Director General, Consumer Protection Council, CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, and two other prominent women were midweek in Abuja honoured with an award over their outstanding performances in the human rights field. Atoki got her award in recognition of her advocacy on human rights in the African Union, AU, having served the organisation for six years in the African Union Commission on Human & People’s Rights, the regional body for the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa, the last two years of which she was the Chairperson of the Commission, making her the first Nigerian to head an AU organ. The two other women honoured were Mrs. Maryam Uwais, the immediate past member of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child and Mrs. Boma Ozobia, the immediate past President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. The Open Society Foundation, OSF, the Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Institute, NBAHRI; the Pan African Lawyers Union, PALU and the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC honoured the awardees during their joint regional institutions field building and citizenship participation reception and award dinner held at Rockview Hotel, Abuja. Explaining the award, the Chairman, Governing Board of NHRC, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, said the human rights community in collaboration with other bodies picked the trio who “have worked to defend human rights and build institutions for their protection within and beyond Nigeria” to conclude the commemoration of 2013 human rights day. The Chairperson of NBAHRI, Justice Amina Augie, described the three awardees as people always committed to good causes meant for the general good of humanity, pointing out that the awardees did all the good works credited to them from the depth of their hearts, unknown to them that they were being noted. Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of PALU, Donald Deya, while commending the awardees, identified one outstanding effort of each of them that further qualified them for the award. Deya disclosed that it was during Mrs. Atoki’s leadership at the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights that the commission “got the courage and the strength to refer a case involving the rights of the minorities” in Kenya for enforcement. On Mrs. Maryam Uwais, he said, it was during her tenure that the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child had the courage to “hear a matter and communication, containing a complaint” against Kenya, where a profound decision, celebrated by human rights activists world-wide was taken. He also described Mrs. Boma Ozobia as an active human rights lawyer, who has contributed immensely to the growth of human rights lawyers associations and human rights in the African continent. Responding after the conferment of the award on her, Mrs. Atoki, commended the four organisations while harping on the need for citizens to demand the respect of their human rights.
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