Human Rights International
West Africa – Human Rights Weeks
Khadidia Sangaré (right), Mali’s Minister for Human Rights, presents a 2018 participant of the annual human rights course with a certificate at the Constitutional Court in Bamako
© FNFThe Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom also focuses intensively on human rights education in West Africa. This extends far beyond the usual staples such as seminars or lectures. Since 2011, in cooperation with the René Cassin Foundation in Strasbourg, the Foundation has been hosting annual “Human Rights Weeks”.
The event’s great success has prompted a large number of local and international partners, such as the UN Mission MINUSMA in Mali, the regional offices of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the region’s National Human Rights Commission, to join the initiative.
In addition to education and seminars, the Human Rights Weeks now also include film screenings, conferences and networking events which provide both male and female constitutional judges and lawyers with the opportunity to exchange experiences. About 1,500 male and female lawyers, judges, human rights activists
and interested citizens from the francophone countries took part in the Human Rights Weeks’ 19 events (nine in Senegal, five in Mali and five in Côte d’Ivoire). This creates a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences in the fight for and promotion of human rights on the African continent.