The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it is collaborating with the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHRC) to monitor the protection issues affecting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in some camps.
This was with particular reference to camps in the North-East and North-Central geopolitical zones of the country.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Mrs Oti Ovrawah, said this during the joint NHRC/UNHCR Training on Protection Monitoring Project, which took place in Bauchi.
In a statement issued by Fatimah Mohammad, the Chief Press Officer of the commission, Ovrawah, said this year’s training was aimed at building the capacity of protection monitors .
She said this was to enable it monitor and document issues concerning the IDPs.
According to her, such information will provide the necessary information that will serve as the basis for giving the IDPs human rights and humanitarian assistance.
She said although the IDPs were returning home on account of the reduction in activities of the insurgents, their humanitarian challenges were still numerous and needed to be addressed.
Ms Lizzy Kwagbo, who represented the UNHCR Country Representative, said that the mandate of UNHCR was to protect the IDPs adding that monitoring their situation and identifying solutions could not be over emphasised.
Kwagbo said team work was important in achieving the objective of the project and urged all the protection monitors to work as a team in order to make positive impact.
The project coordinator, Mr Tony Ojukwu, noted that the IDPs had different protection issues ranging from health, shelter, feeding, sexual and gender based violations like rape.
He said it was the duty of the monitors to track the different issues and make appropriate referrals to relevant organizations to properly address the challenges identified.
He expressed optimism on the outcome of this year’s project saying monitors would be taught to dissipate more energy in following up referrals to make the IDPs feel the impact of the
The participants expressed appreciation to both organizations for the training and some shared their experiences pledging to put into practice all they had learned from the training.(NAN)
