NHRC Reports Rise In Human Rights Violations With Over 106,000 Complaints In June

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday expressed concern over a sharp increase in human rights violations cases in Nigeria, adding that 106,604 complaints were received last month.

During the sixth edition of the commission's dashboard meeting at the commission's headquarters in Abuja, Executive Secretary Anthony Ojukwu stressed that this increase was disturbing but not unexpected.

He attributed the increase to greater public awareness nationwide and praised the media for highlighting the commission's work. Ojuku added that this highlighted how focused actions and cooperative efforts were protecting the rights of vulnerable groups.

The report was presented by the senior human rights adviser to the NHRC's commission, Hilary Ogbonna, who identified child rights as one of the most important issues in the country.

"For children who are facing the issues of right to survival and development, they are also likely to face other and serially human rights issues including child marriage, child labor, sexual abuse, right to education being abridged and finally abandonment," Ogbonna said, Premium Times reported.

In order to address child rights violations, he said the commission was working with civil society groups, among others, to provide shelters for abandoned children, stressing the importance of educating parents to fulfill their responsibilities towards their children.

He noted that economic challenges have worsened child abandonment in the country.

In June, the North-central region had the highest number of reported human rights violations. This increase was due to two main reasons. Firstly, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, where there are two places to report human rights issues – the Abuja office and the commission's headquarters.

Secondly, there was a recent case of mass child marriage in Niger State, another state in the north-central region. Furthermore, there were reports of unlawful killings and attacks by the police in Kebbi, Kwara and Plateau states.

The southeast region, on the other hand, had the lowest number of reported cases in the same month. Here are the numbers recorded in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country: South-east 9,164, South-west 18,458, South-south 21,603, North-east 12,907, North-west 15,101 and North-central 29,462.

The report also mentioned that there have been rights violations associated with kidnapping and killings in Katsina, Niger and Borno states. A recent suicide bombing in Borno State resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people.