The Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria (HRJN) in partnership with the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) on Monday, December 11, 2023, held a daylong training workshop on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for journalists and civil society to commemorate the 2023 Human Rights Day and 75th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Kehinde Adegboyega, Executive Director, HRJN, in his remarks, said the essence of the workshop is to educate journalists and civil society about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and open their eyes to the opportunities in the UDHR in advocating for human rights and also to assess the progress made so far on the UDHR in Nigeria.
“As the fourth estate of the realm, we have a lot to do and, in doing our job as it is expected of us, we need to empower ourselves by being well educated and well informed because journalists cannot function well especially on human rights advocacy if you do not understand the nuance and gender-based violence, you can’t report it, so as to avoid stigmatisation and causing more harm to the society.
“HRJN is interested in documenting, building capacity and advocating of human rights issues in Nigeria and also policy advocating of issues, strategic litigation on policies that affects human rights in general,” he maintained.
In her submission, Ms. Adwoa Kufuor-Owusu, the United Nations’ Senior Human Rights Adviser to the Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, admonished the participating journalists to embrace human rights advocacy at all times.
Kufuor-Owusu, represented by Esther Balami, Human Rights Officer in the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), said: “Our expectations is that the journalists become advocates of human rights, they should be able to advocate for ordinary citizens, they should be able to report news and investigate based on facts and be professional in what they do.
“Most importantly, they should be able to understand what human rights is and which particular topic to advocate on and how to incorporate enabling laws that are in line with international best practices in Nigeria.”
Lekan Otufodunrin, the Executive Director of Media Development Network, talked about the ethics of the media while Solomon Okedara spoke on “Litigation of Human Rights” with a view of enhancing the skills of journalists and civil society organisations in human rights advocacy and reporting.
In her submission, Peculiar Showale of Paradigm Initiative urged all participants to be part of Net Rights Initiative because “it will afford them the opportunity of getting up-to-date information on latest happenings in the digital space”.
According to her, Net Rights Coalition is a coalition of Internet freedom activists sharing knowledge and experiences to combat digital rights threats.
The International Human Rights Day is celebrated on December 10 every year since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on December 10, 1948.
By Ajibola Adedoye
