Justice for Jos Report

The Justice for Jos Project Update:

In three intense and action-packed weeks, Advocates International, through its International Counsel on Nigeria has worked on several fronts to implement the Justice for Jos Project.

Int. Counsel Emmanuel Ogebe flew to Nigeria where he had meetings with national officials of the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON). He traveled to Jos were he met with the local chapter of CLASFON, and reported that the lawyers have been working around the clock to provide legal defense to innocent people who were arbitrarily rounded up by the military after the national outcry resulting from the crisis.

"The lawyers here are real heroes," says Emmanuel, "The local chair of CLASFON had his home burnt down during the crisis. He is literally living out of a box with his family. Yet he makes the time to go to court in defense of others. Talk about true sacrifice. He was himself a refugee or displaced person but for the kindness of another lawyer who took his family in."

AI's Int. Counsel was in court monitoring the trials for two straight weeks. "It is quite a delicate situation. The judge is new and a Muslim woman so there are lots of sensitivities. It does not help that she is a federal judge trying crimes that occured within the jurisdiction of a state. However she came across as fair and firm."

Emmanuel visited the com munities and has distributed shoes to the survivors. "Many people gave clothing before we got here so our shoes were a special gift indeed. people were not giving shoes because those are harder to come by. The village  chief who received me had lost ten children and grandchildren. It was a moving moment hearing them speak about forgiveness and the need for the communities to be reborn economically."

“ There is a great need for housing.  Repairs are required to get houses back in habitable shape. Roofs especially are needed as the rainy season is setting in. The communities want farm seedling and implements so they can generate income wher e their breadwinners have died."

“ One of the groups we are working with has identified tr auma counseling as another need,” he says.

Emmanuel met with the Attorney General of the State and the Deputy Governor as well as the head of a Special Advisory Council set up by the President of Nigeria on the crisis.

The main take away is that Advocates help would be needed in several ways:

1. Independent international investigation into the crisis - this will help find objective assessments of what transpired

2. Peacemaking activities - a reconciliation effort between the faiths and factions

3. Holding an event in Washington where the international community can learn more about what the fundamental issues are

The security situation remains precarious. During the time of the visit there were several killing incidents, two Christian journalists working with a church magazine were murdered, and
the president of Nigeria died. Fortunately there was no major political upheaval and there was calm in the country.

ENDS FIELD REPORT MAY 9^TH 2010

STATUS UPDATE  JUNE  1, 2010

From communications with CLASFON leaders, they have held several National and local meetings where certain actions have been taken.

A legal taskforce has been established comprising 3 teams with a total of 25 lawyers. Their duties will be to manage the defense of about 100 Christians picked up by the army, currently being tried on 23 charges.

The churches have still not come around to provide funding to the lawyers.  Churches have lost members in the crisis and even surviving members have lost homes and businesses. Commercial activity in the city has ground to a standstill, severely interfering with offerings.

Church leaders, however, visited the prison with the Christian lawyers and have been asked to provide basic help – food, and medication – to the Christians being held. One of the Christians held in prison has died through mysterious circumstances, thus the need for urgent care - which the prison authorities do not readily provide – and for prompt trials.

The danger now is that the judge is threatening to release the real suspects if the trials do not go on.

Specific local needs and required interventions are:

1.    Funding  support for the 25 lawyers  in the defense team

i.                  Equipment/tools: laptops, digital recorders, cameras

ii.                Funding administrative staff

iii.               Appearance fees

iv.               Per diem

v.                Transportation

2.    Funding Prisoner Care

i.                  Clothing

ii.                 Feeding

iii.                Medical attention

3.    Forensic Investigations and Evidence gathering

i.                  Video Analysis – extracting audio and image

ii.                 Obtaining phone call log

iii.                Identifying and re-enacting scene of the crime

iv.                Obtaining NYT reporter’s confessional video

4.    Global Advocacy

i.                  Hosting event in Washington DC on the Plateau Crisis

ii.                Filing “Crimes against humanity” action

iii.               Congressional  hearing

iv.               Seeking courts martial for military executionists

5.    Other non-legal support

i.                  Trauma care and counseling for survivors

ii.                 Early warning systems for communities

iii.                Rehabilitation of homes

iv.                Economic empowerment  communal cottage industry and micro credit grants for widows and widowers

v.                 Scholarships for orphans

6.    Management, monitoring and evaluation

i.                  Project conceptualization and implementation oversight

ii.                 Progress reporting and remediation

iii.                Partnership building

iv.                Church mobilization

v.                 Media enlightenment

vi.                Administration and fundraising