Group Advocate Magistrates To Protect Civic Space

REJA Initiative, a member of the Action Group on Free Civic Space, has organised a sensitization workshop for magistrates on recognising the indices of human rights violations and shrinkage of Civic space in their courts. 

The executive director of Restorative Justice for Africa Initiative (REJA) Osariemen Grace Omoruyi  called on the collaboration of the Magistrates and CSOs, to save the shrinking civic space in the country.

Omoruyi stated this at the sensitization project to strengthen the capacity of the magistrate in Abuja yesterday.

The theme of the event is” Strengthening the Capacity of Magistrates on Recognizing the Contemporary Indices of Human Rights Violations/ Shrinkage of the Civic Space in their Courts.”

She stressed that magistrate courts are at the grassroots and are the nearest court to the masses.

Noted that the Restorative Justice for Africa Initiative group is part of the Action group on free civic space which conducted research on the abuse of security infrastructure to crack down on civic actors in Nigeria. This finding is presented in the Security Playbook of Digital Authoritarianism in Nigeria. 

“We looked at the actors who play an important role in the civic space and who can help protect the space and we discovered that Magistrates play important roles in protecting the civic space in Nigeria and that is one of the reasons that underscores this training.,” 

The sensitization program had in attendance 20 magistrates in the FCT and had as guest speakers a High Court Judge from  Nasarawa State and Mr. Israel Usman Esq, a senior lawyer with over 35 years of experience in the civic space.