CJID And IWPR To Train CSOs On Human Rights Offences In Nigeria

Press Release

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) in collaboration with the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) is set to launch the second phase of the “Voice of Change” project.

The project seeks to work with the media for training on communication and advocacy campaigns on human rights violations in Nigeria.

The first phase of the project was designed to train Abuja-based journalists on consequential reporting of various human rights violations across the country with a view to upholding democratic values. In this regard, a call was made to journalists who are interested in exposing and investigating human rights abuses for accountability purposes in Nigeria. 

Out of the 65 applicants, 10 candidates emerged as finalists after rigorous selection processes by both organisations. The finalists were selected across different newsrooms in Nigeria and are set to commence training in the Federal Capital Territory which will run from the 16th of May to the 20th of May 2022. 

For the second phase of the project, the Centre, collaboratively working with the Institute, will build the capacity of human rights defenders and CSOs to help create awareness and deliver effective advocacy campaigns around accountability and justice for criminal human rights violations in Nigeria.  

Despite the country’s years of democratic practice, experts believe Nigerians are suffering from various human rights abuses such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, extrajudicial killings, and forced evictions by armed groups, especially in the northern parts of the country among others.

The second phase of this project, therefore, seeks to also build the capacity of human rights defenders and CSOs, who through advocacy campaigns would expose all forms of human rights offences across the country by human rights violators.

Both organisations are currently making a call to interested CSOs with the aim of enabling the CSOs to run advocacy campaigns to promote the realisation of human rights and social justice as reflected in global norms, national policies and local practice. The call also aims to give voice to the most marginalised and vulnerable Nigerian communities, including women, children, people with disabilities and people affected by armed conflict and mass atrocities and to also support the ability of people to hold governments and other powerful institutions and individuals accountable to the rule of law.

IWPR in its statement said: “We have a particular interest in exposing disappearances and incarceration without due process perpetrated by security forces or other authorities of marginalised groups.”

The Institute said it is interested in supporting advocacy campaigns which expose instances of human rights violations against marginalised groups or minority communities, extrajudicial killings and disappearances, and incarceration without due process.

CJID, through the Deputy Director, Development Practice, Akintunde Babatunde, said the civil society component of this project allows us to scale our reporting project and get civil society organisations working on human rights issues to launch advocacy projects to advance these issues.

Eligibility

To be considered eligible for the training, the CSO must be well established and must have been operational for at least 3 years, should be able to demonstrate a track record in work to advocate for human rights and must be based in Abuja.  

Each applicant is expected to include social media strategy such as strategic ways on how and where you would promote your news story/content.

The training is expected to run from 13th to 17th of June 2022 and successful candidates will be trained to deepen their understanding of various humanitarian issues such as international humanitarian and human rights law, human rights crimes reporting and minority rights and working with the media, conflict-sensitive campaigning and personal and digital security, risk management and safeguarding among others. 

Following the training, CSOs will have roundtables with journalists who will be investigating human rights violations and will act as collaborators on the advocacy campaigns, IWPR stated. 

Interested candidates can apply here no later than 23:59 on the 15th of May 2022.