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Assembly cautions politicians as world marks Human Rights Day

Tomorrow, Nigeria will join other Nations of the world to celebrate International Human Rights Day. The United Nations on December 10...

Tomorrow, Nigeria will join other Nations of the world to celebrate International Human Rights Day. The United Nations on December 10, 1948, adopted a list of Human Rights for the protection of humanity and has since been celebrating the day as Human Rights Day, as a mark of its commitment to the principle and practice of the rights worldwide.

However, The Nigeria Voters Assembly, a non-partisan civil society group is worried by the massive infringement on these rights, especially by the Boko-Haram Insurgents, killing both Christians, Moslems, Young and Old, and perpetrating havoc and willful displacement of communities, causing the government to establish Camps outside their homes.

In a statement issued last week in Ibadan, Comrade Mashood Erubami President of the group said the significance of the day is to remind the people of the world, including Nigeria of the importance of the tenets of these rights, which include the rights to equality, freedom from discrimination, rights to life, Liberty, personal security, freedom from slavery and freedom from torture and degrading treatment.

These rights and others deserve to be practiced by people and government beyond just understanding them, but to be strictly committed to their promotion and best practices, the group aded.

The statement read: “Ironically and despite human rights, people are loosing their lives daily to violence, which has continued with some of our soldiers dying in the battle fields. As a result, humanity continues to be dehumanized, while those alive are living with indignity.

“In Nigeria particularly, the Country is moving towards its general elections in 2019, therefore adherence to human rights principles and best practices require that political parties and politicians in all their dealings must respect human and democratic rights, so that lives can be better lived and properties saved. Violence and torture in the electoral process and against women and children particularly must be avoided.

“Also, government must begin to open access to better environment with good sanitation. Internal and inter State war must be avoided to reduce killings and reduce the establishment of Camps in nearly all the states of the country. This is because internal displacements subject the people to degrading conditions and poverty, which decreases on daily basis the quality of lives.

“It is ironic, that despite human rights, the world continues to watch with glee, as human lives are lost on daily basis in the face of unjustifiable tyranny.

“The Nigeria Voters Assembly therefore calls on the people and the world as we celebrate to reaffirm their commitment to promoting human rights by ensuring that these fundamental rights are no more infringed upon. Thuggery, which breeds violence must be taken out of our elections, rigging must be aborted in the electoral processes, while vote buying and selling must be discouraged for all times.

“Employment must be provided for the old and young to stabilise the homes so as to ensure that security becomes the primary obligation of government to the people.

“For human rights to be meaningful, all Nigerians and world citizens must come together to re-write the genuine principles of human rights in their conscience to make the creation of human rights on 10 December 1948 and its yearly celebration meaningful.

“Finally, the Nigeria Voters Assembly calls on all developed and developing countries with conscience to rise to arrest the situation of human rights abuses to put an end to bad practices so as to bring back peace into the country and the world.”

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