Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the National Human Rights Commission has partnered with two major social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, to track candidates’ hate speech.
According to NHRC executive secretary Tony Ojukwu, the organization will establish a National Hate Speech Register and enforce its enforcement mandate against perpetrators.
“The Commission will be working with Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to fully establish a monitoring mechanism to achieve this objective.
“Already, Facebook, within last week, trained some of our staff. We have also concluded plans to setup an electronic App that will make the reporting of hate speeches easier”, Ojukwu added.
He said the Commission, which has a broad mandate to protect and enforce human rights in the country, had in respect of the upcoming elections, initiated a project tagged ‘Mobilising Voters for Election, MOVE’, aimed at promoting access, participation and accountability in the elections.
“The rising voter regression is a consequence of the mismanagement of Nigerian elections in the past.
“Characterised by violence, rigging and disenfranchisement of voters, failed elections bring about a lot of negative outcomes which ultimately erode voters’ confidence in the electoral process.
“Citizens’ participation in the electoral process is one of the major expressions of human rights.
“The MOVE project is expected to increase citizens’ participation in elections and integrate human rights principles into the electoral process to ensure access, increase participation and ensure human rights oversight in law enforcement and security before, during and after the elections”, Ojukwu stated.
In his remarks, the coordinator of NHRC’s MOVE project, Hillary Ogbonna, said the Commission will engage the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to make the collection of new Permanent Voters Card, PVC, easy for newly registered electorates.
“Under the MOVE project, we will setup a high level partnership with the INEC, such that citizens will be at the center of whatever the electoral body is doing in terms of PVC collection.
“We will also establish a feedback and enforcement mechanism that will enable citizens to report their experiences as human right complaints, with a framework in place to fast track response to such complaints.
“Beyond the issue of PVC collection, the Commission will establish a high level forum where all the presidential candidates will appear to declare their human rights agenda for the country.
“While we monitor the campaigns, we will compile list of candidates that engage in hate speech and take appropriate action that may involve writing to the Attorney-General of the Federation and relevant security agencies for their possible prosecution”, the project coordinator added.
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