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Rights NGO to hold vigil for Gambia
murder victims
Accra, June 29, GNA - The Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative (CHRI) on Friday said it would organize a vigil
on Tuesday in honour of the 44 Ghanaians and six other
Africans who were murdered in The Gambia two years ago.
"It is our hope that the people of Ghana can signal to the
Africa Union (AU) the importance of pursuing agendas that
promote human rights throughout the region," it said in a
statement released in Accra.
The statement said the vigil was to send a message to
President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia and to the rest of the
AU leaders that Ghanaians and the international community
could not look on quietly while human rights violations were
happening.
The statement called on President Jammeh to take
responsibility for this injustice and communicate his
commitment to find the perpetrators of this heinous crime to
book.
"We also hope that all AU delegates will adopt this issue
and set a precedent that will serve to prevent future
atrocities."
It said the memory of the 44 Ghanaians serves as a lasting
reminder of the persisting human rights issues still facing
Africans.
It said although many countries had pledged to enforce human
rights, extra judicial killings in The Gambia, Sudan,
Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African
countries continued to deprive individuals of their most
basic human rights, the right to life.
The statement also said the recent incidents in Darfur had
received particular international attention and were
regarded as the hallmark of these forms of infractions.
GNA
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