WRITTEN BY PROF. PETER KATCHY
December ten every year is designated by the United Nations as International Human Rights Day.

Among other things, it is traditionally during the day that the five Annual Nobel Peace Prize and United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights are awarded. On Human Rights Day, everyone is encouraged to stand for human rights and fight against human rights violations. We are all reminded of the basic rights we have as human beings. Civilians are entitled to respect for their physical and mental integrity, their honour, family rights, religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs.
In addition, adverse distinction based on race, sex, nationality, religious belief or political opinion is prohibited in the treatment of prisoners of war and civilians. Women and children are granted preferential treatment, respect and protection. Women must be protected from rape and from any form of indecent assault. Children under the age of eighteen must not be permitted to take part in hostilities, while international humanitarian law provides specific protection for pregnant women.
It is the responsibility of the detaining authorities to provide for appropriate care, including medical care and supplementary food rations, for a pregnant detainee. The necessary medical arrangements must be made to ensure that childbirth takes place in an appropriate medical establishment, preferably a hospital outside the prison, and that medical care is given to mother and child. When a detained woman gives birth to a child, this infant must be registered appropriately with the authorities and receive proper documentation.
However, despite renewed commitment by States to respect and ensure respect for the rules of international humanitarian law, the surge of violence against civilians has continued. Many people in Europe, Africa and Central Asia have been displaced, harassed or subjected to extreme forms of violence as a consequence of armed conflicts, in violation of the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian and human rights law.
As a result, traditional schemes of protection enshrined in international law are increasingly questioned, revealing the need to develop new strategies to enhance the protection of civilians in times of war.
Again, it is an irony of faith and terrible cause for concern that after the Colonial Emancipation in Africa and Abolition of Slave Trades that nefarious Nigerians buy and sell their fellow Nigerians to people in other countries. Reminiscence of the darkest history of humanity when countries like Italy, France, Portugal, Britain and Spain captured and shipped Blacks from Africa in 1492 to work in farms and plantations as slaves. While it was understandable for whites to subject Blacks to slavery based on the repugnant concept of racial superiority, the Libya debacle is a national and continental shame and terrible opprobrium.
A situation where Nigerians were sold as low as four hundred dollars to a lifetime of hard labour is abysmal degradation. The Libyan Government has estimated more than One Million migrants locked up in various dungeons across the country. They are funded and equipped by European Union and Italy to  stop the migrants from crossing the dangerous Atlantic Ocean where an estimated five thousand refugees have died in recent years.
The slave market in Libya has become very lucrative with cartels expanding in the bestial trade on daily basis because the heartless syndicates are making a lot of money from fellow human beings. More than 3,000 Nigerian illegal migrants have been repatriated so far, according to the officials of Federal Ministry of External Affairs, on the bases of 250 persons brought back weekly.
 It is very pertinent that the federal government should stem the tide of this monumental national disgrace and humiliation, which has eroded the human dignity of Nigeria as a nation of access to equity and fundamental human rights of its citizens.

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