NHRC Decries Insecurity As UN Lists Nigeria Among Countries Where Aid Workers Were Kidnapped, Shot

The National Human Rights Commission has acknowledged the record high insecurity manifesting in form of armed banditry, kidnappings, killings, communal conflicts, farmers/herders clashes and displacements in Nigeria which is jeopardizing the services of humanitarian workers.

A report published by the United Nations in commemoration of the 2022 World Humanitarian Day on August 19 listed Nigeria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Ethiopia, Mali, Myanmar, D.R. Congo and Cameroon as places where aid workers became victims of major attacks.

The report named ‘Aid Worker Security Report’ showed that about 9 aid workers in Nigeria were attacked either through shooting, kidnapping and assaults between 2021- mid 2022.

Across the affected countries, 461 aid workers were attacked in 2021 alone.

Reacting to the development, NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu SAN, said in a statement signed by the Commission’s Deputy Director Public Affairs,Fatimah Agwai Mohammed, that humanity irrespective of colour, sex, religious belief, socio-cultural and political orientation or status need to care for one another and eschew all forms of discrimination.

He said “we cannot afford to leave humanitarian protection in the hands of aids workers alone”, adding that Nigerians should lend their support to such noble cause for a more inclusive and egalitarian society.

“Personal sacrifices, ranging from empathizing with the victims, offering accommodation to the distressed and dislocated, networking with Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to donate basic needs for livelihood and other necessaries to the victims within and outside the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the country are highly encouraged in this critical time”, Ojukwu said.

The ES appreciated the international partners such as UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF, UNODC, EU, USAID, ICRC, OHCHR and relevant Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) their humanitarian duties in the country describing it as “huge”.

The statement partly reads: “The NHRC Boss also assured humanitarian workers who are still in the field that theirsacrifices are not in vain but rather appreciated.

“Meanwhile, he commended the federal government for the thoughtfulness in creating a Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and other interventions to address the plights of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), refugees, returnees, migrants which if left unattended to, will snowball into furtherviolations of human rights.

“While commiserating with the families of humanitarian workers who lost their lives during the course of their work, the Executive Secretary used the opportunity to urge Nigerian institutions and organizations to always mainstream human rights in their daily activities in line with extant national, regional and international human rights and humanitarian laws to enhance the inherent dignity of mankind.”

Recall that on 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

As a result, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day (WHD), globally.