New Human Rights Commission chairperson sworn in – AIM

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New Human Rights Commission chairperson sworn in – AIM

7:46 CAT | 19 Oct 2017

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday urged the new leadership of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) to safeguard the values defended by Mozambique’s first President, Samora Machel.

He was speaking at the ceremony where he swore into office the new chairperson of the CNDH, Luis Bitone Nahe, which coincidentally fell on the 31st anniversary of Samora Machel’s death. The President died on 19 October 1986, in a plane crash at Mbuzini just inside South Africa, which was widely believed to have been engineered by the apartheid regime.

Nyusi said that the new CNDH leadership must “be more creative in seeking solutions to the problems that confront you”, since the present economic situation was not favourable for the defence of human rights.

“On the one hand the current conjuncture imposes great sacrifices which may even imply pressure on some basic human rights, while on the other there are fewer resources for you to carry out your mission to the full”, he added.

The President said that, at difficult moments, leaders are sometimes obliged to take difficult decisions which, although with good intentions, may encourage some of the major causes of human rights violations. “Under these circumstances, the main victims are the poorest and most vulnerable citizens”, he declared.

Also Read: Overall human rights situation has deteriorated in Mozambique – EU

Nyusi noted that in recent years “we have been faced with allegations, true or not, of violations of human rights by the authorities and by private bodies”. These allegations demanded the attention of the CNDH.

“With the speed, transparency, independence and justice that characterise it, the Commission should undertake investigations to compile evidence that allows clarification of the events, and identification of who committed the violations”, he added. The evidence should then be sent to the relevant authorities.

“We want to build a country where all citizens know their rights, and also their duties, and everybody knows that we are all, as human beings, equal”, Nyusi stressed. “We want a commission which is not content with discovering weaknesses, but is part of the group which, as a family, wants to solve all the problems of the nation”.

He added that the ethical and moral profile of each of the members of CNDH “is a guarantee that those chosen will exercise their new duties with the expected impartiality and responsibility”.

The CNDH consists of 11 members – three chosen by the political parties represented in parliament, four chosen by civil society, three appointed by the Prime Minister, and one appointed by the Mozambique Bar Association (OAM).

The new chairperson, Luis Bitone Nahe, is one of the civil society appointees. He is a lawyer and a university lecturer, and he has been coordinator of the Human Rights Resource Centre set up by the UN Human Rights Office and Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University.

He succeeds prominent human rights lawyer, Custodio Duma, who held the post for the past five years.

Source: AIM