<p>Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a petition to ;Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC), urging her to use her “good offices to investigate whether the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, and the failure of the Nigerian authorities over the years to address it amount to violence against children and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the ICC.”</p>



<p>The organization urged Mrs ;Bensouda ;to: “push for those
suspected to be responsible for this problem, including current and former
presidents and state governors since 1999, who directly or indirectly have
individually and/or collectively breached their special duty toward children,
and are therefore complicit in the crime, to be tried by the ICC.”</p>



<p>In a signed petition dated 19 July 2019 by SERAP deputy director
Kolawole Oluwadare and made available to OpenLife, the organization said:
“Investigating and prosecuting high-ranking Nigerian officials and providing
reparations to victims will contribute to serving the best interests of
Nigerian children, the most vulnerable citizens in our country, and ending the
impunity that is denying them their right to education and a life free of
violence and fear.”</p>



<p>SERAP said: “These out-of-school Nigerian children have been
exposed to real danger, violence and even untimely death. Senior Nigerian
politicians since 1999 have failed to understand the seriousness of the crime
of leaving millions of children out of school, and have made an essential
contribution to the commission of the crime.”</p>



<p>SERAP also said: “The ICC has stated in the ;<em>Lubanga case</em> ;that
the interruption, delay and denial of the right of children to education is a
crime within the jurisdiction of the Court. SERAP believes that the reality for
children living in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is
similar to the reality faced by millions of out-of-school children in Nigeria,
as the situation is depriving an entire generation of children of their right
to education and human dignity.”</p>



<p>The petition read in part: “There is no immunity for crimes under
the Rome Statute. The crime of leaving millions of Nigerian children out of
school is an opportunity for your Office to show the Court’s commitment to
effectively enforce its Policy on Children and other important statements of
international criminal justice.”</p>



<p>“Putting millions of Nigerian children that should be in school on
the street exposes them to violence, including sexual violence, gender
violence, abduction, and other forms of exploitation and violence against
children, and implicitly amounts to enslavement, trafficking of children, and
ill-treatment, three of the eleven acts that may amount to a crime against
humanity under the Rome Statute.”</p>



<p>“Unless the ICC declares the problem of over 13 million
out-of-school Nigerian children as violence against children and crime against
humanity, and hold those suspected to be responsible since 1999 to account, the
number of out-of-school children will continue to rise, and these children may
never receive any formal education at all.”</p>



<p>“Nigeria is a state party to the Rome Statute and ;deposited its instrument of
ratification on 27 September 2001. ;According to Nigeria’s Universal Basic Education Commission
(UBEC), the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5
million to 13.2 million.”</p>



<p>“This figure is based on a joint survey conducted in 2015 ;by
the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Nigerian government. Data by
the UNICEF also shows that one in every five of the world’s out-of-school
children is in Nigeria. However, Nigeria&#8217;s former Minister of Education Mr
Adamu Adamu has suggested the figure of out-of-school children in Nigeria to be
10,193,918, citing a recent ‘National Personnel Audit’ of both public and
private schools in the country.”</p>



<p>“According to the former Minister of Education, all of the 36
states in Nigeria are affected by the problem of out-of-school children but the
problem is more widespread and systematic in the following states: Kano, Akwa
Ibom, Katsina, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Oyo, Benue, Jigawa and
Ebonyi states.”</p>



<p>“Girls are disproportionately represented among out-of-school
children. In north-eastern Nigeria alone, 2.8 million children are in need of
education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected States (Borno,
Yobe, Adamawa). In these States, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497
classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged but repairable.”</p>



<p>“Under Nigerian law and international human rights treaties to
which Nigeria is a state party, the Nigerian authorities at both the Federal
and State levels have a legally binding obligation to immediately provide free,
universal quality primary education for all Nigerian children, and to
progressively provide education at all other levels without discrimination.”</p>



<p>“Nigerian authorities over the years have restricted educational
opportunities for children with disabilities including by failing to provide
equipment such as hearing aids, ramps to school buildings, wheelchairs,
crutches, glasses and surgery to children in need, and failing to address
educational challenges facing children with disabilities, in general.</p>



<p>“SERAP notes the launch by your Office in 2016 of the Policy on
Children, which aims to send ‘a firm and consistent message that humanity
stands united in its resolve that crimes against children will not be tolerated
and that their perpetrators will not go unpunished.’ The Policy aims to assist
your Office in its efforts to robustly address these crimes, bearing in mind the
rights and best interests of children.”</p>



<p>“SERAP notes also that at the launch of the Policy you stated
among others that, ‘a crime against a child is an offence against all of
humanity; it is an affront to our basic tenets of human decency. Children are our
greatest resource, and must be protected from harm so as to reach their full
potential. ; We, at the ICC, intend to play our part through the legal
framework of the Rome Statute’.”</p>



<p>“This statement is entirely consistent with the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child, to which Nigeria is a state party and shows that
children will not be invisible in the exercise of the jurisdiction of the ICC,
and that your Office will extend its work to ensure the well-being of children,
including millions of out-of-school Nigerian children.”</p>



<p>“The Rome Statute’s sensitivity towards children&#8217;s issues is
clearly demonstrated in Article 68(1) to the effect that the Court must ‘have
regard to all relevant factors, including gender and the nature of the crime,
in particular, where the crime involves sexual or gender violence or violence
against children.’ Under Article 54(1), ‘the Prosecutor shall take into account
the nature of the crime, in particular where it involves violence against
children.’”</p>



<p>“SERAP is seriously concerned that the problem of out-of-school
children is widespread and systematic, cutting across the 36 states of the
country and Abuja, and spanning many years since 1999. ;The problem of
out-of-school children has had catastrophic effects on the lives of millions of
children, their families and communities, akin to violence against children
under the Court’s Policy, and crimes against humanity as contemplated under the
Rome Statue.” ;</p>



<p>“The Rome Statuteinarticle 7 defines
“crime against humanity” to include “inhumane acts causing great suffering or
injury,” committed in a widespread or systematic manner against a civilian
population. The common denominator of crimes against humanity is that they are
grave affronts to human security and dignity.”</p>



<p>“The consequences of throwing millions of Nigerian children that
should be in school out on the street are similar to those of the offences in
article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute. Senior government officials know well or
ought to know that their failure to prevent millions of Nigerian children from
roaming the street will expose the children to violence, deny them their human
dignity and exacerbate the growing insecurity in the country.”</p>



<p>“SERAP considers the apparent failure of successive governments
and high-ranking government officials to prevent widespread and systematic
problem of out-of-school children as amounting to complicity under the Rome
Statute.”</p>



<p>“This crime against Nigerian children has continued to rob our
children of their innocence, childhood, and often, tragically, resulted in
their untimely deaths, denying Nigeria of its future potential and of its
greatest resource.”</p>



<p>“The national authorities of the Court’s States Parties form the
first line of defense in addressing the crimes against children, as they
shoulder the primary responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of
perpetrators of the crimes. But successive governments in Nigeria have been
unwilling or unable to address the problem of out-of-school children, and end
the crime against humanity.”</p>



<p>“SERAP believes that substantial grounds exist to warrant the intervention of the Prosecutor in this case. Pursuant to the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor has power to intervene in a situation under the jurisdiction of the Court if the Security Council or states parties refer a situation <em>or if information is provided from other sources such as the information SERAP</em><strong><em> </em></strong>is providing in this case.</p>



<p>SERAP therefore urged the ICC Prosecutor to:</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list"><li>Urgently commence an
investigation ;<em>proprio motu</em> ;on the widespread and systematic
problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria since the return of democracy in
1999, with a view to determining whether these amount to violence against
children and crime against humanity within the Court’s jurisdiction. In this
respect, we also urge you to invite representatives of the Nigerian government
to provide written or oral testimony at the seat of the Court, so that the
Prosecutor is able to conclude since available information whether there is a
reasonable basis for an investigation, and to submit a request to the Pre-Trial
Chamber for authorization of an investigation;</li><li>Bring to justice those
suspected to be responsible for widespread and systematic problem of
out-of-school children in Nigeria; ;</li><li>Urge the Nigerian government
to fulfil its obligations under the Rome Statute to cooperate with the ICC;
including complying with your requests to arrest and surrender suspected
perpetrators of the widespread and systematic crime of leaving millions of
Nigerian children out of school, testimony, and provide other support to the
ICC</li><li>Compel the Nigerian
authorities at the Federal and State levels to ensure that millions of
out-of-school children are afforded their right to education, access to
justice, and ensure reparations to victims, including restitution,
compensation, rehabilitation and guarantee of non-repetition</li></ol>



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