St Helena : HUMAN RIGHTS RESOURCES ON ST HELENA
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 07.04.2012 (Article Archived on 19.05.2012)
His Excellency Governor Capes last week hosted a reception at Plantation House to recognise the important work of the St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee (HRCBC), chaired by Speaker Cathy Hopkins MBE, and to mark a milestone in the Committee’s endeavours - the launch of a set of Human Rights resources designed to inform the public and stimulate debate.
HUMAN RIGHTS RESOURCES ON ST HELENA
His Excellency Governor Capes last week hosted a reception at Plantation House to recognise the important work of the St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee (HRCBC), chaired by Speaker Cathy Hopkins MBE, and to mark a milestone in the Committee’s endeavours - the launch of a set of Human Rights resources designed to inform the public and stimulate debate.
Working in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation, its Challenge Fund and DfID, the Committee has now published a locally-produced booklet, ‘Rights and Responsibilities’, which has already been widely distributed around the Island. A range of posters has also been produced, together with a Poster Competition in St Helena schools, both designed to stimulate debate. These were displayed at the reception. The Challenge Fund has also allowed the Committee to study the type of Human Rights Commission needed by St Helena, scheduled to be in operation in 2015.
Opening the reception Governor Capes thanked Speaker Hopkins and her colleagues:
‘We have in St Helena a well organised and active group of people who take a close interest in human rights issues and who have worked hard to raise awareness across our community on the scope and value of Human Rights in our daily lives. So my grateful thanks to Cathy, those on her Committee and to others here who have helped with the capacity-building project’.
Thanking her HRCBC colleagues, the Commonwealth Foundation and DfID for their support, and launching the resources, Speaker Hopkins added:
‘We thought it right to celebrate the completion of the Building Human Rights Capacity in Overseas Territories project with this tangible evidence of physical resources to support schools, Government directorates and civil society. We hope that these will assist them in their work and in developing greater awareness and understanding of Human Rights’.
Joining the reception by telephone from the Commonwealth Foundation in London, Rosanna Mesquita, Consultant (Human Rights Capacity Building Project), relayed a message from Vijay Krishnarayan, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, who said:
‘This resource project is home grown, developed and run by St Helena’s Human Rights Capacity Building Committee, and provides knowledge and tools about Rights to a wide audience - both young and old, to public officials and civil society organisations as well as the general public. From the programme’s perspective, this project squarely contributes to our overall aim for each Territory to strengthen its Human Rights foundations’.
He concluded:
‘We hope that the links we have forged with St Helena will remain strong and we look forward to future cooperation in our wider work here at the Foundation. Finally, we hope that you will continue to build on your achievements to bring Human Rights home to everyone in St Helena in the years to come and we wish you every success with the implementation of your National Action Plan to establish a National Human Rights Commission in 2015’.
Public Relations Office
The Secretariat
4th April 2012
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