Human rights
Our organisation will be using the following means to promote human rights
Educating the public about human rights.
raising awareness of human rights issues
Promoting public support for human rights.
Promoting respect for human rights by individuals and corporations.
relieving need among the victims of human rights abuse
There are a number of ways that the trustees will employ which we are going to outline below:
Educating the public and raising awareness about human rights
As a starting point, the trustees will promote the understanding of what basic human rights are as
defined by ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ by translating its articles e.g. ‘the right to
life, equality and expression of opinion’ into local languages and distribute such material to relevant
organisations and locations e.g. schools, public spaces, government institutions. In particular, we
will be starting our work in the north eastern regions (Puntland) of Somalia as there is a genuine
political commitment from regional government, local authorities and traditional leaders/elders to
safeguard an individual's human rights according to the definition of the UN’s Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, Islamic law and traditional customary law. However, this affirmation has not yet
filtered down to the vulnerable sectors of society. Therefore, this will be where our trustees' focus
will be dedicated to which include to working with civil society partners in conjunction with schools
and other NGOs. Overall, the work will be: a) raise awareness of the concept, significance and
universality of human rights by using different methods such as pamphlets, media programmes, and
education at basic level. B) Work with partner organisations who take practical steps to safeguard
those most at risk of human rights abuse (women, street children etc.)
The activities of the trustees will include visiting schools and other educational institutions and
organisations to find out how children can be taught about human rights issues at an early age and
assist and encourage schools to include human rights and global citizens’ lessons in their schools’
curriculum. In taking practical steps, we will help schools and other formal or informal educational
bodies to develop teaching and learning materials for both adults and young people on learning
about their rights, respecting other people’s rights, religious and social tolerances, and violence and
how it affects people’s lives both socially and economically. Such resources will also focus on values
of human dignity, people’s lives, and equality and how everybody can be a winner in living in a just
and equal society.
Furthermore, in raising awareness of human rights issues, the trustees will use other methods
including local media outlets, e.g. local Radios, TV channels to talk to people and discuss issues about
the universal rights and freedoms that every person is entitled to among the communities in which
they live in regardless of their race, gender, believes and political opinions.
Promoting public support for human rights and respect for human rights
In our public education and raising awareness of human rights activities, we will also promote public support and respect for human rights. Our activities for promoting public support for human rights include public speeches, discussions, distribution of pamphlets. In addition, trustees plan to commission Radio/Television dramas to promote respect for human rights by individuals,
organisations, administrations and the whole society. One of our Trustees has already worked on
Radio Literacy programmes which were broadcasted on BBC World Service where promoting respect
and public support for human rights was one of the themes for teaching Literacy.
Relieving need among the victims of human rights abuse
In general, our organisation plans to work with vulnerable groups and individuals who are more likely to be victims of human rights abuse. Depending on the resource available to the trustees, we
intend to provide support and assistance to the victims of human rights abuse. For example, we are aware of violence against women, particularly in the displaced communities in our target areas. So
we plan to work with the local people to help them access to counselling and medical services as well as providing support and assistance to the victims to rebuild their lives. Other group of people
that our organisation intends to provide relief to their needs is street children who are usually victims of violence due to their vulnerability. They also suffer from social isolation and don’t have
access to basic services such as education and health.
The trustees will undertake the activities themselves as well as working partner organisations to
promote human rights as seen fit for the task. When choosing an organisation to partner with, we
will only be working with organisations which hold a respect for the human rights and promote
religious, gender and political equality and freedom. We will be also working with grassroots
organisations or groups who are committed to protecting the rights of vulnerable groups of the
society and the organisations who are already engaged in helping and supporting the victims of
human rights abuses and those, both local and international who campaign to protect and promote
respect for human rights.
Due to social conflict and political instability, the trustees are particularly concerned with human
rights abuses against the most vulnerable sections of the society including minority groups, women
children, IDPS and the people with disability whether physically or mentally as well as revenge
killings against men. The trustees will use the criteria that these groups are marginalised in our
target communities in terms of decision making, resource distribution, and security protection so
they are the most vulnerable in the society in the current situation of our concerned parts of
Somalia. For example, we will address violence against children at schools, particularly at religious
schools and at homes, discrimination against displaced people, violence and discrimination against
minority groups and the domestic workers.
At this stage, we envisage that the trustees will only be promoting human rights that are enshrined
in the domestic laws of Somalia or the international laws/treaties that the country is a signatory to.
Our organisation will not be taking any political activities aimed at securing, or opposing any change
in the law or in the policy or decisions of central government, local authorities or other public
bodies. We will direct our efforts towards engaging people in understanding, protecting and
preserving human rights by supporting administrations, leaders of the local communities and the
traditional leaders where they have already declared their support to human rights as well as
providing resources to local NGOs and government institutions to work together in protecting
human rights and improving living conditions for their citizens.