EAHRHI Annual Summit
The EAHRHI Annual Summit is a reception moment that brings together all supporters of the institute, to meet other supporters and advocates of human rights and gets very acquainted with EAHRHI work. The first summit is programmed in November, 2016, to officially launch the eahrhi global package in Continental Europe.
David Kato – Human Rights Lecturer
The gruesome murder of David Kato Kisule, a Ugandan human rights activist has raised a major concern among world leaders who vehemently condemned the deliberate neglect and violation of fundamental human rights in Africa. Kato’s case is pathetic and points to the fact that many African states are yet to adopt leadership styles that suit modern day polarized societies where people’s freedom and rights to life should be respected. While it is true that most Western states have improved significantly in curbing human rights violations through laws, their counterparts in many parts of the developing regions of the world are still tolerating barbaric and uncivilized practices which undermine the rights of their subjects. David Kato’s killing, in fact, reveals the unwillingness of some governments especially in Africa to establish effective human rights laws that is targeted at reducing such abuses.
It is on this note that EAHRHI wish to join its voice in condemning murder and illegal killings of innocent citizens based on their sexual orientations. We call on states, African states inclusive to adopt laws that address crucial issues like gay rights into their various national constitutions in order to avert further jungle justice approach as the case of David Kato. At EAHRHI we understand that due to differences in beliefs system, religion, culture and moral considerations, it is both sensitive and complex to address the gay rights debate in many African societies, however, we advocate that instead of individuals taking laws into their hands by killing their fellow human beings for the sake of personal differences, the government should find a legal solution that protects, upholds and respect the dignity and rights of people irrespective of their sexual orientations. All killings motivated by hate and discrimination should be punished under the law and must be treated with the seriousness it deserves to serve as a deterrent to others.
In 1994, it was on record that the United Nations Human Rights Committee “issued a landmark decision finding that the Cameroonian Government had violated the right to freedom of expression and other rights of Albert Mukong, a writer, journalist and outspoken opponent of the one-party system in Cameroon”. His detention and the inhuman treatments suffered in the cells typify what kind of conditions activists in Africa are subjected to in pursuit of their rights of expression. These heroes are often thrown into the trash bin of history and it accounts for why EAHRHI holds annual lectures in their honour to further reinforce and re-echo their messages of hope and freedom which they have risked their lives spreading. The Kiobel-Mukong Human Rights Award is therefore to honour the struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation by these two African icons. Selection procedure for an annual recipient will be pasted on our website by September 15 of each year and the laureate will receive the award on November 18 of each year.
The Agnes Akwanga Girls Annual Education Fund (AAGAEF) is an arm of EAHRHI, which was established out of the burning passion of Mrs Agnes Akwanga to contribute towards the education of the less privileged girls around the world. Her experience as a girl-child growing up in Africa where parents prefer to send boys to school while the girls are good for only early marriages and farming spurred the idea of fighting for girl-child education. Mrs Akwanga defied all odds and fought her way up through self-sponsored education and as a result she vowed never to allow any girl-child to face the fight against illiteracy alone.