…says resilience, cooperation needed to defeat challenges
By: Mercy Peter
Despite the gloomy pictures all over, the Executive Secretary, National Human Right Commission, Dr. Tony Ojukwu on Monday expressed hope in the Commonwealth of nations.
Ojukwu said coming together of nations can chart a course leading to improvement of the society.
He spoke at the Commonwealth Day celebration, with the theme: “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Commonwealth”
He said through resilience and cooperation the society can achieve the Commonwealth dreamt of.
He said, “In many parts of the world today, we are faced with numerous social, political, economic and conflict related challenges which impacts on the attainment of the values which we celebrate here today.
“From climate change, insecurity, undemocratic interferences to hunger, inequalities, conflicts of diverse classifications, among many others with attendant consequences on the enjoyment of human rights, an environment of peace and sustainable development.
“In the midst of this gloomy picture, lies a bright hope that coming together as nations and peoples we can chart a course that can bring us to dialogue on ways we can improve upon our society and create an environment that will advance the course of the wellbeing of humanity, this lies at the background of the unique opportunity presented by this event. “
He added, “This year’s theme is unique as it focuses on the challenges we face as a people.
“Building resilience is a developmental imperative through which nations and people drive through common challenge through cooperation and belief. Through resilience we can build a common future that will birth to us the commonwealth of our dreams. This we can achieve through collaborations and mutual support among us in harnessing our unique strengths in facing headlong, the monsters challenging our world. Recognizing the complexities we face; we cannot record success without a coordinated effort in finding lasting solutions to achieve sustainable development goals.”
Ojukwu also said that the keynote speech, “the Role of the Commonwealth in Advancing the Right to Development” was specially selected.
He explained further that “The right to development lies at the heart of the principles and objectives of the Commonwealth as both an individual and collective rights.
“As we reflect on this theme, let us be reminded that the essence of our coming together to mark this event is to harness the unique opportunities available in this auditorium by the distinguished personalities present, to share individual perspectives from member nations here present and explore the opportunity of networking through the support system available in the over 80 intergovernmental, civil, cultural and professional organizations working with the Commonwealth organization and to promote the knowledge of human rights.”
Speaking on what the Commission has been doing, NHRC boss said it holds monthly human rights situation dashboard presentation “that monitors and presents infographics on the status of human rights in Nigeria, development of policy on Right to development, a quarterly forum on human rights and society where we discuss on how human rights can transform our society positively, the implementation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights with the National Working Group already set to action and most importantly our National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights which sets our goals and targets for achieving our rights mandate.”
He therefore said the commission is open to collaborations from development partners.
Challenging participants on the need to uphold the values of the Commonwealth by enhancing “our efforts and strengthening partnerships.”
He also quoted the Commonwealth Secretary General who stated, “resolve together to ensure that in the years to come, we make the peaceful and sustainable common future we all strive for a reality for the whole Commonwealth.”
He also stated, “The Commonwealth is a historic platform that promotes democracy, peace and human rights, core values that deliver sustainable development and prosperity to all. The National Human Rights Commission shares in these values and believes that its mission to promote, protect and enforce human rights fits squarely into these principles.”
He therefore charged all saying “let’s recreate a Commonwealth advantage in our shared values, history and language to embrace innovation, technology and knowledge sharing
as our key to solving challenges in unlocking economic growth for all.”
