The UNDP and EU have reiterated their commitment to the ongoing implementation of Spotlight Initiative to ensure a better protection of the rights of women and children, which have needlessly been violated over the years in Nigeria
The Spotlight Initiative is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.
The UNDP Country Representative, Mr. Mohammed Yahaya who stated this at a High Level workshop for human rights defenders in support for victims of SGBV in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital and spotlight focal states, commended the efforts of the National Human Rights Commission in the country in tackling SGBV and associated rights violations.
According to the UN envoy, the High Level workshop is part of the activities lined up to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism against SGBV which started on November 25, 2020, was to brainstorm and point the way forward by all access to justice and human rights partners who support interventions for women and girls in Nigeria.
“The UNDP and EU are ready to support any initiative that will ensure the protection of SGBV victims have become more vulnerable with the advent of Covid-19 pandemic, thus necessitating urgent support from all stakeholders including the human rights defenders’’ he said.
Mr. Yahaya also advocated the need to strengthen the capacity of human rights defenders in order for them to adequately address the plights of victims and survivors of SGBV,
“The Spotlight Initiative is a response to all forms of violence against women and girls, with a particular focus on domestic and family violence, harmful practices, femicide, trafficking in human beings, sexual and economic exploitation and others’’ he added.
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Ojukwu said that a number of innovative measures had been put in place to tackle the challenges of human rights violations, particularly SGBV.
“Faced by the challenge of restricted movement, the commission in partnership with other stakeholders adopted the use of technology to scale up response and protection for victims and survivors hence, we up-scaled the usage of our social media channels, developed cutting edge applications such as reportNHRC.org and UNSUB, amongst others’’ he said.
The Human Rights Commission is also marking the 2020 International Human Rights on December 10 with a theme: Recover Better-Stand up for Human Rights.
