National Coalition Against Gender Based Violence & Harassment, a coalition of Trade Union Congress TUC-Women Commission, AWWDI, FAECARE Foundation, SUOFOW and Open Doors For Special Learners visited National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to seek their collaboration towards the implementation of a research findings and recommendations on access to decent work for persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
In an advocacy visit to the headquarters of National Human Rights Commission NHRC on Wednesday in Abuja, the Coalition presented a documented research findings carried out by the Coalition with funding support from Solidarity Center.
The Chairperson of The Coalition and Chairperson Of Trade Union Congress TUC-Women Commission, Comrade Hafsaf Shaibu in her speech said that in 2019 at the International Labour Conference in Geneva, there is need for Convention C190 also known as Violence and Harassment Prevention Convention to be signed by Nigeria. Nigeria being a signatory of ILO automatically Nigeria should be a signatory to the convention.
“So, as soon as we came back, we started a campaign to 36 States and FCT for government to rectify the convention and after the campaign, we conducted a research and in the research, it was discovered that Persons With Disabilities were not captured so another was organized where a coalition on gender based violence was formed with Persons With Disabilities Involved.
She said that the coalition conducted another research to look at the gender based violence against women with disabilities which gave birth to another research known as Securing Equal access to decent work for workers with disabilities. It was launched in March this year.
“The Convention stands to eliminate Violence and Harassment within work environment and it covers everyone both persons with disabilities, domestic workers etc”
She said that coalition engaged all relevant stakeholders MDAs, Media etc to push for the rectification which was achieved last year when the former President Muhammadu Buhari signed it.
“So, after the rectification, the next stage is implementation which is critical and it covers public and private sectors, informal and formal economy, everyone should be involved to achieve effective implementation”
She further said that going by the mandate of National Human Rights Commission NHRC, there is a need to form a partnership with the commission to enhance the implementation in the office and homes where there are domestic workers. Therefore, she seek for partnership and support of National Human Rights Commission.
The Deputy Director, Legal, NHRC, Jennifer Suoyo Aga who represented the The Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, in her response appreciated the group for their efforts and informed them that their mandate is connected with the operations of the commission.
She also said that the commission have built good relationship with persons with disabilities and have been working with them on the implementation of National Disability Act.
“Recently, we wrote to Federal Civil Service Commission for the implementation of Section 29 of National Disability Act which talks about the 5percent employment quota because we found out that it is a challenge. We have received a lot of complaints of discrimination from persons with disabilities on issue of employment”.
“The commission is so passionate about persons with disabilities, women and children, Gender Based Violence is also one of our core mandate. A department of vulnerable group was created where persons with disabilities were captured and a disability deck was also created and there is also a department on women and children” she added.
“The Commission is always interested in treaties, conventions signed by Nigeria that is connected to human rights to see them being implemented”.
She further appreciated the group for inclusion of persons with disabilities in their work because it is important to include persons with disabilities in all our interventions, they are most vulnerable among vulnerable groups.
She then assured the group that since their work is within the purview of the Commission, the Executive Secretary will surely approve the partnership.
In the practice of the commission, she stated that there should be a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be signed by both parties on the partnership.
The Coalition welcomed the idea and appreciated the commission for their reception and eagerness to work with the coalition.
The Program Officer–GBVH Solidarity Center Janet Ifunanya Anaele gave more insight on the CI90 convention and what Solidarity Center has been doing supporting workers associations and CSOs to enhance the implementation of the convention and ILO in Nigeria.
Patience Dickson, Executive Director, AWWDI, a disability rights advocate and a member of the coalition appreciated the idea of research work which will serve as a tool for advocacy for advocates with disabilities.
She informed that the research opened up a lot on gender based violence against women with disabilities in their workplaces which they never got justice and at some cases, they were afraid to report them because of the fear of losing their jobs which they didn’t find easy to get. She urged NHRC to take ownership of the research findings and work with the coalition to implement it for the benefits of workers with disabilities.
Other members of the coalition, Barrister Sani of SUOFOW, and Ms. Uchenna Ogochukwu Madueke of Open Doors Special Education Learners also added voices to call for effective collaboration to give a louder voice on the research findings for positive and effective implementation.
