Police Brutality as a Global Issue: What is Happening in Nigeria?

On Oct. 3, 2020, a video depicting a Nigerian Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police officer brutally killing a young man surfaced on the internet. On Oct. 7, protests erupted across the country, especially in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. 

What Is SARS?

SARS is a branch of the Nigerian police force. Formed in 1992, the SARS unit was originally created to subdue the rampant armed robberies that were all too common in Lagos. However, it quickly came to light that the unit was responsible for extortion, kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial killings. A 2016 report done by Amnesty International outlined the injustices committed by SARS. The report called out the “lack of accountability” and the “faulty legal framework” around SARS. It called the Nigerian government, Nigerian police, the National Human Rights Commission, and the International Community to action, demanding reform and protective acts to be passed. 

In 2017, Nigeria passed an Anti-Torture Act, hoping to smooth things over. However the killings, torture and corruption committed by SARS continued, and, in June of this year, Amnesty International issued a second report titled Nigeria: Time to End Impunity. The report documents a variety of criminal activity executed by SARS between Jan. 2017 and May 2020 and concludes that few cases are investigated, and next to none are brought to justice. Four months later, and the Nigerian people have taken to the streets to protest this brutally violent police unit after an online movement gained international traction. 

So that brings us up to date. But doesn’t all of this sound unsettlingly familiar? 

This past June, the U.S erupted in national protests over the murder of George Floyd. Fed up with the repeated and unchecked police brutality in the United States, millions of Americans rose up to call for change. The U.S has had decades of issues with police brutality, but even though it may receive the brightest global spotlight, it is not the only country with a tumultuous history with police brutality. (Check out this interactive map for more information)

Does this mean that police brutality is an international issue? If so, how can this be kept in check? 

Before addressing the global scope of police violence, let’s take a look at what it means.

What is Police Brutality?

Police brutality is defined by Amnesty International as “various human rights violations by police,” including “beatings, racial abuse, unlawful killings, torture, or indiscriminate use of riot control agents at protests.” For more detailed definitions and examples, read this Amnesty International report and this Novel Hand article by Yuna. 

The original purpose of the police was to ensure safety for the public, so how has this gotten so dangerous on an international scale?

Police Brutality On The Global Scale

Although protests over SARS in Nigeria are currently taking the media by storm, and earlier this summer the US experienced what The New York Times declared to be perhaps the “largest movement in U.S history” with the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality is hardly a novel issue. Nor is it localized. Police violence is a longstanding international human rights issue that, in recent months, has surfaced more in mainstream media. 

Let’s take a look at some global examples.

France

In France, the police have disproportionately stopped young Black and Arab men in abusive “identity checks”. Patting down, searching bags and pockets, and forcing individuals to the ground, the French police would stop children as young as 10 with no apparent reason. 

Aside from being a human rights violation, these violent searches also create a schism between communities and law enforcement, foster resentment, and make policing less effective, according to this study by Human Rights Watch.

 (Film suggestion: Les Miserables (2019) depicts the racial tensions between police and the communities of Paris’ outer suburbs)

United Kingdom

According to a study done by Amnesty International, the Metropolitan Police (“The Met”) in London have a database called the “Gang Matrix,” that follows social media activity of suspected gang members. According to Amnesty International, the Matrix “stigmatises young black men for the music they listen to or their behaviour on social media,” putting them into the category of potential gang members. This is racial profiling. Once added to the Gang Matrix, individuals are then “targeted for stop and search operations by police.”

Brazil

Brazil suffers from perhaps one of the worst cases of police violence internationally. In 2019 alone, 1,810 people were killed by police in Rio de Janeiro. That’s an average of five people per day. The “black and the poorest” are usually the victims. In order to fight unprecedented crime rates, the police became heavily armed, and helicopter snipers were employed; they have instead become responsible for 35 percent of all murders in Rio. As police know that their actions will not be investigated, they carry on as usual.

Chechen Republic

In the Chechen Republic, or Chechnya, people that are profiled as LGBTQ are disproportionately subjected to searches, “enforced kidnappings,” and extrajudicial killings conducted by the police. These blatant human rights violations would happen in proclaimed “purges,” in an obvious effort to wipe out unfavored minorities. Individuals were told that “they shouldn’t exist,” they were “sick” and “brought shame”, and were asked to kill themselves by authorities. 

By looking at these six cases, Nigeria, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil and the Chechen Republic, a pattern is visible. In all of these situations, minorities are targeted. In some cases the violence is more forceful and obvious than in others, but in all cases, the police are given the privilege of impunity. Impunity is the exemption from punishment, and is the root of police violence internationally. Without any accountability and freedom from the law, law enforcement can function under their own rules and suffer zero consequences. 
(Check out Emma’s Novel Hand article to learn more about police exemption)

What Are The Solutions?

This immense amount of police violence occurring around the world is not news. The United Nations has taken steps to address police violence internationally. Specifically, the UN Human Rights Council issued a resolution in June of 2020 calling for the protection of Africans from police brutality. 

There are also many private organizations that are taking action. Campaign Zero has a list of proposed policy solutions combating police brutality in the U.S. These include ending “broken window policing” (policing minor crimes), for profit policing, and implementing proper training. 

The biggest, yet most challenging impact, would be international policy shift.

The Health and Human Rights Journal, claims that gathering more proof of police brutality would be a strong step. Amnesty International explains that the most logical step to “enshrine” the “protect life principle” in law, limiting the use of lethal force drastically. They even issued an extensive report outlining hundreds of guidelines and recommendations to curb police violence. 

Ultimately, the origin of police comes from the want to protect life, but somewhere along the line we’ve taken a complete U-turn. Protests like those in the United States and Nigeria bring these painful issues into the limelight, and force those in authority to take action.