Nigeria Joins UN Human Rights Council Jan 2015

Goodnews as Nigeria joins the United Nations Human Rights Council this month according to a tweet by Ben Llewellyn-Jones a Political Counsellor at British High Commission Abuja and former HIgh Commissioner to Rwanda and non reseident Ambassador to Burundi.

Nigeria joins UN Human Rights Council in Jan 2015, an opportunity to show focus on rights globally and domestically – http://t.co/Own6CCatQI

— Ben Llewellyn-Jones (@benllewellynjo1) January 4, 2015

Although the nation established the National Human Rights Commission with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act, 1995, as amended by the NHRC Act, 2010, in line with the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly which enjoins all member States to establish national human rights institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights. Theres been cases and reports of human rights abuses mostly by security agencies and recent reports by Transparency International fingers the Nigerian Military’s handling of suspected members of Boko Haram insurgents.

The National Human Rights Commission serves as an extra-judicial mechanism for the enhancement of the enjoyment of human rights. Its establishment is aimed at creating an enabling environment for the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights. It also provides avenues for public enlightenment, research and dialogue in order to raise awareness on human rights issues.

It is expected that the inclusion into the UN Human Rights Council will help the nation in addressing cases of abuses and reducing them to the very minimum as obtained world over.