Be Fair To Refugees, Asylum-seekers, NHRC, UNHRC Tell Nigerians

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)  in collaboration with the United Nations Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have charged Nigerians not to violate the human rights of asylum -seekers or foreigners who flee their countries for political or religious reasons to take refuge in Nigeria.

The two organisations gave the charge  yesterday during a three-day capacity building training workshop for staff of the commission and NGOs ongoing in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Speaking on behalf of the commissions, executive secretary, National Human Rights Commission NHRC,  Tony Ojukwu stated that some  refugees who flee to Nigeria  should not be badly treated so long as they  had met  the  entry requirements to take asylum in the country.

“Not everyone who flee his country to the nation is a criminal, some of these people may have ran away from their country to ours  for religious or political reasons that threatened  their lives,” he said.

The executive secretary averred that Nigerian authorities still have the right to chase foreigners who are illegal immigrants, especially those with criminal and bad records.

He said that the nation cannot afford to harbour asylum seekers with criminal records, despite the fact that international law says the country has a responsibility to protect foreigners who run to the country to seek refuge, stressing that  Nigeria was not a dumping ground to harbour criminal elements.

Represented by special assistant to the executive secretary, Department of  Monitoring, Okay Agu, he stated that the  training which is done with support from  the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees  will adopt a multifaceted intervention, encompassing human rights.

Ojukwu, who spoke on forcibly displaced persons through information/data collection and documentation for south-south states, stated that with the training, participants would begin to see asylum seekers and refugees as responsible people but not criminals who may have fled their countries not because they want to evade prosecution.

He lauded the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) for its support in making the project a huge success and for its support of the promotion and protection of IDPs in Nigeria since 2015.