Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, with the support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa, OSIWA, is to hold a one day Media Training on Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm mitigation in Nigeria, as Human rights are key to protection.
According to CISLAC, there is a vital need for effective monitoring, reporting, and investigation of human rights abuses in the field.
It says this is not limited to designated Human Rights Officers, but also includes senior media professionals covering defence and general security related components.
Its Executive Director, Auwal Musa says the leadership of missions must be seen to take a leading and very active role in pushing the human rights agenda to the front of the mission’s agenda.
He states that by their presence, international and national organisations can successfully create a safer environment for civilians and greater confidence among the population.
In his words, the concept of protection of civilians has been progressively introduced to a wider audience, however, within the framework of conflict operations, the full implementation of this principle is hindered by a number of shortcomings, such as the limited understanding of roles and responsibilities, and the lack of clear methods and guidelines.
According to him, it is also challenged considering the information gap associated and weak political commitment by government.
He says beyond violations, missions also need to track all casualties resulting from lawful actions by State security forces, and non-State armed groups, Collateral damage or casualties caused by mines and explosive remnants of war (EWRs) will require special attention in some contexts.
According to him, Objective of the Training:
• To enhance, improve and strengthen the media reportage on Human Rights, Protection of Civilians and Civilian Harm Mitigation in various theatres. Enable media practitioners employ journalism principles based on impartiality, balance and responsibility while, at the same time, they (media) are conscious of need to gather adequate data on civilian threats in various theatres of operations
The Training is scheduled to hold as follows:
Date: Thursday 4th February, 2021.
Time: 9.00am prompt
Venue: Amber Residence, No 16 Esugbayi Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.