DIGNITY OF HUMAN PERSON: A MYTH OR REALITY USING NIGERIA, USA, AND

INDIA AS CASE STUDIES

BY

EZINNA EDGE IROEGBU (NIGERIA)1

Abstract

The Universal Declaration on Human Rights was pivotal in popularizing the use of ‘dignity’ or
‘human dignity’ in human rights discourse. This article examines dignity of human person which
is a right that one has by virtue of being human. This article examines what dignity of human
person means to the authorities in Nigeria, U.S and India. In the cause of writing this article, the
barriers to the enjoyment of dignity of human rights was equally examined. It was duly
concluded by proffering recommendations to the issues raised. This article argues that dignity of
human person even though a fundamental human right enshrined in numerous constitutions is
yet to become practicable. It is only a right in theory and not a practical right as it has been
abused by many states even with all the legal frameworks enshrining dignity of human person.
Introduction

Human rights are rights given to a citizen by being virtue of being human. The Universal

Declaration of Human Rights 1948 provides a right against slavery or servitude 2, right against

torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Violation of human rights has

become a norm in various states. People who should protect the citizens when their rights have

been abused are the ones wielding the sledgehammer of abuse. At the fore of this is the police. In

so many countries it seems like we practice a police state. The police is a ready tool in the hands

of the government for muzzling political opinions and intimidating perceived political

opponents.

Dignity of human person is the same everywhere irrespective of race, color, background etc. It is

a fundamental right not

1
Ezinna Edge Iroegbu (Esq.) LLB., PDE, M.Sc. He is an educator, researcher, reviewer and writer that resides in
Enugu, Nigeria. He serves as Chief Researcher Edge World Consultancy. He can be contacted via his email address
ezinnae@gmail.com.
2
Article 4
Definition of Terms

Dignity Human of Persons

Human dignity is the idea that the human person is worth something. It is a right which a person

has by virtue of being a human being. As a human being, an individual possesses the

fundamental right not to be tortured or to be forced into something he does not want to do. What

makes them fundamental is that the constitution declared them to be so, and not because the

rights are inherently fundamental.

Myth

Something that many people believe but that does not exist or is false.3

Reality

The true situation and the problems that actually exist in life, in contrast to how you would like

life to be.4

Review of Dignity of Human Person in Nigeria, U.S.A, and India.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, citizens enjoy many rights but the inalienable fundamental rights of citizens are

statute-protected by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Chapter IV of the

Constitution lists out the basic Fundamental Human Rights enjoyed by citizens of the country.

Examples of abuse and violation of this right can be found in modern day slavery and torture and

brutality by law enforcement officers. An example of an abuse of this right can be found in 2013,

when one Lawal Ganiyu, 50 years old, was arrested and tortured by the Police over an alleged

fraud. As a result of the brutal treatment, he was comatose in a hospital for over a week. This act

was a gross violation of his right to dignity of human person under the Nigerian Constitution.

3
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 8th edition, Oxford University Press
4
Supra p. 1221
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides, that every

individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and shall not be subjected to torture

or to inhuman or degrading treatment, held in slavery or servitude and required to perform forced

or compulsory labour. 5

In reality, the Constitutional provision for the dignity of human person is nothing but a myth.

Every day we wake up with the illusion that our dignity as a human person is protected only to

be hit by the uncomfortable truth which is the opposite. In Nigeria, infliction of corporal

punishment by the people that should be protecting the citizen is the order day. The python dance

that was carried out in the South East by the Nigerian Army is a case in point. The python dance

was a ploy used by the Federal Government in order to attack the home of the leader of the self-

determination group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which led to the loss of

lives and the wanton destruction of property. People told Amnesty International about a form of

water torture in which hot and cold water is poured on naked bodies entitled “Welcome to Hell

Fire”, the Amnesty report says people are often detained in large dragnet operations and tortured

as punishment, to extort money or to extract "confessions" as a way to solve cases. The

Constitution provides that every citizen of Nigeria arrested or detained shall have the right to

keep silent or avoid answering any of the questions until further consultation with a legal

practitioner or any other person of his choice.6

The above same Constitution provides that any person arrested or detained shall be informed in

writing within 24 hours in a language he understands of the facts and grounds of his arrest. You

should understand if you are arrested you should demand for the particulars of your arrest within

twenty four hours or you should be released.7

5
Section 34(1)
6
Ibid Section 35(2)
7
Section 35 (3)
Any person who is arrested in accordance with subsection (1) (c) of this section (stated above),

shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time and if he is not tried within a

period of:

a. Two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who is in custody

or is not entitled to bail; or

b. Three months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who has been

released on bail, he shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought

against him) be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably

necessary to ensure that he appears for trials at a later date. 8 What this implies is that if you are

arrested upon reasonable suspicion of you having committed a crime or to prevent you from

committing a crime, you shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time and if

you are not tried within a period of two months from the date of your arrest or detention in the

situation where you are not entitled to bail, you shall be entitled to be released. But this is

without prejudice to further action that might be brought against you for that criminal action for

which you were arrested. Any person arrested in accordance with sub section 1(c) and you were

granted bail and you have not been tried three months from the day of your arrest but you where

granted bail during the three months you shall be released either unconditionally or upon

conditions as are necessary to ensure your appearance at a latter day.

In subsection 4 of this section, the expression "reasonable time" means:

In the case of an arrest or detention in any place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction

within fourty kilometers, a period of one day; and (b) In any other case, a period of two days or

such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable.9

8
Section 35 (4)
9
Ibid Section35(5)
Any person who is unlawfully arrested or detained shall be entitled to compensation and public

apology from the appropriate authority or person and in this subsection, "the appropriate

authority or person" means an authority or person specified by law.10

Nothing in this section shall be construed:

In relation to subsection (4) of this section, as applying in the case of a person arrested or

detained upon reasonable suspicion of having committed a capital offence; and

As invalidating any law by reason only that it authorises the detention for a period not exceeding

three months of a member of the armed forces of the federation or a member of the Nigerian

police force in execution of a sentence imposed by an officer of the armed forces of the

federation or of the Nigeria police force, in respect of an offence punishable by such detention of

which he was found guilty.11

From the above provisions one can surmise that any person who is arrested unlawfully or

detained shall be entitled to compensation and public apology from the appropriate authority or

person and this appropriate authority means authority or person specified by law. The

implication of this is that your wrongful arrest or detention is a breach of your fundamental

human right to freedom of liberty hence, the arresting authority upon the understanding that you

were arrested wrongfully would compensate you, and publicly offer an apology to you for the

stress you have gone through. However, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. After been detained,

you need to pay a huge amount of money to the police and you must sign an undertaken.

The constitutional provisions does not apply to you if you have committed a capital offence (for

example murder) and it further doesn’t apply to members of the armed forces of the federation,

most of them might be detained for committing crimes against the code of conduct of their

10
Ibid Section 35(6).
11
Ibid Section 35(7)(a)-(b).
calling and hence may be detained by orders of their superiors and they may not be tried within

the three months stipulation.

A study carried out by David Davis a correspondent of the guardian news and media limited

portrayed that Extrajudicial killings and torture are widespread, the study alleges, citing a

detainee in Lagos who said police killed 15 people in the station where he was held in custody

for a week in 2006. It continues:

“The victims of such extrajudicial executions are often disposed of

surreptitiously, sometimes in local waterways or mass unmarked graves. In one
well-documented case in 2004 in Kaduna State, the police visited a cemetery late
at night to bury truckloads of detainees they had executed. The police frequently
deny victims' relatives access to information about their fate or their remains.
Relatives who continue to pursue such information, or seek redress, often face
threats or reprisals from the police.”12

The United States of America

The American Constitution succintly provides for the fundamental rights of its citizen amongst

them are the right to fair hearing, right to dignity of human person etc.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party

shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their

jurisdiction.13 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,

against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue,

but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place

to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.14

Irrespective of the provision of the right to dignity human persons enshrined in the American

Constitution, citizens rights are still violated by the police and the custodians of the law. Torture

in all forms is banned by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which the
12
Guardiannews.com, David Smith Monday 17 May 2010 accessed on 10th November 2017
13
13th Amendment - Slavery and Involuntary Servitude (Article XIII of the American Constitution).
14 th
4 Amendment - Search and Seizure(Article IV)
United States participated in drafting. The United States spearheaded some of the major human

rights instruments, nevertheless, they champion all forms of abuse.

In 2005, a Channel 4 documentary titled "Torture: America’s Brutal Prisons" showed video of

naked prisoners being beaten, bitten by dogs, forced to crawl like worms, kicked in the groin,

stunned with Taser guns and electric cattle prods. The guards also had them fight in a deadly

duel; refusing to duel would result in the death of a prisoner, shot by the guards. The same fate

would be reserved to the loser of a duel, only for the guards' fun. A prisoner executed in 2004,

Dominique Green, said that two his row mates were beaten up; the guards then flooded the room,

destroying every object owned by one of them: his letters, photos, legal documents, the book he

was writing, his typewriter. The date of his execution another was fixed for the following day15

Abuse of African American men has often had a sexual component. Black male victims of

lynching were frequently castrated, and then their penises were stuffed in their mouths. A New

York police officer inserted a broom handle into the anus of Abner Louima. 16 The United States

is a party to the following conventions (international treaties) that prohibits torture, such as the

1949 Geneva Conventions (signed 1949; ratified 1955), the American Convention on Human

Rights (signed 1977), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (signed 1977;

ratified 1992), and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment (signed 1988; ratified 1994).

India

India has the highest number of cases of police torture and custodial deaths among the world's

democracies and the weakest law against torture. The Indian Constitution provides, “No person

shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to a procedure established by

15
Human Rights Watch, World Report, 2015
16
Paul Butler Chokehold: Policing Black Men, Guardian/news.com, accessed October 20th 2017.
law.”17 Indian human rights defender Babloo Loitongbam, who witnessed numerous instances of

torture by Manipur security forces over the years, says that he has a particularly vivid memory of

one victim, Khuraijam Pranam Singh. 18 The case of Chennai Six freed after four years in Indian

jail is equally a reference point. How they were arrested and remanded in prison even after the

British government’s head of export controls eventually confirmed to the Indian court that Vince

Cable, the then business secretary, had granted licences for firearms in 2012 and 2013.19

A 2016 report by the Delhi-based NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative found that out

of 1,387 jails across India, only five were monitored as required by the law, and only four states

had appointed independent visitors in all their jails. A pending national law prohibiting torture,

introduced in Parliament in 2010, lapsed in 2014 due to inaction.

A Critical Review of the Abuse of Dignity of Human Person in the above States

Even after enacting various legislations protecting the rights of citizens, the custodians of the law

in the various states are yet to tow the part of the law the created. Even after signing and ratifying

many treaties we are yet to see any change in terms of how the citizens are treated. The sad

reality is that people in unfortunate situations are usually the ones whose rights to human dignity

are slighted or trampled on. These people are often preyed upon the police. Nigeria as a

developing country needs to channel its energy towards the protection of its citizen’s right. Being

a Nigerian, I can actually give a firsthand account of some of the abuses carried out by the

custodians of our law.

Torture in all forms is banned by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),

which the United States participated in drafting. The United States as a developed country should

be a role model to the developing and undeveloped states. It has neither signed nor ratified the

17
Article 21
18
Arijit Sen www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/08/demons-india-tryst-torture, accessed October 28th 2017.
19
Guardian/news.com, accessed October 20th 2017.
Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. The whole world is looking up to

them, if they fail to get it right we all fail.

India as a state has made tremendous improvements when it comes to enactment of statutes

guiding the enjoyment of the rights of its citizens. But the practicability of the statutes is another

issue. India is yet to ratify some of the treaties it signed which is not a good thing.

International law defines torture during an armed conflict as a war crime. It also mandates that

any person involved in ordering, allowing, and even insufficiently preventing and prosecuting

war crimes is criminally liable under the command responsibility doctrine. Countries all over the

world are signatories to one or more of these treaties and some are the ones that spearheaded the

conventions that led to the formulations of such treaties. Yet, human rights violations are rife in

such countries.

Barriers to the Enjoyment of Dignity of Human Rights

Abuse by the police

From the above write-up, one can glean that the 90% of human rights violation in the three

countries examined are perpetrated by the police. Naturally, the primary duty of the police is to

protect the lives and properties of the citizens of a country. But one can actually say that the

police have arrogated secondary duties to their official duties and they are intimidation, torture,

harassment etc.

Uncooperative nature of the Judiciary

Apart from the police that engage in flagrant violation of human rights, the judiciary to an extent

is part of these problems. The uncooperative nature of Judges in certain cases is another critical
issue and this usually occurs when they have a particular interest to protect especially that of the

politician that secured the position for them.

Fear

The fear of not knowing who to trust serves as a barrier to the enjoyment of this right, because

whatever you fail to report or make public won’t be known by anybody. This fear could be as a

result of the intimidation by police officers, fear of stigmatization from the general public, inter

alia.

Lack of Trust

As a result of the flagrant human rights violations going on different countries the citizens don’t

know whom to trust against. The bad blood and lack of trust can actually be illustrated with the

recent monkepox infection in Nigeria. It portrayed that school children no longer trust the Army

for any planned medical exercises of inoculation for fear that they may be poisoned with

monkeypox infestation.

Limitations set out by statutes

There are statutory limitations set in every statutory enactment including the Constitution. A

careful examination would show that the enjoyment of any fundamental right is dependent upon

a particular duty. A person who has been sentenced to death cannot actually complain that his

right to dignity of human person has been denied him or her. These limitations are applauded on

the other hand, because without these limitations the court rooms would be flooded with

frivolous petitions.

Recommendation

The writer calls for increased autonomy and oversight, better recruitment and working conditions

and improved investigation.

The International communities should make it mandatory that countries who are members of

their organization should ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment or any other related treaty which they signed e.g. India is

yet to ratify the treaty since 1997.

Bills criminalizing torture should be passed by our legislators and committees should be set up to

monitor the implementation of such legislations.

A committee should be set up to monitor all the jails in various countries in order to ensure that

they are up to standard.

Conclusion

Our discussion has revealed that dignity of the human person is only a myth. It is only a right on

a paper. Torture has taken another dimension in democratic countries, people are tortured

without regard to their dignity as a human person in order to accept what they didn’t do. The

only authority that we can look up to now is the judiciary which is the last hope of the common

man.

In reality, the Constitution of the various countries we examined provides the dignity of human

person yet the police and the entire members of a society tend to neglect it. As a citizen you need

to know that you have a fundamental right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment, slavery and

forced labour. The knowledge of this right makes you alert and it equally provides you with the

knowledge of the actions to take if such right is infringed. Though the reality there is this, people

you look upon to enforce or uphold the right will disappoint you. Therefore, when you are hit

with the reality don’t despair just look for another person and another until you find the right

person, all you have to do is this, never give up. The writer is making a clarion call to states all

over the globe to rise up and uphold the rights of its citizens.