By Foday Moriba Conteh
In a bid to equip members and coordinators of school clubs with the main objective of promoting and protecting human rights in the country, the Human Rights Commission with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Irish Aid has on Friday 9th July, 2021 held a one day capacity building training for members and coordinators of their Human Rights and Peace Clubs in various selected schools within the Western Area. The training event took place at the Peace Museum on Jomo Kenyatta Road in Freetown.
Addressing participants, Vice Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Victor Lansana, described the training as wonderful moment for the Commission, adding that the Commission views such as very pivotal as it serves as a bedrock for the respect of human rights and for gaining awareness of existing rights, adding that the Commission believes in catching them young.
He revealed that Sierra Leone has experienced an 11 years civil strife which led to widespread destruction of infrastructure and other properties as well as the death of thousands of people leaving many more injured.
Victor Idrissa Lansana added that during the 11 years rebel war in the country the culture of human rights was absence and that during efforts to end the civil war there was an agreement by the Government and other leaders who signed the Lome Peace Accord to establish a Human Rights Commission, as one of the recommendations of the Agreement, that should seek the interest of Sierra Leoneans in the area of protecting and upholding the human rights of citizens.
The Vice Chairman of Human Rights Commission further disclosed that the Government of Sierra Leone in 2004 established the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone with a primary mandate to protect and promote the rights of all citizens regardless of sexuality, tribe, region etc.
He pointed out that since then the Commission has been working assiduously to promote and protect the rights of citizens across the country, adding that in many of their interventions the Commission continues to call on Government to put human rights issues at the center of its development agenda.
Victor stated that they decided to train the pupils from various schools in order for them to understand what human rights are all about and to understand that they have a responsibility as pupils to uphold the rights of people in their schools and communities.
In his presentation on the history of Human Rights, the Human Rights Officer attached to the Directorate of Education, Communication and Training, Ibrahim Tarawallie, said that the belief that everyone, by virtue of her or his humanity, is entitled to certain human rights is fairly new but said however, throughout much of history, people acquired rights and responsibilities through their membership in a group a family, indigenous nation, religion, class, community, or State.
He added that most societies have had traditions similar to the “golden rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Ibrahim Tarawallie maintained that there have been calls from across the globe for human rights standards to be uphold in order to protect citizens from abuses by their Governments maintaining that nations could be held accountable for inhumane treatments of those living within their borders, adding that those voices played a critical role in the San Francisco meeting that drafted the United Nations Charter in 1945.
He revealed that with the establishment of the United Nations, member States pledged to promote and respect the human rights of all saying in order to advance that goal, the UN established a Commission on Human Rights and charged it with the task of drafting a document spelling out the meanings of the fundamental rights and freedoms embedded in the Charter.
Ibrahim Tarawallie further pointed out that every convention contains articles that establish procedures for monitoring and reporting how State parties, Governments that have ratified the document, are complying with it and both Covenants, for example, provide for a body of independent experts to monitor governmental compliance with treaty provisions.
One of the participants, Kadija A. Samura, a SSS 3 pupil of the Annie Walsh Memorial School expressed appreciation to the Human Rights Commission for the training which she described as very important to them as pupils in knowing their rights and responsibilities.
She assured the Commission that she will cascade the knowledge she has gained from the training to her school and community.
