The National Human Rights Commission says it has received about 1,238 written complaints on human rights abuses in Abia.

NHRC coordinator in Abia, Uche Nwokocha, said this on Monday in Umuahia during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the beginning of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

Ms Nwokocha said, “If those who walked into the commission’s office to complain or did so through phone calls were to be included,  the number would be more than 5,000.”

The NHRC, together with the National Orientation Agency and other partners, marched through major streets of Umuahia campaigning against GBV.

The team also visited major motor parks in the metropolis to raise awareness and mobilise action to end all forms of violence against women and girls.

Ms Nwokocha further said that the written complaints were mostly about civil liberties, such as abuses by the security agents and GBV. She said that the commission received five complaints on rape but decried the bottlenecks faced in prosecuting the cases.

According to her, some cases of rape are first reported to the traditional rulers, and when negotiations between the suspects and survivors fail, they come to us.

Ms Nwokocha, a lawyer, further disclosed that the commission had seven GBV-related cases in court but had yet to secure any convictions because of delays in the judicial processes.

“The judges in Abia judiciary are overworked, and we need more judges to handle some of these cases. You go to court. You see about 30 cases on the case list assigned to one judge on a daily basis, whereas a judge, no matter how hard he tries, cannot handle more than five.

“It is not fair, and this is delaying the process in the judiciary,” she said.

Ms Nwokocha said the commission had outlined a series of activities for the 16 Days of Activism, culminating in the International Human Rights Day celebration on December 10.

(NAN)