Amnesty International kicks-off 3-day Human Rights tourney in FCT schools

Amnesty International Nigeria as part of commemoration of the International Human Rights Day on Wednesday commenced a 3-day sports tournament tagged ‘Team Right for Rights Sports” for six secondary schools in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

According to the organisers in an interview with Sportingtribune, the schools will compete in football and basketball.

The tournament will run from 16 to 18 November, 2022 at Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 4 Abuja.

Addressing the media during the opening ceremony, Human Rights Group Country Director, Osai Ojigho, said the event could not have come at a better time through football when the world is looking towards Qatar for the World Cup which starts on November 20.

She stated that the purpose of ‘Write of Rights Campaign’ was to mobilise millions of people around the world on International Human Rights Day, marked December 10 every year, to use the power of letter-writing to influence world leaders to protect individuals and communities whose rights have been denied.

“We realize that a lot of young people are growing up without a consciousness about what human rights are and they find it boring, they find it difficult and complicated. So we wanted to use a medium to make sure that everybody understands and can relate with it.

“We reached out to the FCT Board of Education to get permission to do this particular intervention with secondary schools in Abuja, and thankfully, were able to get six schools to participate.

“We can relate with these children and young people on human rights, and they will also get a chance to compete to win fantastic prizes. We expect the children and the youth to know about Amnesty International, the work that we do in Nigeria, the fact that we are one of the foremost human rights organizations fighting for people’s voices, and fighting against injustice.”

Schools selected to participate in the tournament are Government Secondary School (GSS) Wuse Zone 3, GSS Pykasa, GSS Maitama, GSS Tudun-Wada, GSS Mabushi, GSS Kubwa, and GSS Garki.