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EMDHR : The Mission Statement Reviewed Print E-mail
Written by Haileab Kidane   
Tuesday, 25 July 2006

During the EMDHR 2nd Annual Congress which was held on 26 March 2006 in Pretoria, the Congress reviewed, among others, as to why the civic movement primarily exists and what it hopes to achieve in the future – i.e. its mission statement. To this effect, the Congress agreed to uphold the following mission statement:

During the EMDHR 2nd Annual Congress which was held on 26 March 2006 in Pretoria, the Congress reviewed, among others, as to why the civic movement primarily exists and what it hopes to achieve in the future – i.e. its mission statement. To this effect, the Congress agreed to uphold the following mission statement:  “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 Eritrea in which the rights of everyone are valued and protected. 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 Eritrea.  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 Eritrea.  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 Eritrea thoroughly depends on how many of us are ready and courageous enough to participate in the activities and campaigns that aim at promoting the values of human rights and democratic principles among our fellow citizens. What are the activities and campaigns supposed to be? Forthcoming!!! EMDHR: Executive Committee07 April 2006
Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 August 2006 )
 
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