By Amos Aar
AS cases of human rights violation continued to rise in Benue State, an international non-governmental organisation, Search For Common Ground (SFCG) has sensitised critical stakeholders on necessary mechanisms to curtail the menace.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of a 2-day workshop, SFCG’s Project Manager, Mr Joshua Chorbe, said an action plan was developed during the workshop to enlighten the public on issues of human right violations to minimise rights abuse.
Chorbe who doubled as a facilitator at the workshop stated the participants including security personnel, civilians, CSOs, media practitioners and other critical stakeholders were sensitized on how to identify key human right violation issues, identify critical stakeholders and institutions that can take actions and come up with mutually beneficial solutions.
“The meeting has significant influence towards achieving the realization of the programme, goals and objectives.
“What that means is that the outcome of the meeting was climaxed with the development of an action plan that various institutions and stakeholders have agreed to ensure that those issues of human right violation within the state are knit to the board to see a decrease in the issues that maybe reported to either security or all the platforms that are even documenting or tracking human right issues within Benue State”, the project manager explained
Also speaking in an interview on her take home from the workshop, a participant Maimuna Ikwulono Esq. who is the first woman Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Benue State said, the workshop had exposed to the stakeholders their various roles and it would strengthen their collaboration towards tackling human right violation.
“Together we can achieve a lot more when it comes to suppressing human right violation”, Ikwulono expressed optimism.
She encouraged different organizations that participated in the workshop to synergize in order to expose human right violation issues and minimize it by ensuring that the various organizations concerned are able to manage the situation effectively.
On her part, the president, Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Dr Maryam Yakubu, asserted that people violate human rights because they are ignorant of the law. So, the two-day workshop had enlightened them on the steps to take in an event of human right violation.
“As a stakeholder, the next thing is for me to do a stepdown for my organization so that women will be put in a better position to know when their rights are being violated and the appropriate steps to take and where to take such a person”, Maryam said.
Some other participants who responded on behalf of their various organizations thanked SFCG for organizing the programme to sensitize stakeholders on ways of minimizing human right violation in Benue State.
“We should stepdown the knowledge we have gained to our various groups as it has been emphasized here. We should not keep it to ourselves so that the issue of human right violation will be reduced to the barest minimum”, Joy Itodo who spoke for the CSOs advised.
Mr Philip Jo who represented the Ter Guma, HRH Dennis Iorchir Shemberga, said he learnt from the engagement that civil cases cannot be prosecuted in palaces.
“Formerly, we the traditional rulers believed that civil cases could be prosecuted in the palace and we even issued out a communique. But with this programme, we have learnt that we cannot finish such cases within our palaces. There are places to refer such cases”, the Ter Guma said.
