DefendDefenders’ oral statements at HRC52
3 March 2023
Oral statements delivered during the 52nd session of the UN
Oral statements delivered during the 52nd session of the UN
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.
Venue: KampalaDates: 1st Cohort in March and 2nd Cohort in April,
Human rights defenders (HRDs) are people who act with humanity,
Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 52nd session (27
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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:
The 73rd session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The Commission) marked 35 years of the Commission’s commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in Africa. This August body is at the forefront of championing and setting human rights norms and standards in Africa and I congratulate it upon this milestone. Since 2009, AfricanDefenders and DefendDefenders have closely engaged with the Commission, and have excelled on concrete outcomes towards creating an enabling operating environment for human rights defenders (HRDs) across the continent. We can refer to few examples of resolutions and instruments developed and adopted by the Commission to advise state parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on setting standards and best practices in their countries.
It is with utter shock and distress that DefendDefenders and AfricanDefenders have learned of the assassination of prominent African human rights defender and advocate , Thulani Maseko, who was shot dead at his home in Luyengo, Mbabane, on 21 January 2023. DefendDefenders and AfricanDefenders believe that this heinous crime was planned, and that Mr. Maseko was targeted because of his persistent advocacy for accountability and greater civic space for political and civil society organisations in Eswatini.
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