The National Human Rights Commission has provided four dedicated emergency telephone lines for the public to call and report any violations during the protests against the removal of?petrol subsidy.
The?Board Chairman of the Commission, Dr Chidi Kalu, who disclosed this on Friday at a forum with civil society groups,?gave the numbers as 08077091123, 08077091124, 08077091126 and 08075697449.
He said the decision was necessary because the NLC, TUC and civil society groups were planning to embark on protests on Jan. 9 against the removal of?petrol subsidy.
He said that the commission had also established an incident room that would run 24 hours to register complaints of violations of human rights.
According to him, the commission?will deploy 100 monitors to observe the protests in Abuja, Maiduguri, Kano, Jos, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Lagos.
Kalu said the commission had also met with security agencies, especially the Police, on the need for them to respect the rights of Nigerians to assemble freely and to protest or demonstrate peacefully.
He said this was a human right, recognised and guaranteed within Sections 39-40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Articles 9-11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, domesticated in Nigeria.
In addition, he said, under Article 21 of the International Covention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nigeria?was also a party, “no restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights.”
“Article 13 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which Nigeria has ratified, requires government to take measures to ensure and maintain political and social dialogue, as well as public trust and transparency between political leaders and the people, in order to consolidate democracy and peace.
“In implementing this obligation, government has a duty to encourage its citizens to channel or express their grievances in a peaceful manner,” he said.
He also said that individuals or groups should be free to express their views, offer their criticisms, canvass their ideas for democratic change and improvement and assemble or protest.
According to him, while the citizenry has a right to protest, they should propagate their ideas by non-violent means; not in a manner that disturbs public peace, safety or security.
He called on the security agencies to, at all times, ensure equal protection of all persons, including groups within Nigeria and afford them all the protections they required to exercise their constitutional rights.
“The commission reiterates that law enforcement agents must at all times respect and protect the human rights of all persons; avoid use of excessive force, arbitrary arrests and detention or resort to third-degree methods of policing.
“The effective exercise of the right to protest entails cooperation between public authorities, security agencies and civil society,'' he said.
Speaking on behalf of the civil society groups, Mr Jibrin Ibrahim, the Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, called on the commission to ensure that it monitored the protests in all the states and Abuja.
Ibrahim also called on the commission to set up mechanisms to ensure that any security agent, who harmed, maimed or killed any protester, most brought to book.
He further called on the commission to carry out capacity building for security men and law enforcement agencies on the importance of promotion and protection of human rights during protests.?
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