Human rights activists observe that although the rule of law and human rights are integral components of democracy, the former protects the latter.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson recently noted that unless the rule of law was embedded in the fabric of governance, there could be no effective legal protection for rights and entitlements.

A sound rule of law framework ensures that victims of human rights abuses are provided redress and the perpetrators are held accountable, which in turn deters future violations.

On the other hand, lack of the rule of law, by elevating the risk of arbitrary action and impunity for human rights violations, creates a climate of mistrust and instability.

Human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law and democratic institutions are the foundations of peace and security, ’’ he observed.

He opined that effective rule of law and human rights protected fragile states and translated aspirations for peace and justice to reality.

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms such as right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression and equal treatment before the law, among others, which all humans should enjoy unhindered.

In her view on Nigeria’s case in the promotion of human rights and rule of law, Mrs Odi Lagi, Senior Programme Officer, Network of University Legal Aid Institutions, Nigeria, said that the country had taken considerable steps at improving human rights.

She noted that the country in the last two years had witnessed free speech especially on the social media.

Other things include the passage of freedom of information which will improve citizens’ participation in governance if adequately utilised at all levels of government,’’ she said.

She, nonetheless, observed that reported cases of child rights abuse such as child marriage, child labour and domestic servitude and trafficking in persons, among others, remained worrisome.

The very poor remain caught up in our criminal justice system and are constantly victims of prolonged pre-trial detention with no access to legal representation,’’ she said.

Lagi said that the first step to checking human rights abuses was to cultivate the culture of standing up for individual’s rights among the citizens.

“Irrespective of how much resources our government puts into dealing with cases of human rights abuses, it should not deter the citizens to report abuses and stand up for their rights.

Without robust human right education at all levels from primary to university to informal education at community levels, we cannot have a society that upholds the tenets of social justice.

We need to differentiate human rights education from mere civil education. Human rights education must be predicated on the principles of respect, human dignity, tolerance and equality,’’ she noted.

She, however, said that the judiciary had taken tremendous steps to strengthen its role in protecting human rights.

The court rules make human rights cases priority and are entitled to accelerated hearings.

However, adjournments remain a challenge and judges ought to be more inclined towards dispensing such cases.

In addition, such cases can only be filed in high courts; so access remains an issue for so many of our population,’’ she observed.

According to her, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been strengthened to take up cases of human rights violations; though so many Nigerians are unaware of this and the commission’s reach is also limited.

In his opinion, Mr Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, observed that the most dominant human rights violation in Nigeria was the infringement on the right to life.

Right to Health and the Right to earn decent living wages are violated while child rights are violated in monumental dimension.

Not all the states have domesticated the Nigerian Child Rights Act of 2003. Early marriage and babies’ factories have become frightening.

There are widespread cases of child trafficking and the enslavement of Nigerian children’’, observed.

The coordinator also said that the high level of unemployment was a huge human rights breach because without a decent and living wage, it was difficult to fulfill the whole human rights provisions enshrined in the constitution.

He said for government to protect human rights, it must first put an end to the issues of impunity and indiscipline among the operatives and hierarchies of the law enforcement agencies.

The financial and operational independence of the judiciary was critical to checking human rights abuses,’’ Onwubiko insisted.

This view notwithstanding, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it will ensure that 80 per cent of Nigerians are aware of their fundamental human rights.

We will work with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to make this happen by ensuring that every Nigerian is able to read about their rights in their various languages,’’ the Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Bem Angwe said.

According to him, the commission is partnering the NOA to translate the section of the section of the 1999 Constitution on human rights into the three major languages.

But Mr Mike Omeri, the Director-General of NOA, observed that some Nigerians were still ignorant of their rights and would not even know when these rights were being abused.

Currently, at this phase of our development, a number of people are not aware of their fundamental human rights.

Rights that are derived from our laws are rights that are natural and so they suffer without knowing that they have a platform to seek redress,’’ he said.

Omeri, nonetheless, pledged the agency’s readiness to work with the NHRC to sensitise every Nigerian to their basic rights.

This, he said, would empower them to cry out when their rights were being infringed on even by the government.

By and large, observers insist that there must be a function rule of law to provide platform for respect for human rights and a better Nigeria.