Amnesty International charges NASS to safeguard human rights

The National Assembly has been called upon to safeguard the human rights of Nigerian citizens by ensuring that international human rights’ treaties are incorporated under national law and by making the rights enforceable before a court of law.

The call was made by delegates of the Amnesty International, during a meeting in Abuja with senior politicians to present an agenda on human rights for the 2011-2015 period.

Among the issues brought to the National Assembly attention by the body was the need to reform the Criminal Justice Sector, with particular reference to the Police and Prisons Acts, and the Administration of Criminal Justice Bill.

According to the body’s Africa Program Director, Erwin van der Borght, “Nigerians are concerned for their security, yet the police force struggles to fulfil its duty and resort too easily to the use of lethal force.

“We are not asking the National Assembly to reinvent the wheel.

“Committees and working groups set up by the Federal Government have produced excellent reports identifying weaknesses and making sound recommendations on almost all of the issues we identify. These just need to be implemented and the National Assembly has an important oversight role to play to ensure that these recommendations are implemented.”

He further argued that failure to address human rights abuses within the Criminal Justice Sector would reinforce the cycles of violence which would plague Nigeria with regular outbreaks of religious, inter-ethnic and communal violence.


(2011-10-16/tribune.com.ng)