Human Rights Defender of the Month: Kadar Abdi Ibrahim

Kadar Abdi Ibrahim est un fervent militant des droits humains et journaliste djiboutien – un pays où les journalistes sont fréquemment harcelés, soumis à des intimidations et représailles orchestrées par le gouvernement et empêchés de conduire leurs activités de façon indépendante. Pourtant, Kadar continue à utiliser sa voix et sa plume comme outils pour promouvoir la justice.

En tant que militant des droits humains, journaliste et blogueur, il est une cible à Djibouti. « Je suis témoin, quotidiennement, de l’injustice et des souffrances que subissent mes compatriotes. En tant qu’humain, impossible de rester les bras croisés », explique-t-il.

En 2015, Kadar était le co-directeur et rédacteur en chef du journal L’Aurore, le seul organe de presse privé de Djibouti. En 2016, le journal a été interdit de publication suite à la parution d’un article sur l’une des victimes du massacre de Buldhuqo, au cours duquel au moins 29 personnes ont été tuées. « Je suis animé par le désir de voir mon pays adopter une culture démocratique et surtout faire sortir mes concitoyens de l’ignorance », ajoute-t-il. Il occupe par ailleurs le poste de Secrétaire-général du parti politique MoDeL (Mouvement pour la démocratie et la liberté).

Pour tenter de le faire taire, la police a arrêté Kadar à plusieurs reprises, ce qui témoigne des dangers liés à la défense des droits à Djibouti. Souvent, le gouvernement refuse de légaliser les organisations des DDH à moins qu’ils ne prêtent allégeance aux autorités. Les DDH font en outre face à des actes de harcèlement judiciaire et extrajudiciaire, à des attaques, à des campagnes de dénigrement et à la confiscation de leurs documents d’identité.

Pendant 20 années, Kadar a été professeur de lycée, puis enseignant-chercheur à l’Université de Djibouti, mais il a perdu son poste en raison de son engagement en faveur des droits humains. Il a aussi été radié de la fonction publique.

En avril 2018, quelques jours après son retour de Genève, où il a mené des activités de plaidoyer en amont de l’Examen périodique universel (EPU) de Djibouti au Conseil des droits de l’homme de l’ONU, des agents du Service de documentation et de sécurité (SDS), les services de renseignement djiboutiens, ont fait une descente à son domicile et confisqué son passeport. En dépit du fait que sa situation est clairement identifiée comme un cas de représailles par le Secrétaire-général adjoint des Nations Unies, qui a fait rapport sur la question au Conseil des droits de l’homme en 2018 et 2019, son passeport reste aux mains du SDS. Il est donc dans l’impossibilité de quitter son propre pays depuis deux ans.

Il reste convaincu du fait que les institutions onusiennes et les acteurs internationaux devraient exercer davantage de pression sur le gouvernement djiboutien et pousser en faveur de la justice et des droits humains, notamment en ce qui concerne la mise en œuvre des recommandations EPU – qui est l’un des seuls moyens de faire la lumière, au niveau international, sur la situation des droits humains à Djibouti.

« Il est de mon devoir de dénoncer l’injustice pour apporter de l’espoir à tous ceux qui en sont victimes. Je ne dois pas me contenter uniquement de la dénonciation, mais aussi agir pour montrer qu’une autre voie est possible avec nos maigres moyens en ressources humaines et matériels », conclut Kadar.

Kadar Abdi Ibrahim is an outspoken human rights activist and journalist from Djibouti – a country where journalists are frequently harassed, subjected to government-orchestrated intimidation and reprisals, and prevented from pursuing their work independently. Yet, Kadar continues to use his voice and pen as tools to promote justice.

As a human rights activist, journalist, and blogger, he is a target in Djibouti. “Every day, I witness the injustice and suffering inflicted upon my fellow compatriots. As a human being, I cannot stand idly by,” Kadar explains.

Every day, I witness the injustice and suffering inflicted upon my fellow compatriots. As a human being, I cannot stand idly by.

From 2015, Kadar was the co-director and chief editor of L’Aurore, Djibouti’s only privately-owned media outlet. In 2016, the newspaper was banned following the publication of a story on one of the victims of the Buldhuqo massacre – which killed at least 29 people. “I sincerely wish to see my country adopt a democratic culture and overcome ignorance,” he says. He also serves as Secretary-General for the political party Movement for Democracy and Freedom (MoDeL).

As a living testimony of the dangers linked to defending human rights in Djibouti, the police have arrested Kadar several times in an attempt to silence him. Often, the government refuse to legalise HRDs’ associations, unless they pledge allegiance to the authorities. In addition, they frequently face judicial and extrajudicial harassment and attacks, smear campaigns, and confiscation of identity documents.

For 20 years, Kadar was a high school teacher, then a Professor and Researcher at the University of Djibouti, but lost his position due to his human rights work.  He was later dismissed from civil service. 

In April 2018, just days after returning from Geneva, where Kadar carried out advocacy activities ahead of Djibouti’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council, agents of the Service de documentation et de sécurité (SDS, the intelligence service) raided his house and confiscated his passport. Despite his case being identified as a clear case of reprisals by the UN Assistant-Secretary-General, who reported on it to the Human Rights Council in 2018 and 2019, his passport remains with the SDS. He has been unable to leave his own country for the past two years.

He believes that UN institutions and international actors should put more pressure on the Djiboutian government, and call for justice and human rights, including the implementation of the UPR recommendations – which is one of the only ways of shining a light on Djibouti’s human rights situation at the international level.

It is my duty to denounce this injustice and bring hope to the victims. But I cannot content myself with speaking out against the situation; I also have to show that another path is possible, despite our limited human resources and financial means.

“It is my duty to denounce this injustice and bring hope to the victims. But I cannot content myself with speaking out against the situation; I also have to show that another path is possible, despite our limited human resources and financial means,” Kadar highlights.

See more HRDs of the Month

Human Rights Defender of the month: Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid

Hiader Abdalla Abu Gaid is one of the lucky survivors of Sudan’s latest conflict.

He was born 36 years ago, in Almalha locality, North Darfur state, the third born in a family of 10. Then, Darfur was not the hot bed of war and conflict it has since become infamous for. Although the region, predominantly inhabited by Sudan’s black population remained segregated by the predominantly Arab government in Khartoum, its people co-existed in thriving, predominantly subsistence communities. In Almalha, people reared camels and cattle, while others tended crops. The community was also famed for its hospitality to strangers, welcoming outsiders who ended up staying, owning land, and intermarrying with their hosts.

Human Rights Defender of the month:Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo

In personality, Immaculate Nabwire and Daphne Nakabugo could not be more different. Where the former is loud, if free-spirited, and mischievous, the latter is quiet, reticent, and predominantly solitary. Together though, they are the quiet champions behind DefendDefenders’ digital skilling programs, equipping (women) human rights defenders with critically transformative – and sometimes, life-saving digital tools and skills.
“You’ll be surprised how many people out there, including the literate are not exposed to the idea of digital safety. And as technology gets more advanced, it is getting ever more lucrative for hackers and other malign actors, which means that the urgency of the need for digital security skills for everyone cannot be over-stated,” says Daphne.

Human Rights Defender of the month:Mary Pais Da Silva

On 17 February 2023, in Ethiopia’s rustic resort of Bishoftu, more than 5000Km from her homeland, Mary Da Silva was announced winner of the 2023 AfricanDefenders Shield Award, in the presence of hundreds of colleague human rights defenders from 36 African countries. It was a fitting validation for the Eswatini human rights lawyer, whose sense of empathy and sensitivity to injustice has been a defining hallmark of her career.
Born 45 years ago in Lubombo, eastern Eswatini, the last of 4 siblings, Mary attributes her values to her upbringing. Although she was born in Eswatini, her parents are originally from Mozambique, and only relocated to eSwatini at the start of the Mozambican civil war that lasted between 1977-1992, which ravaged families and displaced many others.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Jane Naini Meriwas

Like many African societies, The Samburu community in Northern Kenya is a gerontocracy – a very hierarchical community in which elders hold sway over almost all private and public matters. Among these predominantly pastoral nomads, very little importance is attached to the young – especially young girls, who are barely given a chance at education and often married off before their first menstrual cycle, but not before they undergo mandatory Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
It is in this community that Jane Naini Meriwas was born 46 years ago, in Kipsing village, Oldonyiro Subcounty, Isiolo County. When she was 16, her mother passed on, and she watched with great trepidation as her father planned to marry another wife, not sure what that would mean for her or her ambitions for school. As it turned out, fate was on her side. When her father uncharacteristically asked what she thought of his plans, Jane seized the opportunity to stand up for herself and interests:

Human Rights Defender of the month: Kasale Maleton Mwaana

Kasale’s human rights activism precedes his years. The son of pastoralist parents from Ngorongoro district in northern Tanzania, he grew up seeing his parents and entire community having to defend their land and way of life against authorities who thought their lands could be put to better use. Now, at 25, Kasale is already one of the most recognizable advocates of his people’s cause, much to the ire of Tanzanian authorities.
“Our people’s struggle goes back many generations. It started with the pushing out of our forefathers from Serengeti to gazette Serengeti National Park in 1959, and then further evictions from the Ngorongoro crater to gazette the Ngorongoro conservation area in 1975. Since then, every generation has had to resist further evictions. It’s now my generation’s turn,” he says.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Pierre Claver Mbonimpa

Arguably no single individual personifies Burundi’s human rights struggle like Pierre Claver Mbonimpa. Born 72 years ago in the small East African country, Claver’s quest for human rights and justice is as old as his country’s modern history.

When his country was plunged into a civil war that killed an estimated 300,000 people following the 1993 assassination of President Cyprien Ntaryamira, Claver was one of its earliest victims. Then a close confidant (he was also a former driver) of the assassinated President, he was framed, and arrested, and would go on to spend the next two years between 1994 and 1996 in jail.

It is in prison that the ulcer of injustice bit him hard. There, he met inmates who had either been wrongfully imprisoned or who had been remanded for long periods without trial, all living in dehumanising conditions. “I was strongly revolted by the injustice. Here were probably innocent people whose years were being wasted away by an unfair judicial system, with no one to stand up for them. I swore that I would try to do something about it once I got out myself,” he says.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Kamau Ngugi

On October 7, 2022, Kamau Ngugi was elected Chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa human rights defenders’ network (EHAHRD-net), a stirring affirmation for the Kenyan human rights defender’s efforts in defense of human rights that go back nearly 30 years.

But it was not always this promising for her. Born 37 years ago in Grand Kru, Southeastern Liberia, Margaret had to do with a childhood of abuse, neglect, and want, after her, her sibling and her mother were abandoned by their father at an early age.

Human Rights Defender of the month: Margaret Muna Nigba

A human rights lawyer per excellence, Margaret is also an indefatigable woman human rights defender (WHRD) who has won the adulation of millions in her country for her impassioned dedication to defending the rights of women and girls in her native Liberia.

But it was not always this promising for her. Born 37 years ago in Grand Kru, Southeastern Liberia, Margaret had to do with a childhood of abuse, neglect, and want, after her, her sibling and her mother were abandoned by their father at an early age.

SHARE WITH FRIENDS: