Human Rights Commission launches election’s situation room, toll-free lines

NHRC secretary, Tony Ojukwu

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday in Abuja launched its situation room for the 2023 general elections.

Additionally, the centre will attend to human rights violations across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) during the elections.

The short code for reporting human rights abuse, vote buying, and police brutality is 6472 while the toll-free line is 08006472428.

This initiative, the commission said, is in furtherance of its mandate to protect the rights of Nigerians, which include the right to vote, the dignity of persons and protection from abuse by security personnel during and after the elections

The NHRC launched its toll-free lines which, it said, would be available 24 hours with a dedicated team to attend to human rights violations specifically during the elections.

At the inaugural ceremony, the NHRC secretary, Tony Ojukwu stated that the rights to participate in the governance process is central to a democracy.

He said that in the “2023 general elections, the Human Rights Situation Room (HRSR) will be a hub inside the commission where the commission plans to take advantage of its wide reach by having offices in the 36 states of Nigeria to monitor the conduct of elections immediately before, during and after the elections.

“In doing this, the commission is acting in line with its mandate as stated in Sections (a)(b)(j) of the NHRC Act of 2010 as amended.

“The focus of the Situation Room will be primarily targeted at reports of the human rights issues that will be at play during the election”.

Ojukwu also said that “the Human Rights Situation Room will receive and treat across the 36 states and the FCT, complaints of human rights violations.

“The HRSR is equipped with toll-free lines and short codes for easy and cost-free access to complaints by members of the public”.

“The NHRC is putting everything in place to ensure that Nigerians can have confidence that when they call these toll-free lines, their complaints will not go unheard”.