from doing so, it is perfectly normal that the right to bring his case before the
law courts should fall on other persons close to him. It would amount to the
scope of human rights being shrunk considerably, with the beneficial effects of
the legal provisions endorsing human rights having been reduced, if the judicial
recognition of human rights is conditioned upon the physical presence of
claimants before the relevant litigating bodies.
Similarly, it would amount to a dangerous acceptance of the serious offence of
murder, if one should endorse the idea that, somehow, a "deceased" person
loses all his rights, and cannot bring his case before court, not even through
persons close to him. The Court is of the view that to endorse that line of
reasoning would be synonymous with opening up the highway to impunity, in
an era where committing "murder", and its corollary of torture,. constitute
violations of the imperative norms of international law jus cogens).
It is worthy to recall, at this juncture, a number of initiatives or legal instruments
adopted by the United Nations, notably those directly related to the issue of
"disappearance" of persons:
United Nations Declaration on Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance, adopted by the General Assembly (including the State of
Nigeria) on 18 December
1992, whose
Article
17 (1) states: "Acts
constituting enforced disappearance shall be considered a continuing
offence as long as the perpetrators continue to conceal the fate and
whereabouts of persons who have disappeared and these remain
unclarified.";
Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances,
under the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations;
Report of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, under
the same United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The Court is of the view that the provisions relied on by the Plaintiff are perfectly
relevant for bringing an action against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As a
reminder, the provisions in question are the following:
8