Hon. Festus Keyamo (SAN, FCIARB (UK) Hon. Minister for State, Labor and Employment, Federal Secretariat, Abuja) delivered a lecture on “Challenges of Global Security and the Implications for International Human Rights Law: An African Perspective” during a recent seminar held by Nile University’s Political Science & International Relations Department. Senior Nile officials in attendance at the program included Prof. Osman Nuri Aras (Vice-Chancellor), Prof. Amet Arabaci (HoD, Political Science & International Relations), Assoc. Prof. Gylych Jelilov (Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences).
Hon. Keyamo began his lecture by expressing his gratitude for the opportunity given to him by Nile to deliver a lecture to the University’s young bright minds. In his lecture, Hon. Keyamo stated that the terms Global Security and Human Rights are often conflicting concepts. The Honorable Minister used the hypothetical scenario of a group of people who make hateful speech that could lead to war and use the right to expression as a defense to illustrate this point.
Consequently, he continued, governments are often placed in the unfortunate position of having to choose between both. Tackling this dilemma, he concluded, requires the combined efforts of world leaders in creating guidelines on the appropriate courses of action to be taken by governments in the event of a conflict between human rights and national or global security, among other solutions.
