Islamic group mounts campaign against UN conventions

An Islamic group in Nigeria has launched a campaign to stop ratification of a number of United Nations conventions on the grounds they are contrary to Muslim values. The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria in a statement, published in newspapers on Monday, said moves by President Olusegun Obasanjo to get parliament to ratify the conventions covering human rights issues were part of a "plot to destabilise our country through the United Nations' covert campaign against Islam". The council specifically identified the Convention Against Cruel, Inhuman and other Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention Against Child Abuse, as UN legal instruments it deems offensive to Islam. The group also condemned moves to introduce sex education in schools and make illegal marriage of girls under 18 years. It said under Islamic or Sharia law, punishments such as death for murderers and armed robbers, flogging for drinking of alcohol and fornication, and amputation of limbs for stealing, were divinely ordained. The council said the convention on discrimination against women, was aimed at eliminating religious beliefs such as polygamy in order give women "full and unfettered equality with men". The group also said the Convention Against Child Abuse was seeking to "criminalise" parental efforts to discipline children through beating. "Most girls who attend schools marry at or above the age of 18 years, but Islam recognises certain cases where the girls mature precociously and need to marry earlier," the council said. "Ratification of the conventions by the National Assembly would entail compromising Nigeria's sovereignty, since all the conventions stipulate that once they are ratified, the provisions and obnoxious stipulations shall override and have an abrogating effect on all our domestic laws," it added. Several states in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north have in the past two years adopted strict Islamic law prescribing death for offences including murder, armed robbery and adultery, and public flogging for drinking of alcohol and pre-marital sex. Critics, especially in the mainly Christian south, allege the move is aimed at forceful conversion of non-Muslims. Tension due to the introduction of Sharia has resulted in frequent outbreaks of violence between Muslims and Christians in several Nigerian cities in the past two years. The council is led by politician Datti Ahmed who contested the presidency in the early 1990s. In recent years he has devoted his energy to realising the strict application of Sharia law in areas of Nigeria with Muslim majorities. Government sources said accusations that Obasanjo - who is a Christian - was mounting an anti-Islamic campaign with the UN, were unfounded since all the conventions sent to the legislature for ratification were signed by preceding military regimes, all headed by Muslims. "All President Obasanjo is doing is to complete the process started by his predecessors," a presidential aide told IRIN.