STATISTICS have shown that Plateau State is second to none among states across the country in terms of reporting human rights violations, because of the continuous awareness and advocacy programmes carried out by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)’s State Office over the years.
The Plateau State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mrs. Veronica Abe, disclosed this recently while in an interview with THE NIGERIA STANDARD in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
She said, “Rating the level of human rights violations in Plateau State, I will say it is coming down and I will also say, it is on the increase. Coming down in the sense that people now know that when you violate somebody’s right, the society and the authorities are watching you and can come after you.
“Going high, I will say, we now have a lot of violations being reported because of the awareness we have been able to create. So, people now know that they can reach out to a particular institution and you know, we are set up by the government and honestly, our services are free.
“So, it has encouraged a lot of people to come out and report these violations and Plateau State is leading in that awareness reporting. Our advocacy has helped a great deal, because it has exposed a lot of violations. Before now, a lot of people were kind of silent and did not want to speak out on the violations.
“But now that they know, through the films and awareness creation, they are able to see other people’s stories. People are now beginning to be aware of human rights issues as they see themselves in the same situation and have the right to voice out”, Abe enthused.
The State Coordinator therefore, commended the State Government and other partners in the fight against human rights violations and hoped that more and greater engagement would further encourage more people to know their rights when violated and the society would be better off.
She, however, disclosed that the NHRC has over the years, engaged students in both secondary schools and the universities on human rights violations issues and had recorded tremendous successes within the period under review.
