The Protection Rule of Law Unit of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has donated 1000 printed copies of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act and the Child Rights Act to the Adamawa State Ministry of Justice as part of efforts to strengthen access to justice and improve protection for vulnerable persons across the state.
The donation ceremony, held on Thursday at the Ministry of Justice in Yola, brought together officials of the IRC, representatives of the ministry, legal practitioners, and stakeholders in the justice sector. The initiative is aimed at supporting justice actors with vital legal resources to improve justice delivery for women, children, and survivors of violence.
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Adamawa State, Barrister Afraimu Jingi, commended the IRC for its continued support to the justice sector in the state.
“It is a great pleasure to stand here today to receive this donation on behalf of people of Adamawa State. I didn’t see this donation for the need of justice alone. With the provision of these laws we are going to make sure everything that has to do with justice gets a copy of this. So that we can work together for the benefit of our citizens,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the Adamawa State Field Coordinator of the IRC, Golfa Timothy, who represented the Nigeria Country Director of the IRC, Tunde Ojei, said the donation was part of the organization’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with the Ministry of Justice.
“I remember during our review workshop in Abuja, we asked one of the staff in this ministry that in what way can IRC support ministry of justice to carry out its responsibilities and Barrister Zainab Atta had to come in and said let’s try and do something,” he stated.
Golfa added that the IRC remains committed to supporting women, children, and other vulnerable groups to access justice through stronger collaboration with the ministry and legal practitioners in the state.
“Lastly IRC will always support to ensure that children, women and girls and any form of vulnerable population in any community like people that have been affected or victims of rape have access to justice.
“And we cannot do this without the support of this ministry and the entire legal practitioners that are in this state. We are looking up to you for a better collaboration,” he added.
Also speaking, Zainab Atta, Protection Coordinator, Nigeria Country Program, said the IRC has continued to create awareness on human rights and access to justice, especially among displaced and vulnerable populations.
“We work to ensure that people are aware of their rights because when we started this work in 2015, we realized a lot of the IDPs were not aware of their rights not to talk of finding redress where these rights have been infringed,” she said.
She noted that the IRC works closely with justice actors including the Legal Aid Council, Ministry of Justice, and National Human Rights Commission to identify and refer human rights cases for legal action.
“And we thought how can people have access to justice if we don’t support the Ministry of Justice and legal partners. That was why it was decided with our justice partners that we reproduce the VAPP Act and Child Rights Law and donate to our justice partners through the Ministry of Justice,” she added.
Among dignitaries present at the event were the Zonal Coordinator of the Legal Aid Council, Barrister Frank Ogbe; Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yola Branch, Barrister Idi Ali; State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Grace Mamza; and the Adamawa State Commandant of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Hassan Naibi.
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