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West Africa Grassroots Frontline Human Rights Defenders Virtual Conference
Social Media Toolkit
Welcome!
Welcome!
Led by Alfred Lahai Brownell Sr,Tom & Andi Bernstein Visiting Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School, the West Africa Grassroots Frontline Human Rights Defenders Virtual Conference brings together 150+ grassroots activists, along with international experts from 18 countries. Here’s everything you need to be part of the Conference on social media #WestfricanHRDs #HRDAwareness
Hashtag
Hashtag
#WestAfricanHRDs
#HRDAwareness
How to Participate Online
Post our graphics and suggested tweets with the hashtags #WestAfricanHRDs and #HRDAwareness. Feel free to discuss the plight of HRDs in West Africa, especially the threats they face as they struggle to protect their lands and their people. You can Tag us on Twitter and on Instagram @westafricahrds
Post our graphics and suggested tweets with the hashtags #WestAfricanHRDs and #HRDAwareness. Feel free to discuss the plight of HRDs in West Africa, especially the threats they face as they struggle to protect their lands and their people. You can Tag us on Twitter and on Instagram @westafricahrds
Sample Tweets to use During the Conference:
We had our farms, land, water, and fishes in our creeks. Now the land is empty. They destroyed the forest, no trees, they spoiled the creek, no water and fish and the land are polluted, we cannot farm so we do not have job and the white people say they will not give us job. We are finished” — Kintinian, Guinea. #WestAfricanHRDs #HRDAwareness
More work must be done to protect #WestAfricanHRDs #HRDAwareness. We can begin by reading and sharing this report highlighting the struggles faced as a Human Rights Defender: https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/schell/west_africanhrd_draft_baseline_2021final-nc-edits4.docx
A recent report co-authored by Alfred Lahai Brownell Sr., Tom & Andi Bernstein Visiting Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School; Green Advocates International, a human rights organization in Liberia; and several other human rights organizations in West Africa exposes the troubles faced by #WestAfricanHRDs while trying to protect their lands and peoples. Help to raise #HRDAwareness by reading and sharing the report:
“We are called mercenaries as soon as we touch on important rights that do not promote the neoliberal agenda. We are isolated, we are sometimes prevented from going to international meetings” —Benin #WestAfricanHRDs #HRDAwareness
According to RSF, several journalists and bloggers in Benin have been prosecuted since the adoption in April 2016 of a digital law with provisions restricting press freedom and criminalizing press offences. It was the first time in West Africa that a journalist has been jailed for using social media to accurately report statements made by an official.
More must be done to ensure not only that that the work of #WestAfricanHRDs is protected #HRDAwareness Read more here: https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/schell/west_africanhrd_draft_baseline_2021final-nc-edits4.docx
Sample Instagram and Facebook posts:
We had our farms, land, water, and fishes in our creeks. Now the land is empty. They destroyed the forest, no trees, they spoiled the creek, no water and fish and the land are polluted, we cannot farm so we do not have job and the white people say they will not give us job. We are finished” — Kintinian, Guinea
We had our farms, land, water, and fishes in our creeks. Now the land is empty. They destroyed the forest, no trees, they spoiled the creek, no water and fish and the land are polluted, we cannot farm so we do not have job and the white people say they will not give us job. We are finished” — Kintinian, Guinea
Research has found that environmental and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are three times as likely to suffer attacks than other HRDS, and 77% of HRDs that were killed in 2018 worked on land, indigenous peoples, or environmental rights. A recent report co-authored by Alfred Lahai Brownell Sr., Tom & Andi Bernstein Visiting Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School; Green Advocates International, a human rights organization in Liberia; and several other human rights organizations in West Africa aims to highlight this issue, with the goal of ensuring that not only is the work of Human Rights Defenders recognised, but that they are protected enough to continue doing it. Read the Full report: https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/schell/west_africanhrd_draft_baseline_2021final-nc-edits4.docx
Research has found that environmental and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) are three times as likely to suffer attacks than other HRDS, and 77% of HRDs that were killed in 2018 worked on land, indigenous peoples, or environmental rights. A recent report co-authored by Alfred Lahai Brownell Sr., Tom & Andi Bernstein Visiting Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School; Green Advocates International, a human rights organization in Liberia; and several other human rights organizations in West Africa aims to highlight this issue, with the goal of ensuring that not only is the work of Human Rights Defenders recognised, but that they are protected enough to continue doing it. Read the Full report: https://law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/schell/west_africanhrd_draft_baseline_2021final-nc-edits4.docx
“We are called mercenaries as soon as we touch on important rights that do not promote the neoliberal agenda. We are isolated, we are sometimes prevented from going to international meetings” —Benin
According to RSF, several journalists and bloggers have been prosecuted since the adoption in April 2016 of a digital law with provisions restricting press freedom and criminalizing press offences. A journalist was sentenced to 18 months in prison under this law for tweeting comments made by the prosecutor general. It was the first time in West Africa that a journalist has been jailed for using social media to accurately report statements made by an official.
Without representation or proper protocol, defenders in West Africa and Equatorial Guinea struggle to protect their peoples and their communities, often in the face of danger with no protection strategies. More must be done to ensure not only that their work is recognised, but that they are protected enough to continue doing it. Read more in this report:
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