Development partners including the United Nations, European Union, United States among others have mandated the government to improve its human rights situation.
They said human rights are not events therefore; it must be defended every day and everywhere as well as combating of the female genital mutilation which must be addressed.
These international partners made those comments during the international human rights day celebration and the closure to 16 days of activism held last Friday, December 10 in Monrovia.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Niels Scott, said human rights are also not second to development but it goes hand in hand with any country’s developmental programs globally, therefore it should be taken seriously.
Scott said human rights are worth fighting as the world is at crossroads since 73 years when the United Nations adopted the declaration.
The Head of Delegation of the European Union to Liberia, Laurent Delahousse, said human rights are not a given opportunity; they must be defended and promoted, every day, every year and everywhere.
He said combating female genital mutilation is part of that effort and added, “We acknowledge the efforts of the Government of Liberia, because every lost day is a broken life for many little girls in Liberia.”
“Reducing inequalities, advancing Human Rights”, reminds us that human rights are not second to development, that their promotion cannot wait for the improvement of people’s lives, that development and respect of Human Rights go together,” Delahousse noted.
He stated among many things that human rights are universal, they apply the same everywhere, from the local community to the global community and they belong to every human, they are consubstantial to the birth of every new baby wherever in the world, Liberia, Europe, America or China.
“Human rights are worth fighting for and their defence and promotion inspire the action of the European Union. The EU has adopted last year a new Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime,” the EU envoy noted.
He said for the first time this year the EU has adopted sanctions on persons and entities from China, North Korea, Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and Russia involved in serious Human Rights violations and abuses.
But denouncing and sanctioning perpetrators of human rights violations, he stated that it should be the States, organisations, political parties or individuals as only a part of the European Union’s global action, at home and abroad.
The EU has also further expanded concrete support to civil society organisations and Human Rights defenders to advance Human Rights and Democracy worldwide.
“With a special fund of 1.8 billion US dollars for the coming periods 2021 to 2027, we are reaffirming its role as world leader in this field,” Delahousse said.