Human Rights Day in 2022: A group condemns abuse in Nigeria

Rev. John Joseph Hayab, Country Director of the Global Peace Foundation Nigeria (GPFN), has observed that human rights violations in the country have resulted in the deaths and maiming of thousands of people, the destruction of valuables, and the displacement of many people from their ancestral homes.

Rev. Hayab, speaking through Abdul Ahmed, the organization’s Program Manager in Kaduna, on Saturday during the International Day of Human Rights 2022, noted that human rights abuse has also had a devastating effect on the country’s development.

According to Rev. Hayab, human rights violations have filled the world with evil, agony, confusion, and violence, destroying not only common humanity but also polarizing communities along ethno-religious lines.

“It is sad and pathetic that violence is becoming the norm in our societies today,” he added. Nigerians’ lives and property security are no longer guaranteed.”

He noted that human rights violations have had a devastating impact on perennial conflicts in northern Nigeria, crippling the country’s socioeconomic status and leaving so much damage that it may take years to repair.

“In the North East, we have seen the ugly damage caused by Boko Haram insurgents, where colossal loss of lives and properties have been recorded,” he said, adding that “in the North West and North Central, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, farmers-herders conflicts, and ethno-religious feuds thrived.” As a result of these, thousands of people have been maimed, killed, or displaced, and numerous cases of human rights abuses and violations have been documented. Furthermore, poverty, insecurity, and government neglect have rendered the region almost a war zone, with people with disabilities, women, and children bearing the brunt of the consequences.”

He explained that people with disabilities who live in conflict zones are at a higher risk of injury, death, sexual harassment and molestation, among other forms of violence and threat that can cause physical, mental, and emotional harm.

The Country Director expressed concern that people with disabilities are denied the right to flee violence because warnings, evacuation routes, and emergency information are inaccessible.

Rev. Hayab stated that people with disabilities are sometimes intentionally targeted or used as human shields, and that women and girls with disabilities are more vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence.

He believes that people with disabilities fleeing violence are frequently excluded from humanitarian assistance provided to displaced people and refugees, emphasizing that inaccessible humanitarian assistance, such as shelter, food, water, and medical care, can have a disastrous impact on the health of people with disabilities.