persons like Prof. Larry Diamond of the US, former US Ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Walter Carrington, former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Mohammed   , among others, have been guest speakers at the roundtable. The HURILAWS Newsletter, a quarterly review of human rights law and practice is another publication primarily directed at the legal community.

(h)        Regional and International Programmes

 HURILAWS utilises regional and international mechanisms for protecting and promoting human rights including the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the UN treaty mechanisms.

 HURILAWS is working to secure the ratification by Nigeria and the incorporation into Nigerian law of the international instruments establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and the International Criminal Court.  

 HURILAWS promoted platforms to create linkages in the NGO community. HURILAWS organized a West African Human Rights Consultative Forum and collaborated with the Civil Liberties Organization [CLO] in hosting an African Democracy Forum (ADF) in Abuja in 2000. In July 2001, HURILAWS, in collaboration with AFRONET and the CLO, hosted the first parallel OAU/AU NGO summit in Lusaka, Zambia.

 HURILAWS holds Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and has been participating at the Commission’s sessions since 1997.

 Back to top

  (i)         Publications

 HURILAWS publishes the HURILAWS Newsletter, a quarterly review of human rights law and practice. The publication is primarily directed at the legal community.

 As part of the campaign to disseminate developments in human rights and public interest law, HURILAWS has published a number of books, which include but not limited to:

1. HURILAWS Legislative Agenda for Good Governance in Nigeria (1999)

2. Advancing Human Rights in the Fourth Republic: Prospects and Challenges (1999)

3. Proposed Model Constitution (2000)

4. Model Electoral Law for Nigeria (Proposed for Adoption) (2001)

5. Controlling Epidemic Corruption in Nigeria (1999)

6. Proposed Model Civil Procedure Rules

7. Citizens' National Assembly Handbook (2001)

8. Legislative Advocacy for Good Governance (2003-2007)

9. Governance Scorecard Report (2000, 2001 & 2002 editions)

10. Budget Analysis: Test for Progressive Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2001)

11. Managing Election Conflicts in Nigeria (2002).

12. Legal Advisory Services for prisoners (2003)

13. Managing Election Conflicts in Nigeria (Revised Edition) (2003)

14. Where did we go wrong? A Review of the 2003 General Elections in Nigeria (2004)

15. Model Electoral Law for Nigeria (Revised) (2001)

16. Model Civil Procedure Rules (2001)

17. Manual on Election Petitions (2003)

18. Electoral Act 2002 at a Glance (2003)

19. Legal Advisory Manual for Prisoners (2003)

20. Handbook on Death Penalty: Towards a Moratorium in Nigeria (2003)

21. Local Government Administration and Development (2004)

22. The Rope: (2004)

23. Contextualizing NEEDS Economic/Political Reform in Nigeria (2004)

24. Travesty of Justice ( 2004)

25. Controlling Endemic Corruption in Nigeria - Revised Edition (April 2005).

26. On the Gallows: Advocacy book on death penalty abolition. (May 2005)

27. Enforcing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Nigeria: Rhetorics or Reality? (2005)

28. HURILAWS Annual Report and Accounts (2002-2004)

29. Proposed Draft Election Petition Rules (2006)

30.  Manual on Election Petitions in Nigeria (A Toolkit for the Legal Community - Revised Edition) (2006)

31. Justice through Injustice: Re-examining the Holding Charge (2006)

32. Manual on Election Petitions in Nigeria (A Toolkit for the Legal Community - RE-PRINT Revised Edition) (2007)

33. Budget Analysis II (1999-2007) Test for Progressive Realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria. (2007)

34. Abridge and Simplified Administration of Criminal Justice Bill (2007)

35. Policy Document on Advocacy for Women's Inheritance Rights in South East, Nigeria (2007)

These Publications are available at our Office.

 Back to top