Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence are the major prevalent human rights violations in Plateau State.
The State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mrs. Jennifer Abe disclosed this on Tuesday in Jos.
She said also neglect and abandonment, exploitation and abuse of children constitutes about 80 per cent of the violations.
The commission in 2022 recorded 288 domestic violence cases within January and May 2022 and in 2020 recorded 664 cases of gender-based violence.
Abe said there are unlawful detention by the military including harassment and torture and urged victims to report such violations to get redress especially for their mental health.
According to her, the commission engages community leaders in its outreaches particularly where there are high reported complaints of human rights violation saying “what we do is sometimes, we pick specific issues that are relevant to a particular environment. “
She said the commission is committed to discharging its constitutional duties of public enlightenment on human rights and its infringement.
“The organisation in Plateau is working in synergy with relevant government organizations and Non-Government Organisations to break the culture of silence through encouraging victims of human rights violation to report for appropriate action.
“What we do is to do a lot of aggressive sensitisations on human rights issues because the commission has since discovered that most people do not know that they have rights, and that when these rights are being trampled upon, they do not know where to go to seek for remedy and redress, “ she said.
She described the public enlightenment campaign as crucial because the commission noted that some people take the laws into their own hands when they perceive that their rights were being violated while others take it as their fate.
“ So realising these facts the commission engages in a lot of enlightenment programs, awareness, creations, through seminars, workshops, face to face interaction with people coming at community levels.
“Sometimes when we have the opportunity to go to the rural communities, we try to have what we call village square meeting where we tell them about the commission`s functions and its mandate and let them know about their rights and when these rights are violated where to remedy and redress, “ she said
The NHRC in Plateau has also received 14 complaints by widows on discrimination involving landed properties inheritance from 2022 to June 2023.
