Network Shutdown In Zamfara, Katsina Violates Human Rights – SERAP To Buhari

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has condemned the shutting down of telecommunication services in Zamfara and Katsina State by the Federal Government.

Naija News had reported earlier that President Muhammadu Buhari-led government ordered the shutting down of mobile networks in the two states over insecurity issues.

The decisions follows a series of offensive attack on bandit terrorists by the Nigerian military in the northwest region.

The affected Local Government Areas are affected by the development are listed as; Sabuwa, Faskari, Dandume, Batsari, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibia, Safana, Dutsin-Ma and Kurfi that are on the fringes of the Ruggu forest where most of the bandits are hiding.

The other three include Funtua, Bakori and Malumfashi.

Reacting to the development, SERAP in a statement released on Sunday, September 12, urged President Buhari to direct Communications Minister, Isa Pantami, and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to reverse it’s directive.

According to the rights group, network shutdowns should never have become an entrenched practice in the country.

The statement signed by Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, pointed out that the suspension is a form of collective punishment of residents of the affected states.

SERAP maintained that the disruptions of the networks is without legal justification.

Admitting the authorities have a legal responsibility to protect the rights to life and property, “such responsibility ought to be discharged in conformity with constitutional and international human rights standards.

SERAP, who gave the government an ultimatum of seven days to restore the networks, threatened it would take all appropriate legal actions in the public interest.

The rights group quoted out the 2011 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and the internet which emphasised that cutting of internet “for populations or segments of the public can never be justified, including on public order or national security grounds.

SERAH said “Shutdowns generate a wide variety of harms to human rights, economic activity, public safety and emergency services that outweigh the purported benefits.

The suspension has the potential to affect millions of internet and telecommunication users in these states, and those on the margins of society are most impacted by it.”

The statement added that “While checking the activities of bandits/terrorists’ could be viewed as justification, the authorities have so far failed to show how shutting down telecommunication networks is necessary to achieve the stated purposes.

It added that the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights affirmed the principle of non-interference with access to internet and telecommunication networks.