HRCRC family is profundly grateful to Sr Bernadette Unamah (MMM) – who in the short interim between long work and a sabbatical volunteered at the center. In the very short weeks you joined our family, we both learnt and benefited in unmentionable ways… you instigated a project that will benefit many who visit the hilltop and the office, undertook the landscaping of the premises whilst instilling care for the earth in us; and still participating in retail matters.
Churches and ministries as well as residents around the Center and those you touched with your kind words will not forget you in a hurry. Thee trees and flowers in HRCRC will make certain of that.
we wish you heaven’s best as you travel to Kenya…
Continue to pray for us… We’ll always remember you in our prayers.
Still on our mandate, HRCRC was privileged to address the Eze in Council, HRH Eze Chales Mkpuma, the Eze brugbala of Ezzama Kingdom and his chiefs / cabinet; and also a few members of the public who had gathered for the council meeting.
Seizing the opportunity to intimate them on our intended visits to their communities to canvass for peace especially in thee forth coming elections.
Preaching HRCRC, the gospel of Peace, Justice, Equity and the Rule of Law were HRCRC’s Ag Dir George, Moses and Jude (Peace Building dept) and Dr Orji (Chairman Onueke branch).
In Collaboration with Christ Apostolic Church, Ishieke in Oshiri, Ebonyi state, HRCRC seized an opportunity to sensitize young people in a program about Human Rights, their rights, and what we do; whilst fanning into flame the passion for justice, peace and appreciation for the rule of law, HRCRC set in motion the process to have an indigenous branch established in the community.
Preaching the gospel of Justice, peace and equity were George, Chika, Chioma (Esq) and Emika (Esq)
HRCRC congratulates Fr. Kevin O’Hara (SPS) for his most recent Humanitarian Award given in recognition of his ‘outstanding contribution to the promotion of human rights in Nigeria’. The award was bestowed on him by CAPIO (Carmelite Prisoners’ Interest Organisation), a rights-based organisation in Enugu State in October 2017.
Fr. Kevin is well known for his activism in the area of human rights, rule of law, democracy and peace. The native of Stranorlar, a small town in the Finn Valley of County Donegal in Ireland has been in Nigeria since 1980 when he first came into the country as a St Patrick’s Missionary Society priest. Observing gross violations of human rights especially in the Nigerian prisons and police cells in his place of ministry in the Eastern Nigeria, Fr Kevin was moved to act. He founded Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre, then known by the name Human Rights Commission (this was before Nigerian government established Human Rights Commission in 1995). The group was dedicated to the welfare of prisons and cells, touring cities, towns and villages across Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Benue and Cross River states.
The same passion to stand up for rights of the marginalised moved him to also establish the Centre for Corporate Responsibility (CCR) in Port-Harcourt and later Stakeholders Alliance for Corporate Accountability (SACA) in Bayelsa State. His activities with these groups helped to shed lights on the unwholesome practices of the extractive industries in the Niger Delta as a result of which the indigenous people of the region found themselves in deplorable socio-ecological conditions. ‘The goat in the flow station’, one of his notable documentary, was screened across Europe and America as a major indictment against the multinationals in the extractive industries of Niger Delta thereby creating a radical shift to the narrative on corporate social responsibilities vis-à-vis indigenous people’s rights to development.
Although, Fr. Kevin, an alumnus of Bath University, UK (studied Responsibility and Business Practice) now heads the St Patrick’s Missionary Society in West Africa as the District Leader, he remains a staunch defender and promoter of human rights in Nigeria. And while he is not new to awards as he has been given numerous recognitions for his contribution to humanity (e.g. he is a recipient of United Nations Award for ‘Waging Peace through Development”), for us at HRCRC (his very first love) we take this forum to congratulate him and wish him well.
