The Kairos Initiative, a non-profit organisation has trained secondary school students on curbing, prevention and reporting of human rights violations in their immediate environment.
The Initiative in commemoration of the year’s World Social Justice Day, in conjunction with the American Space in Bauchi, selected students from secondary school in Bauchi metropolis to enlighten them as minors have become soft targets for human rights violations.
According to a 2022 report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), 2.3 million human rights complaints were reported, higher than the 1.7 million recorded in 2021. Speaking at this year’s theme: “Bridging gaps, building alliance”, the Bauchi State Coordinator of NHRC, Mrs Yahcit Dala, urged the students to report any perceived case of human rights abuse.
“It is within your rights to also report the agents who are at the forefront of human rights protection –Police and other security agencies. In several times, we have received complaints about them –particularly when torture, denied people fair hearing or illegal arrests and detention.
“We don’t have the constitutional power to arrest and investigate human rights abuse but we have the duty to ask them to investigate any case we receive. We urge Nigerians to be familiar with provisions of the Constitution, particularly their human rights. We have noticed that some people’s rights have been trampled upon but they did not take any step because they don’t know what to do,” she said.
Yahcit urged the State to take the implementation of the newly enacted Child Rights Act seriously to protect the future of the children. She however, warned the students to be good ambassadors of the country and their families within and outside the country.
