Headfort Foundation for Justice on Thursday held a workshop on the mode of operation of Human Rights Club for some schools in Lagos.
The theme of the workshop, which held at Ikosi Secondary School, Lagos State, is “Human Rights Club: Train-The-Trainer;Empowering Teachers and Students to Champion Human Rights.”
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Headfort Foundation for Justice, Mrs Oluyemi Orija, said that the objective of setting up the Human Rights Club is to empower teachers and students with the necessary tools to advocate for human rights.
Orija underscored the importance of students to be responsible and active citizens in the face of the violations of their rights or that of their fellow students.
Citing the example of bullying in schools, Orija said that the cases of bullying in schools have become a recurring decimal.
She noted that some people have lost their lives as a result of bullying.
“Imagine a school with about 200 students and one person was consistently being bullied in the school and nobody was fighting for him.
“This shows that the rate of moral decadence in the society is on the increase.
“We need other students to stand up and protect the rights of fellow students been bullied.
“You don’t have to be a superman, but if you can shout as loud as the teachers can hear and do something about the situation, then you have saved somebody’s life.
“We had representatives of five schools from Kosofe Local Goverment Area,” Orija said.
Some of the students demonstrated one of the items on the Child Rights Act, which is child labour.
A representative of the Lagos State Ministry of Youths and Social Development, Mrs Aladelusi Modupe, from the Child Protection Unit, explained what the government was doing to promote the Chiild Rights Law in the state.
She also educated the students on the Child Rights Law.
Newsmen reports that the Headfort Foundation’s Human Rights Club is in partnership with the National Human Rights Commission, Lagos State Chapter.
Apart from training the students on how to run and operate the Human Rights Club, the students were trained on how to be responsible leaders and change makers in the society.
