The International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday commenced a one-and-a-half-day training for journalists in Borno state, aimed at equipping them with the knowledge of reporting missing persons and families separated by over a decade of insurgency.

The training, taking place at the Maiduguri ICRC office, brought together journalists from both print and broadcast media.

Addressing the participants during her opening remark, Head of ICRC sub-delegation in Maiduguri, Diana Japaridze, lamented the Increasing rate of missing persons and families who are yet to ’e reunited after suffering displacement caused by the armed conflict, disaster and violence in Nigeria.

“Due to the protracted conflict and violence in Nigeria, too many people are missing loved ones, with our caseload of those lost being the highest in Africa. Some people spend years searching for loved ones, often with no result. Families have a right to know their fate”

“In the chaos of armed conflict, situations of violence and disasters, families can become separated in a matter of minutes, creating anguish and vulnerability and sometimes leading to long years of uncertainty about the fate of children, spouses or parents”, she added.

According to Japaridze, through the workshop, the INGO hopes to elaborate on the different aspects and provide participants with the needed knowledge to navigate important topics relating to missing persons and family separation.

She urged media practitioners to contribute to awareness creation and draw the public’s attention to the needs of missing persons.

“While States should raise public awareness of the problem of missing persons as a fundamental concern of international humanitarian law and human rights law, the mass media must draw the public’s attention to this problem and the needs of families of missing persons.

“We hope the knowledge and discussions we are going to share and have during the training will help you, the media professionals, research on the topic more deeply, ask better questions, write quality content, and thus report it in a more professional, unbiased, and empathetic manner”, she said. (The PUNCH)