World Human Rights Day: CEHRD Wants Sustained Assaults On Human Rights Stopped

As the world commemorates the 74th anniversary of the World Human Rights Day with the theme, ‘Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All’, CEHRD, a foremost human and environmental rights organization in Nigeria, has called on the Nigerian authorities to end the culture of flagrant violation of human rights as well as the culture of impunity in the country. Allowing perpetrators of human rights violation, whether state actors or non-state actors, to go unpunished, emboldens them to continue to trample on people’s rights, it stated.
The Niger Delta foremost human rights body stated in a release signed by the head of its human rights programme, Dr David Vereba:
“We make bold to state that the Nigerian State has failed woefully in its duty and obligation of protection and promotion of human rights in accordance with the human rights framework which the Nigerian state had signed onto. We are worried that the human rights situation in the country has continued to deteriorate speedily. Although the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR as well as other human rights instruments are expected to provide guideposts for the actions of both the citizens and the authorities, the promise and hope of dignity and equality in rights contained in the UDHR, have been under a sustained assault.
“It is very unfortunate that as we celebrate the human rights day, many citizens are languishing in illegal detention without trial, while rule of law has been shoved aside. Cases of enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments, gender based violence, trafficking in human persons, child labour, etc.
, abound in the society. All forms of rights guaranteed by the UDHR and other human rights instruments, including the Nigerian constitution, namely, right to food, health, education, liberty and security of human person, right to life, right to clean and healthy environment, right to freedom of expression, freedom of the press, free speech, freedom of assembly, and so on, HAVE BEEN AND ARE STILL being trampled upon with impunity.”
The theme of this year’s human rights day focuses on achieving “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All” and the call to action is #Stand Up4HumanRights.
CEHRD said the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, UDHR has stated that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
It noted, “There is no doubt that there can be no dignity, freedom and justice in an environment where human rights are under attack; where citizens voices are repressed; where civic space is shrinking steadily and where hunger, poverty, gender based violence, insecurity, terrorism and fear have become the order of the day, adding, “Nigeria must therefore uphold the painstakingly developed universal human rights principles that provide the foundation for sustainable peace, justice and sustainable development”.
A society with diminished human rights, including right to life and right to security of human persons as contained in different human rights instruments is a society that is stepping backwards into a darker past, when the powerful could prey on the powerless with little restraint, CEHRD further stressed.
The NGO commended human rights defenders and called for international intervention to protect civic space and human rights.
“While we salute the courage of human rights defenders and campaigners, who have continued to stand up for human rights despite the huge risks involved, we call on the international community to prevail on the Nigerian authorities to imbibe human rights principles as they relate with citizens. Above all, we charge citizens to stand up for human rights of all at all times fearlessly.
“For us at CEHRD, we will continue to monitor, report, defend, expose rights violations, and abuses and to speak out for the oppressed and for those under threat.
Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December as a day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
The day serves as an opportunity to recall that human rights are universal, indivisible, inalienable, interdependent and interrelated. While their promotion and protection is an imperative to uphold human dignity, the genuine respect and fulfillment of human rights is also indispensable for peace, democracy and sustainable development.