United Nations Radio

The United Nations body dealing with racial discrimination has called on Nigerian authorities to tackle the underlying causes of repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious violence near the city of Jos in northern Nigeria.

Violence in Nigeria

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination says over the last ten years more than 13,000 people have died in recurring acts of violence caused by tensions between ethno-religious groups in the country.

The Committee, which has just concluded its session in Geneva, is alarmed by reports of recent attacks and killings of a large number of persons, including children, women and elderly, in that area in January and March.

In a decision taken this week under its early warning and urgent action procedure, the expert body also urged Nigeria to investigate the massacres, bring to justice those responsible and to provide redress to the victims and their families.

Among its recommendations, the Committee called on all local, regional and national authorities in Nigeria to study the underlying causes of the ethnic violence in the country.

It urged them to firmly address all underlying causes of tension leading to this repeated violence, and to promote dialogue between different ethnic communities in order to foster tolerance and peace.

The United Nations group of independent experts drew attention to the fact that Nigeria has ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of Alls Forms of Racial Discrimination.

It said the country is under the obligation to prevent and protect persons against acts of hatred, incitement to racial and ethnic violence or any form of violence based on ethnicity.

Diane Bailey, UN Radio.

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