FACT CHECK: Does UN intervene in a country after 30 days of protests?
On Saturday, a message on the period the United Nations needs before intervening in a country where there has been ongoing protests went viral on social media platforms.
In a tweet, Harvey Funmilayo, a United Kingdom-based Nigerian doctor and Twitter influencer, had said the UN cannot intervene in a country if protests have not exceeded 30 days.
Funmilayo has over 200,000 followers on Twitter.
“I just heard according to UN Constitution any protest that reaches 30days will make UN intervene in that country. The Nigeria govt knows this. Many young people don’t know it. EXCEPT the govt makes visible tangible immediate changes, #EndSARS protests MUST GO ON. Tell others,” Funmilayo tweeted.
The post was shared by many social media users, who advocated for widespread participation in the ongoing #EndSARS protest.
#EndSARS: A WEEK OF PROTEST, UNREST AND AGITATIONS
There was a renewed protest against the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) after a video showing a man allegedly gunned down in Delta by operatives of the police unit was circulated online.
Using the EndSARS hashtag, celebrities such as Folarin Falana, a Nigerian rapper better known as Falz, and Runtown, a musician, led the campaign against police brutality.
On the third day of the protest, Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), disbanded SARS and President Muhammadu Buhari said the dissolution of SARS was a first step in improving the operations of the police.
But the protesters refused to leave the streets, insisting that more concrete steps must be taken in reforming the police. Social media has been the force behind the protest as coordination and dissemination of information are done there; but are all the information on the protest correct?
FAKE NEWS AS A WEAPON OF MOBILISATION
One of the major challenges confronting the #EndSARS protest is fake news. For reasons best known to them, some persons have been pushing out different narratives. Although the UK-based medical doctor has deleted the tweet, the post is still been shared multiple times on social media platforms.
From @DrOlufunmilayo
I just heard according to UN Constitution any protests that reaches 30days will make UN intervene in that country.
The Nigeria Govt knows this.
Many young people don’t know it.AdvertisementEXCEPT the govt makes visible tangible immediate changes. #EndSARS
— #Sarsmustend (@Enuma134) October 17, 2020
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In another post to clarify the tweet, Olufunmilayo said he copied the post from the Twitter page of Falz, a leading figure in the protest. Falz, who is also a lawyer, has more than 1.7 million Twitter followers.
“I saw it on Falz page actually. It was later I realised he deleted it after and I did same too.” the doctor and influencer said.
“I will send you the actual source. It’s not Falz or me. I don’t want to post it here before it starts getting retweets again.”
I saw it on Falz page actually. It was later I realised he deleted it after and I did same too.
— #OurFavEndSARSDoc 🩺🇳🇬🇬🇧 (@DrOlufunmilayo) October 17, 2020
@falzthebahdguy According to UN Constitution any protests that reaches 30days will make UN intervene in that country.
The Nigeria Govt knows this.
Many young people don’t know it.EXCEPT the govt makes visible tangible immediate changes, #EndSARS protests must continue
— timilawrence (@timilancing) October 17, 2020
BUT IS THIS CLAIM TRUE?
The UN does not have a “constitution”, but a charter. According to article 2 (7) of the purposes and principles of the organisation, as contained in the charter, the UN does not intervene in matters of domestic jurisdiction of any country.
“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll,” the document reads.
The UN deals with matters related to the maintenance of international peace and security, which are being dealt with by the organisation’s security council.
Hence, the claim that the UN will intervene in any country where a protest extends for a 30-day period is FALSE.
And these are supposed to be our Leaders of tomorrow? We definitely can do better than this