Thursday, 15 March 2012 - Strasbourg

Explanations of vote:
Projekt rezolucji: RC-B7-0131/2012

Pino Arlacchi (S&D ), in writing . − Dear Mr. President,I voted for this resolution because the recent violence in Nigeria, carried out by the Boko Haram criminal cartel must be strongly condemned by the international community. Boko Haram is blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009. A contribution to put a definitive end to this awful situation is a wider examination of the root causes of the conflict. It is essential to avoid simplistic explanations based only on the label “terrorism” or “religion”.

Although Nigeria is the world’s eighth-largest oil producer, the majority of its 148 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. A peaceful resolution of conflicts implies a fair access to resources and a redistribution of revenues from oil market. In addition to that we must reaffirm the importance of an independent, impartial and accessible judiciary system to stop the impunity and to enhance respect for rule of law and fundamental rights of the population. For all these reasons with this text we called upon the Federal Government of Nigeria to fight corruption, poverty and inequality and to push for reforms aimed at creating a democratic, stable, free state which takes into account human rights.

[source: www.europarl.europa.eu]