Reviewed Article
others, 11 which may be as a result of the refugee and internally displaced crises faced
by the country.
These stateless persons are, as aforementioned, denied certain fundamental rights, but
to be specific, in Nigeria, they are denied the right to vote, access to services, and rights
to free movement, rights to documentation of any kind and the right to dignity.
Public Interest Law and Social Justice are an avenue designed to improve access to
justice for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our society 12 and Social
Justice, in particular, involves a consideration of both joint and individual rights and
obligations. It ensures that people who need to claim infringement of their human
rights but do not have the ability, capacity or position to do so, can have access to
Justice 13. These two mentioned form parts of the curriculum of the Clinical Legal
Education (CLE) and Law Clinics in Nigeria.
Hence the question; Can Law clinics in Nigeria play a role to help the UNHRC to
eradicate statelessness? Can the Law clinics in Nigeria become mechanisms to provide
access to justice through Social Justice and Public Interest Law to those stateless
Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative retrieved from http://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/01/UNHCRNigeria_Communique-Statelessness_Dec2018.pdf last visited 7th
May, 2019
12 What is Public Interest Law? Retrieved from
https://law.unimelb.edu.au/students/jd/enrichment/pili/about/what-is-public-interest-law last visited,
7th May 2019
13 What is Social Justice? https://probonocentre.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Occ_1_What-isSocial-Justice_FINAL.pdf last visited 7th May, 2019
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