MINUTES OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF JOS MEETING HELD AT THE PASTORAL CENTRE, JOS ON FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER, 2000ts MINUTES OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF JOS MEETING HELD AT THE PASTORAL CENTRE, JOS ON FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER, 2000

I Attendance – See copy of list attached.

II Opening – Sr. Barbara said the opening prayer at 4.40pm.

III Minutes – The Ag. Secretary read the minutes of the meeting of 13 October 2000 which were adopted on a motion by Barr. Deshi, seconded by Mr. Pwajok after the corrections:

a)      Item IV 2 amend the heading “Training” to read “Formation Training for I.D.C. Justice and Peace.”

b)      Item VI line 5 Insert “Amusement” between “Lar” and “Park”

IV Matters Arising from Minutes

i)                    Workshop The Archbishop had approved the arrangement on Tuesday 24 October 2000 and letters were since distributed to all parishes in Jos and Bukuru to invite 4 persons from each parish. Bukuru and Shendam Deaneries were told 4 from each Deanery were invited; 10 places were for priests and 20 for Human Rights Organisation members.

-         It was noted that Jos Deanery had planned a meeting for the same day of the workshop – 22 November 2000 – inviting 20 persons from each parish but another hall would be available in the Archbishop’s Court.

-         Two estimates were received from caterers and the cheaper one had been accepted.

Speakers – The planning committee was to follow up the letters distributed with personal visits in the next week. Publicity would only be in the parishes. Members should remind their Parish Priest if no action is seen.

Certificates Two members had said they would give estimates for producing certificates to Barr. Obende. There was a lot of discussion on whether Certificate of Attendance should be given. It was noted that other Justice and Peace Workshops had not issued any certificate also many members feared that such a certificate might be misused by presentation in “inappropriate” quarters so the idea of certificates was dropped.

Comment After the Worship for Paralegals participants would arrange similar workshops at parish level.

V Reports from Parish J & Ps

a)      St. Louis had decided to have a more “catchy” announcement made at Masses to encourage those with cases of injustice to come to the J&P meeting, also to put it on their notice board and in the Parish Bulletin.

b)      St. Joseph’s Vom had quite a number of cases of injustice and were trying to set up J&P groups in smaller churches in their environment.

c)      O.L.F  reported that most issues brought to them are from people seeking assistance from the group.

d)      St. Theresa’s  have cases of injustices including 2 in prison on whose behalf members had approached the Prison authorities e.g. one is simply an option of paying a fine. Their members visit the prisons to make enquiries about prisoners detained. Prison authorities usually welcome HRO visits, which normally have good results for the prisoners.

This showed that the issue of getting a badge for J&P members to visit the prisons was not necessary.

A member asked whether there was no celebration by J&P for prisoners in the Jubilee Year. The house was reminded that the year had not yet ended as suggestions were made:

i)        more general visit to the prison to ask about those in detention

ii)      go officially as a group with a letter of introduction stating the purpose e.g. to the Social Welfare Section of Prisons. A legal member noted that the police cell is the place were persons in detention suffer more than in prisons. There was need to get some senior police officers to assist the HRO.

Kuru reported that every week armed robbers operate in an area near the police station but no assistance is given to residents.

It was agreed that a letter would be written by Mr. Gunat of Vom to be fine tuned and delivered by Barr. Ekone at the Prison. This would request a visit on Friday 17 November for initial investigation. The visit would be used to find out what could be the immediate assistance to prisoners and get information for possible interview with those in detention.

VI Announcement Members were reminded that Barr. Ngyou’s Wedding was at 11am at St. Theresa’s Church on Saturday 28 October 2000.

VII Date of Next Meeting This would be Friday 10^th November 200. Sr. Ogochukwu gave an apology in advance for absence.

VIII Closing At 6.10pm Sr. Barbara closed the meeting with a Prayer for Awareness.

Chairman                                                                                              Secretary