Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) on Tuesday led commemorations of the Africa Human Rights Day asserting the importance of the continent’s own human rights charter and its unique principles.
In a statement to mark the day, ZHRC chairperson Fungayi Majome expressed disappointment that the day often passes unnoticed.
Majome called on Africans to recognise the significance of the day to the livelihoods of black people at large.
“It is a pity all along that we did not celebrate Africa Human Rights Day as much as, if not more than, International Human Rights Day, because we know we start with the local and we go outwards,” she said.
Majome said the day commemorated the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, a landmark legal instrument that came into force on October 21, 1986.
“The African Charter is Africa’s bill of rights,” Majome said, outlining rights, freedoms and crucially, duties rooted in African values.
This year’s commemorations were held under the theme, Open-court justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations from slavery and colonialism.
“The theme underscores the African Union’s enduring desire and push to ensure historical injustices are remedied through reparatory justice,” Majome said.
She said ZHRC was spearheading a revival of interest in the African human rights system.
“In March this year, I called upon the network of African national human rights institutions for us as Africans to start celebrating our own day because if we don’t celebrate our own human rights, no one will,” Majome said.
“The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission calls on the government of Zimbabwe to safeguard the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the country.”
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