Dan Boyle
Ceist:226 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the views which have been expressed by the Government on the practice of Sharia Law in the northern provinces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. [16643/03]
Written Answers. - Sharia Law.
The Government has made known its deep concern about sentences of death by stoning under Sharia law to the Nigerian Federal authorities through the Nigerian Embassy in Dublin. The Irish Embassy in Abuja has also conveyed the Government's concern about such sentences to the Nigerian authorities. It is the conviction of this Government that such sentences are in contravention of Nigeria's obligations under international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Government is also concerned about other sentences handed down in Sharia courts, including flogging and amputations, and has called on the Nigerian Federal Government to fulfil its obligations under human rights law.
The EU has also made its views known to the Nigerian federal authorities and, in August 2002, issued a declaration expressing its concern that a Sharia court of appeal had upheld a sentence of death by stoning for adultery on a woman. In September 2002, the EU issued a declaration reaffirming its opposition to the use of the death penalty and noting with deep concern the use of particularly cruel means of execution such as stoning.