The Role of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO in the Protection of Human Rights in Nigeria
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain how UNESCO protect human rights in Nigeria
- To ascertain the function of UNESCO in Nigeria
- To know the contribution of UNESCO in Education
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
OVERVIEW OF THE UNESCO COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
Although the UNESCO complaints procedure is not well publicized, functions in obscurity, and fails to explain its results, the process for utilizing it is well-documented.6 Once UNESCO receives a communication, the Director-General (DG) completes four steps before forwarding it to the Committee. First, the DG acknowledges receipt of the communication and informs its author of the conditions of admissibility. Second, the DG ensures that the communication’s author has no objection to bringing the communication and the author’s name before the Committee. Third, once the author has given permission to proceed, the DG sends the communication to the government concerned, informing it that the Committee will review the communication concurrently with any reply submitted by the government. Fourth, the DG sends the communication to the Committee with any additional information from the author. Upon receiving the communication, the Committee first is to decide whether to declare it admissible, thereby warranting further action by the Committee. Ten conditions govern the determination of admissibility, including that:
- communications must not be anonymous
- only a victim or group of victims of an alleged violation, or a person, group of persons, or a nongovernmental organization (NGO) having reliable knowledge of those violations, may author a communication
- alleged violations must concern human rights violations falling under UNESCO’s competence in the fields of education, science, culture, and information, and may not exclusively concern other considerations;
- communications must be compatible with international instruments in the field of human rights
- communications must not be manifestly ill-founded and must appear to contain relevant evidence
- communications must not be offensive or abuse the right to submit them, although they may be considered if they meet all other admissibility criteria after excluding the offensive or abusive parts
- communications may not be entirely based on information disseminated in the mass media
- communications must be submitted within a reasonable time period following the occurrence of the facts of the case or the point at which these facts become known
- communications must indicate whether attempts to exhaust available domestic remedies have been made and the results of them, if any; and
- communications relating to matters already settled by the states concerned in accordance with the principles set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights shall not be considered.
If a communication does not meet any of these conditions, the Committee may declare it inadmissible and drop it from further consideration. The Committee may, however, keep a communication on its agenda if it desires more information to determine the question of admissibility. If a communication should meet all of the conditions, then the DG notifies the authors and governments who are parties of the Committee’s decision to declare the communication admissible. Once beyond the threshold question of admissibility, the Committee considers the substantive merits of the communications. Unlike the explicit criteria outlined for determining admissibility, this stage appears guided by no published conditions. Hence, if the Committee determines that the communication does not merit further consideration, it dismisses the complaint and notifies the author and the government of its actions. If the Committee should agree that the communication merits full consideration, it will act with the goal of “bring[ing] about a friendly solution designed to advance the promotion of the human rights falling within UNESCO’s fields of competence.” 9 Such a “friendly solution” would settle the matter in a way satisfactory to the government and the complainant. The Committee then drafts a confidential report containing a summary of its findings and a set of recommendations, regardless of whether it has achieved a “friendly solution,” and submits the report to the Executive Board at its regular sessions. The Board, which also meets in private, would be expected to adopt the Committee’s reports. This brief review of the UNESCO complaints procedure suggests the inherent, underlying tension between the admissibility and merits phases. In the first phase, the Committee is supposed to emphasize rule adherence and fact-finding, playing a quasi-judicial role because of the very nature of making the admissibility determination despite an explicit admonition in the UNESCO Constitution against judging the conduct of nations.’0 In the second phase, the Committee is expected to return to the more cooperative and “friendly” nature that the procedure so heartily endorses, unless the cooperative approach fails.’ This fundamental conflict in the nature of the Committee’s work stems from unresolved discussions of the Committee’s authority to address human rights violations at the time UNESCO created the procedure. In fact, the very language of the procedure ultimately adopted by the Executive Board embodies dual notions of a quasi-adjudicative process, modeled after the procedure of the European Commission of Human Rights and UN complaints procedures under ECOSOC resolutions 12351 and 1503 as well as one based on more cooperative mediation.” Despite the apparent clarity and published nature of the criteria, the way in which the Committee construes the criteria remains a process shrouded in secrecy.’
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to the role of united nation educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO in the protection of human rights in Nigeria.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items or things. The researcher is interested in getting information the role of united nation educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO in the protection of human rights in Nigeria. 200 staff of ministry of education were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the role of united nation educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO in the protection of human rights in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the role of united nation educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO in the protection of human rights in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on the role of united nation educational scientific and cultural organization UNESCO in the protection of human rights in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: 1. To ascertain how UNESCO protect human rights in Nigeria, to ascertain the function of UNESCO in Nigeria and to know the contribution of UNESCO in Education. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of ministry of education, Abuja. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made director, administrative staff, senior staffs and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The key international legal developments that appear to be emerging as a result of globalization, as discussed above, seem to be the following. First, human rights institutions and activists are asserting a primacy of human rights law over other fields of international law. Whether or to what extent this assertion will be accepted remains to be seen. Second, the international legal personality of inter-governmental organizations is seen to carry with it the obligation to conform to general international law norms, above and beyond the requirements of the constituting charters or constitutions of the organizations. Third, the imposition of responsibility for human rights violations on non-state actors appears to be increasing. This all leads to asking: does the state need strengthening?
Globalization has created centers of power that are alongside, even in competition with the power of states. Accountability for human rights violations and prevention of future ones must today and in the future take into account these non-state actors: the media, corporations, and international organizations such as the WTO and the World Bank. States and their agents are no longer the only or sometimes even the key actors responsible for ensuring that human rights and freedoms are guaranteed. As recent international developments have shown, there are multiple avenues to respond to this problem. The first is to strengthen the state and to insist on its responsibility for ensuring that non-state actors do not commit human rights violations.
Recommendation
Nigeria government should create enable environment for foreign body to protect citizens against their right. They should be security free for foreign bodies to come in for developments
References
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