By: Alieu Jallow
On Saturday, September 2nd, the Amnesty International Kanifing Municipality chapter trained over 150 participants. The training aimed to build a more inclusive and compassionate society by promoting awareness of human rights and conflict resolution among the residents of Kanifing Municipality. The sole objective of the capacity-building exercise was to foster a greater understanding of fundamental human rights and promote peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Muhammed Hydara, the president of Amnesty KM group, said the training aims to promote understanding of basic human rights principles within communities with low awareness of violations.
“So, we deem it necessary to organize a training where we train our participants on four thematic areas on human rights and how to address violations because in our society violations have become a tradition, which is becoming a challenge so young people understanding these issues will enhance our human rights advocacy in society coupled with peace conflict resolutions,” Hydara said.
Priscilia Yagu Ceesay, a co-founder and trainer at WAVE, emphasized the organization’s commitment to promoting and protecting human rights through its training programs. She noted that the training is crucial in bridging the gap in knowledge and understanding of how to promote and protect human rights. Many state actors are not aware of their responsibilities as rights bearers, and there is a lot of impunity with little action taken to address violations. Therefore, WAVE will continue to introduce and reintroduce human rights training to help address this issue.
“So, when there is impunity and accountability, then the circle of violence and violations continues but I believe when there is accountability for right violations then that would contribute to stemming the scotch of the violations”.
Mansour Jobe, the Director of Legal Affairs and Investigations at the National Human Rights Commission, highlighted that the training is appropriate as it involves young people who are critical in advocating for human rights and helping to shape society.
Mr. Jobe underscores the significance behind building the capacity of young people, underlining the country’s past human rights records.
“There needs to be more awareness creation, people and civil society need to empower so that they can hold government accountable but also the government needs to be responsive to the needs of the ordinary people to ensure the rights of individuals are respected and protected, and of course not limited to civil and political rights but also economic, social and cultural rights”.
Gassamading Dampha and Siaya S Sanyang, all participants, are hopeful of being upgraded to enhance their understanding of fundamental human rights and how to address rights violations in society, especially among their peers.
Amnesty International is a human rights organisation established in 1970 with a focus on advocating human rights issues in the world and the organisers are optimistic that capacity-building programs like this will help to shape a just society and restore the lost glory after the post-Jammeh era.
