From Gyang Bere, Jos
The Executive Director CLEEN Foundation, Mr Gad Peter, has advocated for maximum protection of civilians in crisis communities in Nigeria through constant dialogue to engender peaceful co-existence in the country.
He called for a conducive and mutual working relationship between security agencies and civilians in the country to pave way for the cross-fertilisation of ideas to protect vulnerable persons in the society.
Peter disclosed this on Tuesday while declaring open a two-day training for Security Agencies on International Humanitarian Law, civilian Protection and Civil-Military Cooperation, held in Jos, Plateau State.
“Recently, the approach changed to ‘Super Camps’ not in the intention of specifically protecting civilians but ensuring that military Forward Operation Bases (FOBs) were fortified enough to prevent attacks from Armed Opposition Groups (AOGs). This exposed civilians to further attacks and the level of protection and coverage by the military waned.
“Communities are not included in decisions that affect them when it comes to security and past violations by the military especially against youths and women have resulted into lack of trust and reoccuring tension between the military and civilians. The level of accountability on the actions of formal security forces has been weak in the face of war including channels for seeking redress.
“It is important to strengthen established systems for tracking human rights abuses and preventing further violations. CLEEN Foundation with the support of Open Society Foundations established an online based platform for documentation of human right violations with ownership by the security oversight agencies such as National Human Rights Commission, Police Service Commission, Ministry of Police Interior, Army Human Rights Desk and Complaints Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force.” He stated.
Peter explained further that the training will cove promotion of Human Rights in Armed Conflicts: Connecting the dots with the IHL; protection of Civilians and Civilian harm mitigation in Armed conflict and other public emergencies; and introduction to International Humanitarian Law international law on refugees and internally displaced persons; and the human rights of women
Civilian Protection in armed conflict and humanitarian crisis: Issues, Challenges and the Way forward.
He noted that Nigeria has applied a securitised approach in dealing with insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West region but the level of insecurity in the country is getting out of hand.
Peter said government in principle recognised the need for non-military approaches and value in respective of citizen’s rights and said this has not translated into concrete action.
He said it is on this account that CLEEN Foundation and International Alert are addressing these demands and contributing to the stabilisation and peace building in targeted local governments in Zamfara, Plateau and Borno States in Nigeria.
“This training of security agencies is one of the activities under the project and will be coordinated for two days. The training will be conducted by seasoned resource persons on human rights, civilian protection, civil military relations, data collection, authentication, and documentation as well as monitoring and accountability,” he stated.