UN Agency Seeks Collaboration With Media On Rights Of Migrants

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has urged for engagement with media practitioners to promote migrants’ rights.

The call was made on Thursday by the Regional Representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)-West Africa Regional Office, who was visiting Nigeria.

Kotchani, who led the OHCHR team from the organisation’s regional office in Dakar, Senegal, stated that migration-related concerns have caused worry not just in the sub-region but also globally and that they can only be addressed via the promotion of human rights.

Kotchani said: “A media professional has an important role to play when it comes to the issue of migration.

“The UN OHCHR programme has implemented a project called ‘PROMIS’ a joint initiative between the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and OHCHR with financial support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Italy.

“The project started in 2016 with three countries: Mali, Niger and Senegal, which covers Nigeria.

“Media professionals must play a pivotal role in ensuring stories are heard. Migration can be pleasant and adventurous. It can also be a nightmare.

“Sensitisation about the need for human rights in all the stages of migration is important. Who can do that better than the media professionals? This is why when we talk about migration, we want you to be present.”

He said that the mission of the delegation was designed as a way of meeting with ECOWAS and other partners.

This, according to him, is because there are two partners in programmes and projects that the OHCHR is managing.

“One is called APEG, which is a project that prevents and addresses human rights violations against children in five countries in West Africa.

“The second project is called PROMIS, it is a project which tries to project and tackle human rights violations affecting migrants.

“Our meeting with ECOWAS is focused on partnership towards the implementation of the two projects, PROMIS, covers nine countries in West Africa and APEG covers five countries,” he added.

He also asked parties, including the government, non-governmental organisations, and the National Human Rights Commission, to approach migration issues only from a human rights perspective.

The project intends to increase West African countries’ capacity to create a human rights-based response to migrant smuggling as well as to effectively respond to human rights violations associated with irregular migration.