An Open Letter to UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
February 15th, 2013 London, 15 Feb, 2013 Dear Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, During your upcoming visit to the African Union in Addis Ababa, we strongly urge you to visit the foundation stone for the African Union Human Rights Memorial that is located at the African Union headquarters. The Memorial signifies a continental step towards recognising and improving human rights in Africa and the support given by your visit would be very important. In 1994 the world witnessed a devastating abuse of human rights that was referred to as ‘a preventable tragedy’ by Mr Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General. The ‘preventable tragedy’ the Secretary General referred to was the Rwandan Genocide. The stark reality was that on 7 April, 1994 the international community stood on the side-lines as death began to descend on Rwanda. The tragedy, which claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000-1,000,000 Rwandans, occurred in the space of 100 days only. Former U.S. President Clinton later stated that the ‘biggest regret’ of his presidency was his failure to act decisively to stop the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide was not the only major atrocity suffered by Africans in recent history. From the Ethiopian Red Terror to Apartheid in South Africa to a history of slave trading and colonialism at large, there is no question that the collective blame of these atrocities rests on the shoulders of those who knew what was happening and those who were in the position to avert the situation. >From these past atrocities, however, there are lessons to be learnt and positive changes that can be made. The Rwandan genocide was one of the main catalysts that set in motion the eventual replacement of the OAU by the African Union (AU) in 2002. This transformation not only included fostering unity and solidarity between African countries, accelerating political and socio-economic integration, promoting peace, security and democracy, but it also placed human rights and genocide higher in the AU design. Prompted by the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, the AU finally reacted to take a stand against human rights violations within the African continent. In 2004 it pledged to create a permanent memorial in honour of major human rights atrocities in Africa, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and, with that pledge, the African Union Human Rights Memorial (AUHRM) project came into being. On January 28, 2012, as the African Union inaugurated its new headquarters in Addis Ababa, they also unveiled the foundation stone for the Human Rights Memorial. The foundation stone importantly represents the promise of a memorial that will be much more than just a physical monument. Not only will the AUHRM establish, for the first time, a continental memorial to commemorate and remember past African atrocities, as well as signal the collective responsibility of African states to intervene, but it will also include an extensive educational component aimed at preventing future atrocities. Located at the heart of the African Union headquarters, the AUHRM will be a permanent reminder to African leaders of their collective responsibilities to uphold the rights of all African citizens and to act to ensure the phrase “Never again” is more than hollow rhetoric. It will promote the realisation of basic and fundamental human rights, not only through its additional educational aspects, but by its very presence. We urge you to visit the foundation stone of the AUHRM to show your support for the commemoration of past atrocities in Africa and the important step being taken to both recognise and prevent human rights abuses in the future. Within the Liberal Democrats’ Manifesto it reads, “We believe in freedom, justice, prosperity and human rights for all and will do all we can to work towards a world where these hopes become reality.” The African Union Human Rights Memorial is truly an important indication of a Pan-African attempt to recognise and improve human rights, and we strongly believe that the gesture of you visiting the AUHRM foundation stone would be very significant. This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013 at 3:35 pm and is filed under Justice Africa News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Comments posted on this site are the sole opinions of respondents, and are not reflective of the views of Justice Africa. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
