NHRC, OSIWA strategise to prevent human rights violations

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) have strategised to prevent human rights violations in the North East.

While announcing the human rights strategic project tagged ‘Research on the Security Accountability Mechanism of Counter-insurgency Operations in the Northeast’, yesterday, in Maiduguri, the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, disclosed that about 3.2 million people were displaced by the 12-year terrorism.

He said the ongoing insurgency displaced many people with threats of violence and various human rights violations, lamenting the widespread human rights violations against civilians by state and non-state actors.

According to him, the protection of citizens is an integral component of counter-terrorism operations and strategies.

Ojukwu attributed human rights violations to unlawful and extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention in life-threatening conditions, including civilian detentions in military facilities.

He noted that most of the detentions were based on flimsy or no evidence.

Forced marriages, extortion, inhuman and degrading treatment of people amount to human rights violations, he asserted.

“Without accountability for violations of the right to life and other human rights in military and police operations, Nigeria will be acting contrary to the international human rights obligations and injustice.”

The protection of human rights and accountability for violations are imperative to a successful campaign against the terrorists, he said, warning that that unless appropriate strategic interventions were put in place, the impunity could continue unabated.