The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an urgent appeal to Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urging him to use his leadership position to “urgently call and/or facilitate the holding of a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to address persistent killings apparently by herdsmen in Benue State of Nigeria and other parts of the country.”

The organisation also urged Prince Al Hussein to “speak out strongly and condemn the killings apparently by herdsmen in the country, and make an official visit to Nigeria with special rapporteurs with relevant mandates to discuss the killings and concrete actions to end the killings and ultimately bring about significant improvements in the lives of farmers and their families as well as other citizens affected by violence across the country.”

In an urgent appeal dated Saturday, January 6, 2018 and signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation said, “The UN Human Rights Council’s ability to successfully expose and hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account may be under threat if your office continues to ignore or pay little attention to the crimes and abuses apparently by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators in Nigeria.”

The organisation said, “While we acknowledge that the council has made significant contributions to human rights elsewhere, we are concerned that the violence and killings in Nigeria rarely attract the attention of the UN and particularly, your office. It is time for your office to speak out strongly against the continuing killings by herdsmen in Nigeria for the sake of thousands of victims and their families who continue to lack access to an effective remedy, including truth, justice and full and effective reparation.”

Suspected herdsmen on Saturday killed at least 11 persons in a fresh attack on Tombu village in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State. This followed the alleged killing earlier in the week of at least 33 people apparently by herdsmen in the state.

The urgent appeal reads in part: “The killings in Benue State of Nigeria and the distressing situation of farmers and their families paint a stark picture of the grave abuses carried out apparently by herdsmen and the impunity that they continue to enjoy. The actions of herdsmen hinder meaningful progress towards stability, development and peace in the country.

“We also urge your office to facilitate the process of creating a commission of inquiry to investigate killings by herdsmen in Nigeria, and to uncover, name and shame cow owners that hire the herdsmen, as such owners may be criminally complicit in the killings. The involvement of your office will ensure solid investigations into the alleged killings, and help draw international attention to the problem, which in turn will go a long way in putting pressure on the Nigerian authorities to take concrete and meaningful steps to end the killings and bring suspected perpetrators to justice.

“SERAP notes that the Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the failed UN Commission on Human Rights, which had largely been unwilling to address real human rights concerns in deserving countries.

“The council needs to be vigilant to avoid the problems that plagued its predecessor, including a loss of relevance from failing to speak out on human rights violations and abuses in deserving countries, such as Nigeria. We urge your office to seek full respect for the right to life, to personal security and dignity, to property, and other human rights of farmers and other Nigerians, consistent with the international human rights standards your office has sworn to uphold.

“Nigeria is a member of the Human Rights Council, and has ratified several UN human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nigeria has also ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has in fact become part of the national laws.

“The Human Rights Council cannot be silent when innocent citizens are caught up in violence such as the one going on in Benue State. The international community must strive to deliver justice to victims of human rights violations and abuses wherever they occur and ensure that those found to be responsible for such crimes are brought to justice.

“SERAP strongly believes that the holding of a special session on the violence and killings apparently by herdsmen in Benue State and elsewhere in Nigeria would contribute to a speedy end to the problem, and to peace and greater respect for human rights of farmers and their families as well as other citizens.

“The holding of a special session on the killings in Benue State will be consistent with the practice of the Human Rights Council regarding its previous special sessions on the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Lebanon; Darfur; Myanmar; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the Global Food Crisis and the Global Economic and Financial Crises, among others.”

SERAP therefore urged Prince Al Hussein to:

1. Urgently facilitate a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the persistent killings by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators in Benue State of Nigeria and other parts of the country with a view to ending the problem and ensuring access of victims and their families to an effective remedy, including truth, justice and full and effective reparation;
2. Speak out strongly and condemn the killings by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators in the country, and make an official visit to Nigeria with special rapporteurs having relevant mandates to discuss the killings and concrete actions to ultimately end the problem, and bring about significant improvements in the lives of farmers and their families as well as other citizens affected by violence across the country;
3. Put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to allow and facilitate the visits of Special Procedures mandate holders to investigate years of violence and killings by herdsmen and other unknown perpetrators in the country with complete impunity;
4. Prevail on the Nigerian authorities to fulfil its obligations under the Rome Statute of the ICC to investigate fully, effectively, fairly, independently and impartially and bring to justice those suspected to be responsible for crimes against humanity in the context of the on-going attacks and violence in Benue State and elsewhere in the country;
5. Use the opportunity of the special session to urge other states to exercise universal jurisdiction over the killings and violence in Benue State and elsewhere in the country.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has taken up a campaign to ensure that President Donald Trump’s offshore drilling plan in America’s Arctic region does not see the light of the day.

In the past week, the Trump Administration published the new Draft Proposed Programme for the 2019-2024 Oil and Gas Leasing Programme, which is set to replace the 2017-2022 plan – opening up the Arctic to a new wave of offshore drilling activities, which the group describes as “risky”.

“We must continue to keep the Arctic out of the five-year oil and gas leasing programme,” says Sara Thomas, the WWF Director, Activism and Outreach.

According to her, a healthy Arctic Ocean is key to the survival of wildlife – bowhead whales, gray whales, walruses, polar bears, and more – as well as many indigenous communities.

“The vast size, remote location, and extreme weather conditions, combined with the complete lack of infrastructure for responding to oil spills, make drilling in this area extremely dangerous.

“Oil spill response methods are ineffective in broken ice and other severe weather conditions in the Arctic, making any large oil spill or well blowout catastrophic for the amazing life in the Arctic Ocean,” she submits.

The WWF is encouraging members of the public to, during the administration’s multiple comment periods, voice their opinions and speak up against the plan.

“During the last comment period, nearly 90,000 WWF supporters spoke up to keep the Arctic out of the leasing programme,” discloses Thomas.

Citizens are also being enjoined to sign a public comment to President Trump and Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zike, and demand that the new offshore drilling is kept out of the the country’s Arctic region.

U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists have credited the international ban on man-made chemicals containing chlorine with helping to bring the ozone back.

About 30 years ago under the Montreal Protocol, a United Nations emergency panel banned the use of the chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which left chlorine in the atmosphere destroying ozone molecules.

Through direct observations of the ozone hole by a satellite instrument built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), scientists for the first time have said that levels of ozone-destroying chlorine are declining, resulting in less ozone depletion.

In previous studies, researchers have used statistical analyses of changes in the ozone hole’s size to argue that ozone depletion is decreasing.

The new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is the first to use measurements of the chemical composition inside the ozone hole to confirm that not only is ozone depletion decreasing, but that the decrease is caused by the decline in CFCs.

CFCs are long-lived chemical compounds that eventually rise into the stratosphere; where they are broken apart by the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation, releasing chlorine atoms that go on to destroy ozone molecules, NASA said on its website.

“We see very clearly that chlorine from CFCs is going down in the ozone hole, and that less ozone depletion is occurring because of it,’’ said lead author Susan Strahan, an atmospheric scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Stratospheric ozone protects life by absorbing potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation, which might cause skin cancer and cataracts, suppress immune systems and damage planet life.

The Antarctic ozone hole forms during September in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter as the returning Sun’s rays catalyse ozone destruction cycles involving chlorine and bromine that come primarily from CFCs.

To determine how ozone and other chemicals have changed year to year, scientists used data from JPL’s Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite, which has been making measurements continuously around the globe since mid-2004.

The change in ozone levels above Antarctica from the beginning to the end of the southern winter, early July to mid-September, was computed daily from MLS measurements every year from 2005 to 2016.

Measurements show that the decline in chlorine has resulted in about 20 per cent less ozone depletion during the Antarctic winter than there was in 2005, and scientists are crediting the international ban on chlorine-containing human-produced chemicals.

Evidence had been building during the 1970s and ’80s that CFCs were damaging the ozone layer.

The levels of ozone had been dropping, which ultimately resulted in a nearly ozone-free “hole’’ above the Antarctic.

The ozone hole spurred countries and companies into action.

Two years after the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985, nations signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to regulate ozone-depleting compounds, later amendments to which completely phased out the production of CFCs.

Looking forward, the Antarctic ozone hole should continue to recover gradually as CFCs leave the atmosphere, but complete recovery would take decades, according to NASA.

“CFCs have lifetimes from 50 to 100 years, so they linger in the atmosphere for a very long time,’’ said Anne Douglass, fellow atmospheric scientist at Goddard and the study’s co-author.

“As far as the ozone hole being gone, we’re looking at 2060 or 2080. And even then there might still be a small hole,’’ she said.

At least 17 people have died this week in the US due to severe weather, officials have said. Six deaths were reported in Wisconsin, four in Texas, three in North Carolina, and one each in Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota and Virginia.

More than 7,800 people along the East Coast were without power, according to reports from five states. The power outages is a major concern, especially for those in dangerously low temperatures.

The major storm that gripped the East Coast is moving away, but the Northeast is not out of the woods, it was gathered.

A one-two punch of powerful winds and bitter cold are expected on Friday, January 5, 2018 into the weekend in the East and Midwest, with temperatures plunging as low as single digit during the day, and below zero at night.

With wind chill, temperatures could be as low as -15 in New York and -25 in Boston on the weekend, according to CNN Weather.

The bomb cyclone heaped plenty of misery across the region, deluging streets in Massachusetts with icy water, dumping more than a foot of snow across eight states and knocking out power for tens of thousands.

On Thursday, the tide at Boston Harbor matched its record at 15.1 feet – previously set during the blizzard of 1978. Waves from the sea washed into Boston streets. In coastal Massachusetts, stunned residents had to flee their homes as frigid waters poured into their street and engulfed their cars in ice.

Relatively warm Florida was not spared. South Florida last saw snow 41 years ago, while other parts of the state last experienced snow 30 years ago.

Indeed, the Sunshine State is among many crippled by snow and ice along the US east coast following one of the strongest winter storms in modern history.

Freezing temperatures have caused Orlando theme parks including Disney, SeaWorld and Universal Studios to shut its aquatic attractions.

On Thursday, snow fell in Tallahassee for the first time in 28 years, according to forecasters.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted dust haze weather conditions with visibility range of three to five kilometres over the central states of the country on Saturday, January 6, 2018.

NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Friday, also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 25 to 35 and seven to 20 degrees Celsius respectively.

The agency predicted that the Southern states would experience hazy conditions over the inland cities and early morning mist/fog patches over Uyo, Ikom, Calabar, Yenegoa and Port-Harcourt with partly cloudy skies over the south-west coast.

It also predicted slim chances of localised rain showers over Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Yenegoa and Eket in the afternoon and evening hours with day and night temperatures in the range of 32 to 35 and 14 to 22 degrees Celsius respectively.

According to NiMet, Northern states will experience dust haze conditions with visibility range of one to three kilometres with day and night temperatures in the range of 27 to 30 and 11 to 18 degrees Celsius respectively.

“Observation shows that there are still dust particles in suspension over the country and the northern states are expected to be in dust haze condition with visibility range of about one to three kilometres.

“The central cities are anticipated to be in dust haze with visibility range of three to five kilometers.

“Hazy condition are envisaged over the inland cities with slim prospect for localised rain showers over some places in the coastal cities within the next 24 hours,” NiMet predicted.

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The number of people killed in flooding triggered by heavy rains has risen to 44 in the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

“This figure remains provisional as rescue operations are ongoing,’’ Dominique Weloli, the Provincial Health Minister told newsmen on Friday, January 5, 2018.

Weloli had placed the death toll at 35 on Thursday.

“The victims were killed by collapsing walls, landslides or drowning,’’ the minister said.

Heavy rains hit Kinshasa on Thursday, starting in the early morning and continuing for hours.

Weloli said that the floods had destroyed several houses.

Electricity supplies to 10 of Kinshasa’s 24 districts had been knocked out after the Kalamu River burst its banks and flooded a high-votage electricity substation.

“The city’s poor sewage system is partly to blame for the collapsing infrastructure,’’ Weloli said.