Advocating human rights
EVERYBODY has a part to play in building a robust culture of human rights, says Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission director Ashwin Raj.
He said encouraging human rights advocates was an essential part of ensuring every Fijian took ownership of their basic human rights.
“Human rights is always an evolving agenda particularly in light of emerging transboundary human rights challenges involving climate change, the questions around ecological justice, issues around intersectional human rights issues such as business in human rights and reproductive health right issues,” he said.
“We need to constantly reflect on how we think about human rights, how we teach it and how do we advocate around human rights.”
He said ordinary citizens from the rural and developed communities could have a different perspective of human rights than that of NGOs and community leaders and organisations so it was important to bridge the gap between the two.
Mr Raj said the European Union funding the Human Rights Community Advocates Training workshop was one such tool that encouraged dialogue on human rights awareness in Fijian communities.
“I think it is very important to have that kind of open discussion.”
More than 50 participants from the civil society and public service were part of the four-day training workshop that began in Nadi yesterday.
The workshop is part of the Fiji Access to Justice Project funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.