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Human rights violation getting worse in Nigeria, others – CSOs

Human rights violation getting worse in Nigeria, others – CSOs

Okechukwu Nnodim, Abuja

Human rights violation in Nigeria and other African countries is not abating, rather perpetrators have become more daring as they violate the rights of citizens, civil society organisations from West and Central African countries have said.

According to the CSOs, keeping people in detention after the courts had directed that such persons be released as witnessed in Nigeria and other African countries was an act of human rights violation.

CSOs from 15 African countries, including Nigeria, Gambia, Togo, Gabon, among others, stated this at the closing ceremony of the West and Central Africa Training of Trainers Workshop on Africa Human Rights Systems and Mechanisms in Abuja on Sunday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, the Executive Director, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, Banjul, Gambia, Mrs Hannah Foster, observed that human rights violation in Nigeria and many African countries had yet to improve.

She said, “Here we have participants from 15 African countries. And we are here because we’ve discovered that human rights violation in Africa is not getting better and it is all over, whether in Nigeria, Gambia or elsewhere on the continent. Perpetrators are getting more subtle with the way they carry out violations and in the way they cover up.

“This gives greater responsibility to civil society to be able to speak truth to power. To say this is happening and we the citizens want to see you live up to your commitments. That is why the African Centre for Democracy is trying to train fellow CSOs so that we can address this issue that is all over Africa and ensure that the next generation is made up of Africans without human rights abuses.”

The Coordinator of the Project on Consolidating Civil Society Participation in Translating African Human Rights Standards to Practice, Prof Solomon Ebobrah, said it was a clear act of human rights violation to hold someone in detention in contrast to the rulings of the courts.

“Obviously, keeping people in detention after a valid court order has cleared such persons is a violation of human right. On what can be done, part of the concern is that the international body on human rights does not force governments to comply with court orders.

“It rather uses what we call peer pressure, where other countries are expected to put pressure on a particular country, asking it to do the right thing. And that’s where the voices around the continent must come to say Nigeria must do the right thing and call on the authorities in Nigeria to obey the orders of its courts.”

He explained that part of our objective of the training was to bring CSOs and non-governmental organisations from across Africa to participate more actively in bringing African human rights standards to practice by using human rights mechanisms.

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