CDHR Commemorates 30th Anniversary of Human Rights Defence

CDHR Commemorates 30th Anniversary of Human Rights Defence

Martins Ifijeh and Esther Oluku

A foremost human rights organisation in Nigeria, Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), will Thursday mark 30 years of its resilient commitment to the defence and protection of human rights with innovations and strategies to meet the challenges of rights abuse and to consolidate the gains of the human rights movement in Nigeria.

In a statement made available to THISDAY Wednesday, the President of CDHR, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, said, “we are thrilled that over the past 30 years we have supported all manners of persons, whose rights have been violated or were likely to be violated, and who had called on us or of whose situation we got aware.”

The event, which is scheduled to hold at CitiHeights Hotel, Lagos, has its theme as: Chronicling the Struggle and Identifying the Way Forward.’

It will feature lectures, a book launch, a documentary and many more.

The CDHR 30th Anniversary is held to commemorate the establishment of the organisation, the founding members, and comrades who have passed on during the struggle and to reaffirm the groups’ continued commitment to the defence of human rights.

The statement noted that since its inception in April, 1989, during the repressive regimes of the military juntas, CDHR Played very crucial roles in ensuring the end of military rule in Nigeria and the enthronement of democratic governance.

It has since remained very vocal in condemnation of all tendencies of discrimination, abuse of the rule of law and disobedience of court orders.

CDHR has also grown in membership and expanded with branches scattered across the country offering assistance to citizens within the country and in diaspora.

Speaking to journalists, the National Publicity Secretary of CDHR, Mr. Ekine Peter Henry, said that, “after three decades, the core concepts of freedom and fundamental liberties have remained as important as ever.”

According to him, “while the group has provided needed solutions and pro bono legal aid services to deserving individuals, it has, in recent times, broadened its scope to focus on mass enlightenment, advocacy and human rights education as strategies to address the challenge of lack of sufficient awareness on the subject of human rights”.

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