NHRC starts data collection on IDPs and refugees in North-East

From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has commenced the process for the collection of data on violations and abuses of the rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in the North-East.

The Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Tony Ojukwu, disclosed this on Thursday in Maiduguri at the opening of a two-day training for its staff and volunteer group, the Community Protection Action Group, on data collection and collation. “We must have data for our country to have any development plan for IDPs, refugees, returnees and asylum seekers regarding violations and abuses of the rights of this class of people,” he said.

Ojukwu, who was represented by the commission’s director of monitoring, Mr Benedict Agwu, explained that a lead assessment conducted by the commission shows the presence of violations of IDPs’, refugees’, and returnees’ rights in the North-East states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Taraba. He said, however, that the commission is yet to establish the level of the violations. “This is one of the reasons we organised this training supported by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),” he told journalists in an interaction during the training.

He said the training is to address the protection concerns of these people due to their vulnerability. “He said there was need to protect this class of people,” he added.

He said the 54 participants, drawn from Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Taraba, are expected to learn a new skill of data collection on human rights violations, specifically those concerning gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, restriction of movement issues, family, social cohesion, and psycho-social issues.