EMDHR [1]
: The
During
the EMDHR 2nd Annual Congress which was held on 26 March 2006 in
“to promote the values of human rights
and democratic principles established in relevant international instruments
through public awareness, advocacy, campaign,
and community development and engagement with the ultimate aim of building a society in which all Eritreans
are empowered to exercise their basic rights in order to live their lives in
peace, dignity and prosperity.”
In the above mission statement, there are a number
of important elements that are worthy of noting. One of which is that the EMDHR
is striving to promote the values of human rights and democratic principles
among the Eritrean public in accordance to an already defined international instruments.
These international instruments include the Charter of the United Nations, the
Universal Declaration of Human rights, the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights, etc. The EMDHR is, therefore, committed to narrow the gap
between the desired standards stipulated in the international instruments and
the reality for ordinary Eritrean citizens. It does so, in order to ultimately realize
a vision that we all aspire to achieve - sustainable justice and democracy in
For
sustainable justice and democracy to take place in a nation, obviously there
has to be a democratic system of governance. Recent academic researches prove
that the sustainability and consolidation of a democratic system of governance in
a nation is principally determined by the views, norms and attitudes of
ordinary citizens. If a democratic system of governance is going to survive and
flourish, citizens in their daily lives must engage in behaviors which support
and promote a culture of human rights and democratic ideals. Otherwise,
citizens will inevitably become subject to consistent violations of their
fundamental rights, and oppression and injustices become wide-speared. Hence,
it will not be difficult to comprehend that it must be the citizenry which is
the driving force for all social, economic and political developments in a
nation.
The
EMDHR, therefore, believes that if sustainable justice and democracy are going
to prevail in Eritrea, citizens have to be capable of expressing a culture of
human rights and democracy through a complex set of behaviors and attitudes
which include, inter alia, self-reflection,
tolerance, power sharing, critical thinking, decision making, responsibility
for self, leadership, opinion formation, and social responsibility and social
connectedness. Citizens can only develop these attitudes and norms, if they are
freely allowed to exercise their God-given freedom of expression and choice,
which are sadly missing in present
The
EMDHR is, thus, attempting to provide a platform for advancing the
above-mentioned fundamental freedoms so that people would develop a culture of
human rights and democracy. As it is stated in the mission statement above, the
platforms will be used for promoting the values of human rights and democratic
ideals through ‘public awareness,
advocacy, campaign, and community development and engagement.’ The ultimate
aim of which would be to build an empowered society having the above-mentioned
behaviors and attitudes and which is capable of consolidating and sustaining a
democratic system of governance in
The
EMDHR is cautions that all its endeavors of enlightening and empowering the
society shall not lead to chaos, anarchy, instability and violations of the
rights of others. Instead, the EMDHR attempts to encourage ALL to work towards
peace, justice, dignity and prosperity using meticulously designed campaign
activities. And this is well-entrenched in the mission statement.
How
long it is going to take to build an empowered society capable of consolidating
a democratic system of governance in
What
are the activities and campaigns supposed to be? Forthcoming!!!
EMDHR: Executive Committee
[1] EMDHR is an acronym for Eritrean
Movement for Democracy and Human Rights. It is an autonomous and independent
nonviolent civic movement primarily strives to promote the values of human
rights and democratic principles among the Eritrean public. It was formulated
by Eritreans residing in
