NANFeatures/Vol.11/No.21/2017 (Jan. 21)
Protecting human rights via advocacy
By Aderogba George, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
Unarguably, the media function as the watchdog of the society, protecting the public interests including creating awareness on the need for checking violations of fundamental human rights.
Although discussions on whether or not human rights violations are rampant in Nigeria have often taken centre stage in public fora, some Nigerians hold the belief that the country has not scored much in human rights protection.
In the light of this belief, stakeholders opine that the media is cardinal to advocating the need for change in the way issues on human rights are handled.
Mr Olawale Fapohunda, a former Attorney-General of Ekiti, therefore, solicited the partnership of the media to ensure human rights protection in the country.
At a recent annual lecture in Abuja, he called on the media to support the establishment of a national council of the administration of justice with representation from the three arms of government to ensure justice on human rights violations.
Fapohunda suggested that membership of the council should include states and non-states actor from the justice sector to ensure a level playing ground.
“I have often been asked that given the enormity of the human rights challenges facing Nigeria, how the Federal Government can achieve meaningful intervention in a manner that responds to the concerns of Nigerians.
“I agree that there are many challenges and dealing with historical issues arising from bad governance, including violations by non-state actors, is sadly becoming problem in our daily existence.
“The activities of Boko Haram insurgents, rampaging herdsmen, Niger-Delta avengers, kidnappers, armed robbers all constitute grave threats to the enjoyment of our human rights,’’ he said.
According to Fapohunda, the country needs a human rights specific and strategic approach to human rights that will engage all level of government with the citizens and civil society on the dialogue about protecting and advancing human right.
He said the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had been facilitating a consultative process on human rights which resulted in the development of a draft national action plan for the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria.
In his view, an official of NHRC, Mr Wahab Oyedokun, also called for an effective collaboration among the media and the commission on the issue of human rights protection.
He said the media is “the forerunner of human rights agenda and that there is need to work in closer synergy with it to ensure that human rights are protected and reported’’.
He urged Nigerians to be mindful of their constitutional rights and the rights of other people, given the flagrant abuse of fundamental human rights in the country.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Frank Tietie, the Executive Director, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights, a Civil Society Organisation, called on the media to partner with the civil society groups by constantly reporting human rights violation incidence.
He pleaded with the National Assembly to ensure upward review of budget allocation to human rights advocacy agency to carry out its function of checking human right abuses.
“We collaborate with NHRC to emphasise the value of protecting the rights of ordinary citizens, making ordinary Nigerians to know what their rights are in terms of advocacy and that is called human rights education.
“The NHRC has been effective in human rights education in conjunction with civil society groups and this is why it received more than one million complaints of rights violations,’’ he said.
For effective advocacy on checking human rights violation, Chief Judge of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen, urged journalists to always uphold the ethics of their profession in their reportage.
Onnoghen also called on the media to develop closer partnership with the judiciary to uphold justice, saying “a responsible press is only an effective check on any arm of government when it comes to objective and truthful reporting.
“For our evolving democracy to be fully entrenched and enduring, the press must partner with the judiciary in the performance of this very crucial role.
“The press must be in the forefront of educating the public on the workings of our courts and our justice delivery system.’’
Similarly, Mrs Eseosa Okuku, a fellow of the National Judicial Institute, called on the media to create awareness on the importance of the Administration Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
“The act presents an excellent opportunity to entrench standard principles and international best practices into the criminal justice administration,’’ Okuku said.
She, therefore, encouraged the states to key into the innovations of the act by enacting their Administration of Criminal Justice Laws at the states level using the ACJA as a model.
She said the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights Promotion recently urged the Federal Government to promote the domestication of ACJA in states of the federation to check injustice in Nigeria.
The commission said the domestication of ACJA in states would ensure the right to speedy trial of prisoners currently awaiting trials in various states.
She said the promotion of ACJA at state level was part of the recommendations in the report of the commission after its assessment of Nigeria on compliance with the promotion of human rights.
All the same, she supported the call by the commission on government to open independent investigation into violations of human rights committed in the north-eastern Nigeria that experienced insurgency.(NANFeatures)
**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)