The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, revealed on Friday in Abuja that the country recorded 1,580 human rights violations in the six geopolitical zones in March alone.
The rights violations included killings, kidnapping, domestic violence, abductions, children’s rights, among others.
Making this public at the National Human Rights Commission headquarters, its senior human rights adviser, Mr Hilary Ogbonna, said North Central topped the list of the complaints of human rights violations with 468 cases.
At the presentation of the findings attended by the Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Commission and Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, Ogbonna explained that the police, military, and Department of State Services, DSS, grouped as state actors recorded 94 rights violations cases.
The human rights adviser, who explained that the killings of the military and police personnel in Delta State formed part of the report, revealed that 542 cases of violation of children’s rights were also recorded during the period.
He also revealed that domestic violence, which he said was becoming too rampant in some part of the country, had 471 cases recorded.
He said that the non-state actors and private actors have 32 and 36 respectively while 3 cases of violation of rights were recorded against disabled people.
According to him, other sectors including social economic and cultural rights accounted for 157 while referred cases was put at 24.
He said that killings and kidnapping accounted for 499 while another 71 violations of rights to life were also recorded by the commission during the period.
Ogbonna said the 1,580 human rights violations were the entire figures recorded in the 36 states offices of the commission and Abuja.
Expressing worry over the increasing cases of human rights violation, Ogbonna said about 301 school children were abducted in Kaduna State alone while 40 people were killed in Benue State.
He expressed dismay that rights to life was being violated in various ways and manner because four deaths were recorded in Nasarawa State during sharing of palliative.
He then called for restraint on both state and private actors, adding that reprisal attacks contributed to the recorded rights violations.
He also appealed to the police and military to always conduct their investigations in compliance with the rules of engagement and rule of laws as provided for in the national and international laws.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Ojukwu, reaffirmed the commitment of the commission to the promotion and protection of human rights in the country.
He promised to partner with other stakeholders, including government, in the bid to step up efforts to protect lives and properties and in ensuring downward size in the violations of human rights.
The NHRC monthly dashboard aimed at making human rights situation public is supported by United Nations Development Program, Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and others.
Nigeria records 1,580 human rights violations in March – NHRC reveals
