The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) is calling for a united front not just among lawyers but with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to confront human rights violations which have become daily issues in the country.
The Bar said whatever affects a citizen or resident in Liberia affects the work of the human rights organizations because daily indigents are being represented in court by human rights defenders including lawyers.
LNBA’s president, Sylvester Dorbor Rennie, made these comments Monday during the formal opening of a three-day workshop organized by the Liberia Coalition for Human Rights Defenders in Monrovia.
He said the continual human rights violations in the country are serious matters and that have rules of law implications which will also enable civil society organizations to function well.
Rennie therefore called for the respect of the rule of law at all times but wants violators of the law to be prosecuted.
The Human Rights Commission’s Executive Director, Urias Teh-Pour, is mainly calling for the protection of women’s human rights defenders in their daily work.
Teh-Pour said this is because negative things are being said about women’s human rights as compared to their male counterpart which does not augur well therefore; there is a need to protect them.
He stressed the need to have a policy that will protect human rights defenders and others whose human rights seem to be trampled upon at all times.
Regrettably, the Justice Ministry as well as the Office of the Human Rights Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations was conspicuously absent.
The three-day workshop gathered both local and international human rights defenders from the United Kingdom, Sierra Leone, Togo and Liberia.
Other issues being discussed are challenges faced by human rights defenders specifically those aligned with risks while working on specific issues and personalities such as journalists, bloggers, LGBTI rights, advocates working in the extractive industries and women’s human rights.
Participants will have a better understanding of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders but most importantly, international human rights mechanisms such as human rights council, special procedures, treaty bodies and Universal Periodic Review.
Also, the attendees will hear first-hand examples of some engagements and as well discuss their interactions with the different mechanisms and possible strategies for advocacy with these bodies.
Presenters of various topics are Adama Dempster of the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia; Thomas Bureh, Program Consultant of the Liberia Coalition for Human Rights Defenders; and Duwana Kingsley, Acting Head of Secretariat of LICHR.
Others are Counselor Findley Karngar, Human Rights Lawyer Success Thinkers and Associates; and Attorney Bowoulo Taylor Kelley, Vice President of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL).
