The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has commenced another round of training for military personnel on mainstreaming human rights and civilian protection into counter insurgency operations in North East.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the training in Maiduguri on Wednesday, the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu said the training was organised in collaboration with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ojukwu, who was represented by Mr Okay Benedict, the Director Monitoring Department of the commission, said the training was to sustain the gains made so far in promoting human rights in the operations.
“The commission in partnership with UNHCR is here to train key military officers and men who are directly involved in counter insurgency operations in north east.
“This training in on civilian protection and mainstreaming human rights principles into counter insurgency operations.”
Ojukwu who noted the complication in the fight against insurgency due to its asymmetric nature, stressed the need to prosecute the war through winning the hearts and minds of the civilian populace.
He observed that winning the hearts of the populace would reduce the casualty level and humanitarian consequences.
Ojukwu expressed gratitude to the Chief of Army Staff and other services chiefs for thier cooperation in facilitating human rights training for troops in north east.
Papers presented on the first day of the training include “Standard of Detention in Armed Conflict”, “Conflict Related Sexual Violence, The Protection of Internally Displaced Persons”, and “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement”.
