When Rights Advocates Become Violators

• Posted by Modou S. Joof on May 31, 2010 at 10:37pm

• View Modou S. Joof's blog

Banjul, The Gambia (TNBES) Often we hear powerful nations pointing accusing fingers to governments, especially African of having poor human rights records, lacking democracy and the rule of law.

That can sound quite ironical when some of these so-called big nations are in fact to an extent undemocratic, lacks good foreign policies and can violate peoples’ rights or commit atrocities and go scot free.

However, we are not calling on African governments to continue violating the rights of their people, lacking rule of law, lacking good governance and lacking good management of national resources.

No, it is high time for our governments to be people centred in all their development agendas thereby respecting the rights of people, especially freedom of expression and of the press; the right to assemble freely, and above all the right to life.

It seems so easy to kill in Africa, we have seen the incredible actions of the Guinea army spraying life bullets on armless civilians, the atrocities committed by rebel factions in the Cassamance Region, Bissau, Freetown,
Monrovia, the Niger Delta, Jos, Darfur, Mogadishu, name them till dooms day.

That incredible xenophobic attack on African fellows by fellow Africans in South Africa is the most uncalled for and unwanted atrocities perpetrated by civilians; this was unthinkable and added up to the lack of respect for human rights in Africa to a large extent.
But when right advocates becomes violators they do not subscribe to the statue that set up the International Criminal Court and can commit the worst atrocities and go freely and even if on the act they can be heard calling countries undemocratic.

Lets call a spade a spade, to admit that democracy is the least a reality in a world where justice is said a trillion times but only seen to be done once in a while when common men, women and children are impoverished, attacked, killed, arrested, detained, tortured, imprisoned because they are weak, for expressing themselves, assembling peacefully or do not share diplomatic relations.

Documenting torture in a 111 countries by the human rights group Amnesty International is the least of violations committed across the world, there is more to the book than the cover, and we believe it has no place in our world and need to stop immediately.

“The ICC is the most suitable legal system for international justice, subscribe to it and be prosecuted accordingly for the atrocities you commit.”