Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, has restated the Commission’s commitment to intensify data collection and protection response that must remain active to ensure that every displaced person gets the human rights protection they need.
Ojukwu stated this in his opening statement at the presentation of the 2026 2nd Bi-monthly (March/April) Dashboard on the promotion and protection of the rights of forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) through human rights information/data collection documentation in Nigeria held in Abuja.
His words: “Over the past two months (March/April), the National Human Rights Commission has been steadfast in its mandate to monitor, protect, and promote the rights of FDPs and other mandated populations of the project. The Commission does not just present statistics, but the lived realities of Internally Displaced Persons, Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Returnees, and their host communities.
“Beginning with the total number of FDPs reached by the project team under these reporting months, the team reached 8,472 IDPs, as against 10,884 IDPs in January/February. The project team also recorded 5,772 children, as against 6,003 reported in January/February. These numbers, compared with the January/February report, show a decrease of 2,412 IDPs and 231 children, respectively. However, this decrease does not indicate fewer displaced persons; rather, it reflects access constraints in hard-to-reach places due to insecurity. Also, it noteworthy that the high number of children consistently over 5,700 for both January/February and March/April underscores that displacement is not just a crisis of not having a house to live in; but also, it is a crisis of non-enjoyment of childhood, including non-attendance of school, and loss of opportunities for a good standard of living for children in the future.
“In addition to the above, NHRC recorded a decrease in the number of asylum seekers and returnees but an increase in the number of refugees. Thus, refugees increased from 1,159 in January/February to 1, 205 in March/April, with Crossriver and Borno states hosting a significant number. 527 asylum seekers were documented in January/February, but only 160 in March/April. This sharp drop is attributed to restricted access in border communities and fear among asylum seekers of being identified by authorities. This is a human rights protection concern that needs to be actively addressed. For Returnees, a decrease from 2,199 in January/February to 2, 069 in March /April was documented. This indicates that voluntary return is continuing despite not-too-comfortable conditions in the places of origin of returnees,” he also added.
According to the NHRC boss, these shifts in numbers indicate that displacement is not is not straightforward in its nature because populations move, hide, return, and flee again. He further stressed that it was on account of this that the NHRC data collection and protection response must remain active to ensure that every displaced person gets the human rights protection they need.
Ojukwu further highlighted that human rights protection incidents under this reporting period that access to socio-economic rights still remain a great challenge, specifically, food and shelter. According to him, the project team recorded 344 cases of people without adequate housing or daily meals. He further stated that while this is a reduction from previous months (661) cases, 344 cases in two months is still huge.
He said: ” Our human rights monitors and humanitarian actors, through our referral pathway, are following up on these human rights Violations to provide human rights protection for mandated populations. Also, social cohesion with regard to tension over land disputes, discrimination, and quarrels emerged as a growing concern with 68 recorded cases, significantly up from 36 in January/February. This is a reminder that if displacement becomes prolonged, peaceful coexistence among the host community and FDPs is likely to suffer. ”
He also stated that other human rights protection incidents under this reporting period, such as documentation-related incidents, dropped from 195 to 140. Freedom of movement violations were also recorded, with 12 cases of restrictions, often by security operatives. NHRC Executive Secretary also noted that the project team also addressed issues related to access to justice, including arrest, prolonged detention, and denial of legal representation. He also stressed that sexualand gender-based violence remains a plague during the period under review. There is an increase in domestic violence from 19 cases in January/February to 26 cases in March/April.
He further highlighted that the project saw a dramatic drop in cases of access to health and education under the current report. Furthermore, safety and security cases rose from 387 to 872 incidents.
He also reported some achievements recorded under this reporting months. He noted that in Adamawa alone, the team resolved one case of forceful eviction due to HIV related stigma. Again, in Yobe, a 14 years old Almajiri student who was sodomized by his Islamic teacher received medical care and was reunited with his parents in Niger Republic. In Katsina, a 9 year old boy beaten by his stepmother was removed and placed with his grandparents. Similarly, in Cross River State, the project team enrolled 5 refugee children in school, restored a piece of farm to a refugee, and helped restore an abandoned police outpost inside a refugee camp.
The Executive Secretary of NHRC expressed his appreciation to the UNHRC without whose support the NHRC intervention activities will not be possible. He further applauded the partnership
between NHRC and the UNHCR, which has turned data into dignity and reports into results.
END
