By Peter Amine
Jos – A Non governmental organisation (NGO), Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace (DREP) Centre, is training security personnel and other stakeholders on human rights protection and promotion in Jos.Rev. Fr Blaise Agwom, DREP’s Coordinator for Jos Centre, said that the two-day programme was being organised in conjunction with the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development (CAFOD).Agwom said the aim of the programme was to equip security personnel and other stakeholders with the wherewithal to promote and protect human rights within their environments.“ Human rights issues are capable of causing conflicts, we thought it wise to train security agencies and other stakeholders on these issues.“Through this training, security agencies can be better positioned to protect and promote human rights in the communities they operate or reside,” he said.He said that there were different kinds of rights abuses within the society that required efforts to tackle.“Sometimes, even security agencies are accused of infringing on the fundamental human rights of individuals.“This is the reason we made them part of this training, it will better equip them to protect and promote human rights,” he said.Blaise said that participants would be used to pass on the message of rights promotion and protection to others in their establishments.Also speaking, Mr Cletus Aloke, Coordinator, Zaman Project, said the workshop would help law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to understand the import of religious and cultural differences when working with people.Other participants at the training programmes were government officials chosen from the judiciary, ministries of information and youth development.(NAN)