The United Nations Welcomes Hate Speech Bill, Opposes Death Penalty.

Pic: The President of Nigeria with representatives from the United Nations including the deputy secreatary-general Hajiya Amina Mohammed

The United Nations (UN) finally speaks about the hate speech bill that have been making the rounds lately, as Nigerians took to various social media platforms to express their displeasure towards the proposed bill by the members of the National Assembly aimed at censoring social medias and even with a death penalty targeted at hate speech.

Hate speech is speech that attacks a person or a group on the basis of protected attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The Prohibition of Hate Speech Bill is being sponsored by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, a lawmaker of the ruling All Progressives Congress party in Nigeria. The law intended to make it possible to sentence to death by hanging anyone convicted of spreading hate speech.

The bill which was initially thrown out, recently resurfaced again, and this time moved with so much momentum, gaining 2 readings in as fast as just 2 weeks.

It is a very extensive piece of legislation, which covers a slew of possible wrongdoings, including the publication or presentation of material deemed to stir up ethnic hatred. It also aims at written or visual acts seen as threatening, abusive, insulting or offensive.

Speaking on Tuesday, November 26, while on a visit to the President at the state house Abuja, the United Nations deputy secreatary-general Hajiya Amina Mohammed said that while the move against hate speech is commendable, the death penalty aspect of the proposed bill should be scrapped.

According to the deputy secretary-general "the way the legislation is being followed to try to put that in place, I think is commendable. We, of course, did not support the death penalty".

She continued, "I am also happy to see...that that portion was taken out of the legislation that was being put forward. The Secretary-General had also put in place a special ending on hate speech.”

The UN's deputy secretary-general also said that at both the international and regional levels, hate speech is not only frowned at but also checked by various legislative means.