By William Selmah wselmah@gmail.com
The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) says it has undertaken some initiatives to support the contributions of National Human Rights Institutions during talks leading to the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
It is encouraging inputs from the Human Rights Council (HRC) and stakeholders on how it could further contribute to “this urgent agenda through our common purpose to build peaceful and inclusive societies and thus contribute to development where no one is left behind”.
This was contained in a statement delivered on behalf of NANHRI by the Representative of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) to Geneva Katharina Rose, at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council on July 4, according to a dispatch.
NANHRI is the umbrella body of 44 National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) across Africa.
It thanked the HRC and the Office of the High Commission on Human Rights (OHCHR) for their roles in establishing and strengthening National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).
“NANHRI is particularly impressed with the role of the OHCHR in providing technical assistance and capacity building to states on migration by strengthening NHRIs… and ensure they are well equipped to fulfil their mandate and functions effectively”, the consortium of African human rights groups asserted.
But the network has at the same time expressed fears that those efforts could be undermined by “emerging domestic and transnational human rights issues”. It pointed out migration as one of those issues “which has spread its tentacles beyond national boundaries and into continents”.
Africa is experiencing one of the worst migrant crises ever recorded in human history, with hundreds of its people drowning yearly trying to make the dangerous journey to Europe via the Mediterranean sea.
Eritrea, Somalia, Senegal and Gambia lead the list of countries worst affected by the disaster; followed by Nigeria and Ghana.
Economic factors including high unemployment are often pointed out as the main driving force behind African migrants, majority of them young men, venturing into the Mediterranean in search of better life in Europe.