Over a decade ago, after having had to flee my native Somalia due to my
human rights work, I was lucky to find a safe haven in Toronto, Canada.
Through discussions with my fellow African HRDs in exile, I realised
that many others shared the pain and frustration of having to carry out
human rights work in exile. With the support of Amnesty International
and York University, I began developing a mechanism that would allow
HRDs to continue their work while staying safe in the region.
Ten years later, I am proud to see that this idea has blossomed into the
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Movement.
In my capacity as the director of EHAHRDP, and Chairperson of PAHRDN, I
have witnessed first-hand the narrowing space for civil society, and the
increasing risks being borne by human rights defenders across this
country, and continent.
From both state and non-state actors, human rights defenders are
routinely subject to physical attacks, digital surveillance,
stigmatization, prosecution, arbitrary arrest, and worse. In the
majority of countries that we work in, this pattern is worsening year on
year.
Many governments in this part of Africa have introduced regressive new
laws, limiting permissible activities for civil society organisations
and human rights NGOs, and restricted the rights of their citizens to
freedom of association, assembly and expression.
To address these challenges, our organisation has trained nearly 1,000
defenders in physical and digital security and worked to elevate the
voices of HRDs through advocacy at national, regional and international
level.
At today’s conference celebrating the 10-year anniversary of EHAHRDP,
Margaret Sekaggya, the Executive Director of Human Rights Center-Uganda
and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of HRDs,
stressed the need for systems to protect HRDs: "We need networks to
protect ourselves. When you speak as one, you are stronger." In response
to this gap, our organisation has created coalitions to coordinate the
protection of HRDs in 7 countries in the region.
Over the past decade, EHAHRDP played an integral role as a leader of the
movement to defend and support human rights defenders in the East and
Horn of Africa. As the principal organisation working to support human
rights defenders in the region, EHAHRDP provided protection grants to
728 HRDs.
It is a special moment for the organisation as we reflect on the
achievements reached over the past decade to protect and support human
rights defenders.
EHAHRDP's anniversary celebrations generously supported by Austrian Development Cooperation and SIDA.
EHAHRDP celebrates ten years of defending human rights defenders
Today the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) celebrated its ten-year anniversary of defending human right activists throughout the East and Horn of Africa. To mark this occasion, EHAHRDP has produced an anniversary publi