The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has advocated an inter-agency assistance for the over one million persons displaced from the North-Eastern part of the country as a result of the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.
A communiqué released by the Governing Council of the NHRC during its third statutory meeting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, over the weekend said the Commission noted with concern how Nigeria has become one of the leading producers of internally displaced persons and refugees in the world.
While lamenting that farming and fishing activities in the North-East have drastically declined, giving rise to an alarming food security crisis in the region, the Commission identified women and children as the most vulnerable.
It called on the Federal Government and private agencies to protect the child’s right to education and equally task all stakeholders to ensure that displaced children, wherever they are, have access to good education.
The NHRC held that there was the need for concerted effort to be taken towards alleviating the sufferings of all the internally displaced persons.
The communique reads in part, “The Council is concerned that Nigeria has today become one of the leading producers of internally displaced persons and refugees globally with the attendant consequences on the vulnerable groups, particularly women, children and the aged.
“The security situation in the North-East has forcibly displaced farming and fishing communities out of their livelihoods, destroyed successive farming seasons and created an alarming food security crisis in the region.
“The Council reiterates the legal obligations of Nigeria as a state party to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) to ensure the effective protection of the human rights, dignity and well-being of all persons affected by internal displacement in Nigeria.
“The Council therefore calls for effective inter-agency collaboration in urgently addressing the situation of forced displacement in Nigeria,” the commission submitted.
The NHRC, which demanded an urgent need to guarantee access to education and safe schooling of children affected by displacement, assured that it will continue to give priority to advocacy and monitoring to ensure the protection of human rights of persons and communities affected by forced displacement in Nigeria.
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