The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

Thursday 27 October 2022

Paris, 27 October 2022. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) announces the unanimous re-election of its President, Alice Mogwe, and the election of a new international board.

This re-election took place in Paris, during the 41st FIDH Congress, which marks the centenary of the international organisation. FIDH announces the unanimous re-election of its President, Alice Mogwe, and the election of a new international board.

This re-election took place in Paris, during the 41st FIDH Congress, which marks the centenary of the international organisation.

and director of DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights, she has been a human rights activist in Botswana and its neighbouring countries in Southern Africa for many years before being elected President of FIDH in 2019, during the organisation’s 40th Congress.

Composed of 188 member organisations located on all five continents, FIDH has at its head a President, assisted by an international bureau comprising five General Secretaries and 15 Vice-Presidents.

As the voice of its member organisations, FIDH acts all over the world following the principle of universality: the same rights, everywhere, for everyone.

FIDH celebrates its centenary this year, a centenary marked by significant successes, such as the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 or the creation of the International Criminal Court
in 2000, but also by countless missions of observation, investigation and support.

Alice Mogwe’s first mandate was marked by a series of serious global crises. For Ms Mogwe, “The defence of human rights has been tested by several catastrophic events: the global pandemic of Covid-19 and the
large-scale wars in Ukraine, Syria and Yemen, coups d’état and many challenges to democratic principles.”

However, Ms Mogwe notes, “FIDH has been able to address these crises and through concerted action with its members, achieve significant victories against the hardening attitude and actions of authoritarian regimes.”

The new international office is composed of : Gloria Cano Legua (Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos, Peru), Kaari Mattila (Finnish League for Human Rights, Finland), Drissa Traore (Mouvement Ivoirien des
Droits Humains, Ivory Coast), Adilur Rahman Khan (Odhikar, Bangladesh) and Mazen Darwish (Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, Syria) – and of 15 vice presidents : Lucia Guadalupe Chavez Vergas (Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, Mexico), Alexis Deswaef (Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, Belgium), Diana Alzeer (Al Haq, Palestine), Glaucia Marinho (Justiça Global, Brasil), Reyhan Yalcindag Baydemir (Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD) / Ankara, Turkey), Fatia Maulidiyanti (Kontras, Indonesia), Guissou Jahangiri (Armanshahr/ Open Asia, Afghanistan), Valiantsin Stefanovic (Viasna, Belarus), Alide Bouangui (Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l’Homme, Congo-Brazzaville), Reinaldo Vallalba Vargas (Corporación Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo, Colombia), Abdillahi Ali Zakaria (Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits Humains, Djibouti), Maryse Artiguelong (Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, France), Jean-Claude Katende (Association Africaine des Droits de l’Homme, DRC), Oleksandra Matviichuk (Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine) and Aissa Rahmoune (Ligue Algérienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme, Algeria).

Ms. Mogwe stressed that this new mandate should be one of hope: “New challenges are emerging, including climate change and environmental justice.

“While many of our friends are still unjustly incarcerated, we affirm our will to fight to preserve our rights and to acquire new ones. The world may seem hopeless at times, but to act is still the best way to hope.”