The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and the Nigeria Bar Association have inaugurated a programme that would enable them render free legal and counselling services to internally displaced persons affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
A statement by the Senior External Relations Officer of UNHCR, Mr. Francis Garriba, on Friday in Abuja, said the inauguration of the project, entitled: “Legal protection for IDPs”, took place in Maiduguri, Borno State.
At the event, the Attorney-General of Borno State promised that he would use the Directorate of Citizens Rights to provide the necessary assistance required by the ministry for the successful execution of the project.
The Chairman, Borno State branch of NBA, Baba Kura Kaka, said the project was borne out of the reflection that IDPs “do not only require shelter, water, food, health and sanitation, which humanitarian bodies and other stakeholders are already providing, but also legal protection and counselling.”
He said, “Lawyers in Borno State, therefore came up with this project to enable them contribute their own quota to the protection efforts towards making the lives of IDPs better.
“We were challenged mainly by the fact that we saw doctors rendering medical assistance; psychologists providing psycho-social services and counselling to trauma victims; and engineers drilling boreholes and building shelters for IDPs in the camps. We, therefore, felt that since IDPs in Borno in particular and the North-East in general are facing a myriad of legal challenges, lawyers, too, could come to their aid in this respect.”
Among the legal challenges faced by IDPs, according to him, include court litigations, police cases, family legal issues, such as divorce, inheritance, issues of next of kin, and the permanent address in case of serving them court injunction.
For the project to be executed hitch-free, the NBA said it required cooperation from the appropriate authorities, such as the government, police and judiciary.
The NBA also stressed the need for IDPs not to be ashamed to speak out about their legal challenges, without which lawyers will not be able to know their problems so as to provide them with the necessary assistance.
The NBA said it was imperative for lawyers assigned to handle particular legal duties to do their job conscientiously and in the interest of the vulnerable IDPs, and not for their ego.
An expert on sexual and gender-based violence and UNHCR Protection Officer, Rehema Miiro, said humanitarian actors were already doing a lot.
She described SGBV among the affected populations as unique, because the people experienced such violence right from the time they were in captivity with armed groups.
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