Human rights activist speaks at USAid event
EAST Londoner Caviner Ruiters is flying the city’s flag high as an international human rights activist.
The John Bisseker Secondary School alumnus spoke at the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) international conference this week on the issue of women’s rights.
Growing up in Parkside, Ruiters said he was exposed to the abuse of women and children. One day he decided that he would go around the country – as well as abroad – to make people aware of it.
“I remember one day, walking to the shop and I saw a man beating up a woman in the streets. He kicked her while everyone watched [and did nothing]. I had to act against abuse and through the assistance of Masimanyane Women's Support Centre, who used to visit schools around East London, they directed me to where I needed to get relevant information,” he said.
His duties as an international human rights activist, include travelling around the country telling people that women and men are equal and should be treated with the dignity and respect they deserved.
Ruiters is also a semi-finalist in the Justice Pageant founded by Jolene Leeuwner-Maritz, who is also the pageant’s chief executive officer.
According to the Justice Pageant website, the pageant was established in collaboration with the No Crime Culture Project, with its primary objective to select and shape individuals who would serve as role-models and execute the general programme created by the project. “This is a really big deal for me as I am the only one [finalist] from Eastern Cape,”
Ruiters, a Rhodes University student, will also be graduating next week with his second degree, in business science
He encouraged and urged the older generation to start believing in the South African youth again because they had the ability to reach their dreams.