The applicant alleged that the military government of Nigeria (Government), in its efforts to produce oil through the State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), contaminated the environment of the Ogoni People and led to environmental degradation and health problems among that community. More specifically, the applicant claimed that the NNPC, acting within a consortium with …Read more

In January 1999 the Standard, a weekly newspaper, published an article alleging a failed coup by senior members of the army. Several reasons for the coup were given including mismanagement of the economy and involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first applicant, the editor of the Standard, was arrested …Read more

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Namibia prompted the Government of Namibia to issue Guidelines for the Implementation of a National Code on HIV/AIDS in Employment (Guidelines), which extended nondiscrimination provisions to enlistment procedures of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF). In part, the Guidelines aimed to counteract prejudices and ignorance surrounding the nature and cause of HIV/AIDS, …Read more

Huri-Laws, a non-governmental organization registered in Nigeria, filed on behalf of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), another Nigerian organization based in Lagos, a complaint claiming that the Federal Military Government of Nigeria harassed and persecuted the latter’s legal staff in various forms that violated provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Charter). …Read more

Six communications jointly alleged that the Mauritanian state committed numerous human rights violations from 1986 to 1992. Specifically, the communications alleged that the State violated articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, and 26 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the Charter”), which came into …Read more

Mr. Lustig-Prean and Mr. Beckett were discharged from the Royal Navy on the basis of their sexual orientation. In June 1994, Mr. Lustig-Prean was approached by military service police and, wanting to avoid further and less discrete investigations, Mr. Lustig-Prean admitted that he was homosexual. In May 1993, Mr. Beckett admitted to his superiors that …Read more

Rights International, a non-governmental organization based in the United States, claimed that Nigerian military soldiers arrested and tortured Mr. Charles Baridorn Wiwa at an unknown military detention camp in Gokana, Nigeria. The Complainant alleged that Mr. Wiwa’s detention lasted from January 2-9, 1996, and that during his detention, authorities horsewhipped him, subjected him to various …Read more

The Applicants were both exemplary members of the Royal Air Force and had been discharged solely due to being homosexual. The first appellant was an enrolled nurse.  An anonymous female caller left a message on the applicant’s answering machine stating that she knew about the applicant’s homosexuality and afterwards informed the air force authorities. In a …Read more

X was discharged from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) after he tested positive for HIV, in accordance with an ADF policy that sought to avoid transmission of HIV between soldiers. He subsequently filed a complaint with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission), claiming his discharge constituted unlawful discrimination under the Disability Discrimination …Read more

The applicant was a 17-year old Turkish national of Kurdish origin girl who lived with her parents in a village in south-east Turkey. Since 1985 serious disturbances had raged in this part of the country between the security forces and the members of a Kurdish separatist party. Turkey claimed that these had resulted in the deaths …Read more