BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI
ABUJA—THE United Nations Education and Scientific Fund, UNICEF, yesterday, expressed its concern over the recent killing of children in the North Eastern part of the country by suspected Boko Haram members, saying it intends to embark on a verification exercise of the region to access the situation on ground.
The Country Representative of UNICEF, Jane Gough, who led a delegation to the head office of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, in ABUJA yesterday, regretted that most children from the region the North-East no longer wish to go to school for fear of being killed or bombed by insurgents.
She said UNICEF was ready to partner with the NHRC in gauging the particulars of the violence in the troubled region, saying the organization has concluded plans to establish new offices in Borno, Katsina and Sokoto States respectively for effective implementation of its mandate particularly in view of the increasing human rights violations taking place in the North-East region of the country.
The concern of UNICEF is coming a day to the scheduled visit of a delegation that will be led by the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, to Nigeria, to appraise the human rights situation in various parts of the country.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Professor Bem Angwe, said the Commission was committed to lead UNICEF and other critical stakeholders in the campaign against child rights violations in Nigeria, particularly in the North where the state of insecurity has grossly affected the human rights situation.
Angwe, equally promised to ensure the effective implementation of the Child Rights Act in the various states of the federation where it is yet to be implemented.
He said the Commission had invited stakeholders to access the level of implementation of the Child Rights Act beginning with the North Central with a view to making sure that the law is being fully observed.
Besides, Angwe said the comprehensive audit of prisons across the nation exposed some cases of detention of minors in prisons with adult offenders.
“With the prison audit report and subsequent consultation with relevant authorities the Commission was able to effect the release of some of these children from prison custody even though some are yet to be freed till date,” he added.
Vanguard