By Oforiwaa Darko
Accra is now the seventh Ubuntu Hub city on the Continent. This makes it a safe haven for human rights defenders by providing them with safety and security. The Ubuntu Hub Cities is a city-based relocation mechanism for human rights defenders at risk across Africa. The Gender Centre for Empowering Development, GenCed, the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (DefendDefenders), has officially launched the initiative in Accra. A report by Oforiwa Darko.
Here on the continent of Africa, Human Rights Defenders continue to face threats, reprisals, and physical and mental violence as a consequence of their human rights work, forcing them sometimes into exile. Now, Accra, a city in the Greater Accra Region and Ghana’s capital, will serve as a safe and temporary refuge. Since the inception of the Ubuntu Hub Cities project, Accra comes as the seventh destination, the second in West Africa after Abidjan in la Cote d’Ivoire, and the first English-speaking country in West Africa to host the hub.
The Chairperson of African Defenders and the Executive Director of DefendDefenders, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Mr. Hassan Shire, said the temporary relocation will enable the human rights defenders, to take a break from a situation of high pressure, and continue their work in a safe working environment.
The Executive Director of GenCED Madam Esther Tawiah acknowledged the difficulties some human activists encounter in the discharge of their duties. She however said that GenCED would provide the needed support to human rights defenders, physically and mentally.
From lessons learnt and best practices identified by similar city-based relocation programmes across the world, the Ubuntu Hub Cities initiative is tailored to the needs of African Human Rights Defenders. Ubuntu Hub Cities provides a durable option that combines safety, rest and respite, and opportunities for continued activism.
