The Nigerian constitution guarantees the rights to life, dignity, personal liberty, a fair hearing and freedom of movement amongst other human rights. These rights apply to all without limitation on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Nigeria is bound by several regional and international human rights treaties including the African Charter on Human and people’s rights 1981(African Charter), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (ICCPR) on the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights 1966 (ICESCR). The principles of universality, equality, non discrimination and fairness are key in these instruments and the precondition for enjoyment of enshrined rights is humanity itself. This report explores the fact that, despite the promises of these Human Rights instruments, fundamental human rights of LGBTQI people continue to be violated. One of the key reasons for this is that Nigerians, including those in positions of authority and influence, do not see LGBTQI people as deserving of human rights. This report starts by outlining the legal framework governing human rights in Nigeria. It goes on to discuss frequent forms of violence perpetrated against LGBTQI people in Nigeria reported to human rights organizations from December 2016 to November 2017 and examine the year’s trends and the effect of these cases and trends on the rule of law. It ends by providing recommendations to the government, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the police and civil society organizations on how human rights of LGBTQI people can be protected and promoted.
