The Foundation for African Cultural Heritage, FACH, is set to hold World Media Conference in Lagos Nigeria on December, 3rd.
The conference, which is scheduled to hold at 20 Tafawa Balewa Crescent, Off Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria will discuss topics such as Samoa Agreement, Surrogacy Pandemic Treaty amongst others.
*Introduction*
We, the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH),a coalition of values-driven NGOs in Nigeria hereby reject the imposition of damaging neo-colonial policies and address the following pressing issues: the Samoa Agreement, Surrogacy, and the Pandemic Treaty.
Our coalition includes: Family Action Africa; Project for Human Development (PHD); Global Pro-life Alliance (GPA); Doctors Health Initiative; Happy Home Foundation; Association of Concerned Mothers; Nigerian Life League; Islamic Education Trust; Association of Catholic Medical Practitioners of Nigeria Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria; Knights of St. Mulumba; Blissful Life for Youth Empowerment; ·Nigerian Association for Women Advancement; National Association of Catholic Lawyers; Sympathy Worldwide Organization; Life Choice International Initiative; ·Good Parenting and Youth Empowerment Initiative; Social Inclusion of the Voiceless and Neglected (SIVON); Foundation for Marriage and Family; Centre for Corrections and Human Development; Islamic Platform of Nigeria; Advocacy for moral sex Education, AyubsonLife Foundation; ·Constitutional Watch (CONSWATCH)
1. *SAMOA AGREEMENT*
Overview
The Samoa Agreement, signed by Nigeria (despite public outrage) and other African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, contains provisions that are inconsistent with Nigeria’s laws and cultural values. These provisions violate sovereignty and impose external values incompatible with our national identity.
*Key Issues*
1. The Agreement contains articles 2(5),29.(5), 36.(2), 88, 97 which flagrantly violate Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014 in Nigeria and Articles 2, 8, 17, 18, 28, 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’ Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act, CAP 10.
2. The denial by the Nigerian government that the Samoa Agreement does not contain LGBT provisions is untrue because Articles 2.5,29.5, 36.2, 88, 97 endorse LGBT, abortion, sexualization of children and consequently violate Nigeria’s laws, Nigeria’s sovereignty and African Charter on People’s and Human Rights. Therefore, the signing of the Samoa Agreement is completely unacceptable.
3. The African Bar Association (AfBA) has recently issued a report on Samoa Agreement highlighting deceptive LGBT provisions in the agreement.
4. Article 36(2) of Samoa Agreement states:
“The Parties commit to the full and effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the outcomes of their review conferences and commit to sexual and reproductive health and rights, in that context”.
“Sexual and reproductive health and rights”. The EU on June 22 2022 defined this phrase to encompass LGBT, sexual orientation and gender identity
“Sexual and reproductive health and rights” also means the rights of individuals to have their sexual orientation and gender identity fully respected
5. Article 97 of Samoa Agreement states:
“No treaty, convention, agreement or arrangement of any kind between one or more member States of European and one or more OACPS Members shall impede the implementation of this Agreement”. This is a supremacy clause, meaning that the Agreement is superior to any treaty, convention or further agreement.
6. The Samoa Agreement violates Nigeria’s sovereignty by making African countries, including Nigeria accountable to the EU.
7. The Agreement has no interpretation section and contains vague language that opens the door to subjective interpretations.
8. The Agreement creates a ” Council of Ministers” co-chaired by the EU which has power to make binding legal decisions that directly affect and impact laws and policies of the ACP countries
*Call to Action*
The Nigerian government and ACP governments should withdraw from the agreement. Alternatively, they should get the EU to insert a reservation clause in it or a proviso clauseto the effect that “nothing or no term in the Agreement shall be construed as promoting LGBT, same-sex marriage, Comprehensive Sexuality Education, abortion and transgenderism in the countries that have signed the Agreement”
2. *SURROGACY*
Overview
A Bill seeking to regulate the practice of Surrogacy has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives in Abuja. Surrogacy, renting a girls’ womb to bear children, thrives in Nigeria. It is the exploitation and objectification of women and girls’ bodies with the commercialization of childbirth. This practice diminishes the humanity of the women and girls who bear the child.
*Key Issues*
1. Surrogacy seeks to legitimize the manipulation and renting of women’s wombs, as well as the manipulation of embryos and zygotes, the import and export of human embryos, and the splitting and harvesting of human eggs and sperm.
2. Establishing and preserving of people born of surrogacy can be difficult or impossible for children born through surrogacy. Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (Nigerian has ratified and domesticated this Convention) protect a child’s right to be registered at birth and to preserve their identity, but surrogacy can negatively impact these rights.
3. Surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria under sections 17(3)(h), 21, 33, 37, and 38 of the 1999 Constitution;section 30 of the Child Rights Act; Sections 13, 21, 82,Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA Act).
4. Surrogacy is seriously questioned by the European Union, as Article 3 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states: “In the fields of medicine and biology, the following must be respected in particular: […] (c) the prohibition on making the human body and its parts as such a source of financial gain.”
*Call to Action*
With surrogacy being illegal in Nigeria, the government cannot regulate it. Rather than seeking to regulate an inherently illegal and exploitative industry, we call for its outright ban.
3. *PANDEMIC TREATY*
Overview
During the recently-concluded 79th United Nations General Assembly, at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, the participating countries deliberated on the Pandemic Treaty and the modification of International Health Regulations. The Pandemic Treaty is aimed at giving the World Health Organization (WHO) enormous unnecessary powers to dictate and impose obnoxious health policies on nations in the event of a new pandemic.
*Key Issues*
1. Under the WHO’s Pandemic Treaty, the WHO would be empowered to tell countries to lock down and close businesses, schools, pubs, churches, and mosques. We would be forced to take injections and wear masks whether we want to or not.
2. By giving unprecedented power to the WHO, the Pandemic Treaty derogates national sovereignty. The treaty also contains worrying aspects of universal health coverage and the one health approach. Unaware of the dangers inherent in the Pandemic treaty, some African countries want the Pandemic Agreement to be passed because they believe they will get financial help and equity from it.
3. The Pandemic Treaty will pave the way for the WHO to take over jurisdiction of everything in the world under the pretext that climate change, animals, plants, water systems, and ecosystems are all central to health. In addition to that, it will remove human rights protections, enforce censorship and digital passports, require governments to push a single ‘official’ narrative, and enable the WHO to declare ‘ pandemics’ on its whims and caprices.
4. The pandemic treaty also gives the WHO authority to decide how and which medical supplies are distributed when they decide there is a pandemic. These medical supplies can range from vaccines to abortion kits or contraceptives since no exhaustive terminology is used. These products are also distributed via stakeholders which the WHO deems relevant, which include stakeholders that promote the controversial sexual and reproductive health and rights. (for example, UNFPA).
*Call to Action*
We urge countries to be cautious not to cede their sovereignty to globalists aiming to establish a one-world government that seeks control over all nations. Countries must ensure that their rights are affirmed and respected, allowing them to express themselves freely on the pandemic treaty without coercion to compromise their identity and cultural heritage.
*Conclusion*
1. We condemn the imposition of damaging and dangerous neo-colonial policies on Nigeria and other African countries by the European Union (EU), World Bank and other western multinational organizations
2. Despite wresting political independence from their erstwhile colonial masters, the economic systems and political policies of most African countries including Nigeria, infatuated with foreign aid, are still tied to the apron strings of the EU, World Bank and powerful European and multinational organizations.
3. These imposed neo-colonial policies are damaging to the cultural, religious and philosophical convictions of the Nigerian and African people.
4. The value of democracy stands or falls with the fundamental values that it embodies and promotes. A democratic government ought to conduct its activities in line with the will, aspirations and cultural values of the people. Any democracy that violates the inalienable human rights of citizens and their cultural values is despotism par excellence, even though it externally wears the toga of democracy.
Signed
*Mrs. Haleemah Alli-Bankole*
Advocacy for Moral Sex Education (AMOSED)
*Barr. Aham Njoku*
Director, Constitutional Watch (CONWATCH)
*Mr. Yusuf Ayuba*
Director, AyubsonLife Foundation
*Mrs. Chinwe Eze*
Association of Concerned Mothers
*Barr. Mary Ekemezie*
Legal Consultant, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH)
*Ms Naomi Ojugbeli*
Program Officer, Doctors Health Initiatives
*Dr. Regina Akosa*
Director, Happy Home Foundation
*Dr. Nkechi Asogwa*
Director, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH)
FACH is a non-governmental, non-political, not-for-profit association of NGOs and organizations in Nigeria whose main objective is to shape of public policy and government legislation through research and advocacy on personal freedom, value-driven health plans, family values, women’s rights and empowerment, child survival and protection.