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Eritrea:
Movement For Democracy and Human Rights
07
February 2008
Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR)
is a non-violent, autonomous, not-for-profit, civic movement that
strives for the promotion of human and democratic rights in Eritrea.
EMDHR was founded voluntarily in December 2003 by a group of Eritrean
students and exiles in the Republic of South Africa who recognized
the need to establish an impartial and apolitical civic movement that
serves as a platform to promote civic knowledge and advocate for the
basic rights of all Eritreans. The movement is founded on the
principle that Eritreans should join their efforts in order to
realize their dreams of sustainable democracy and lasting peace in
Eritrea, in particular and the Horn of Africa in general.
EMDHR
can easily be explained as a sphere of interaction between Eritrean
citizens and all active Eritrean political powers, which is
manifested in norms of community cooperation, structure of voluntary
association, and networks of public communication.
It is built
upon norms and networks: norms of reciprocity through which Eritreans
learn to trust one another and build networks of interpersonal
communication and exchange.
Since its inception, the EMDHR has been intervening and
strongly advocating on behalf of Eritrean asylum seekers Moreover,
the EMDHR independently as well as in collaboration with other
Eritrean and international civil societies has been consistently
appealing to the Government of Eritrea and the international
community to acknowledge and take necessary action on the ongoing
suppression of fundamental freedoms in Eritrea.
As part of its civic awareness campaigns, between mid
2005 –July 2006, the EMDHR developed and published an
educational manual on nonviolent action in Tigringa language, titled
“Challenging our Perception”. The principles and
practices of nonviolent strategy incorporated in the manual are hoped
to serve as underpinning theory guiding the endeavors of building a
new society in which all Eritreans are empowered to non-violently
exercise their basic rights. Despite the fact that the circumstances
inside Eritrea are not favorable, the EMDHR has been persistently
transferring the values of nonviolent action to the people inside the
country via various mediums that happen to be permeable from time to
time.
The EMDHR has developed its own mass media communication
platforms which will enable the organization to conduct its civic
education programs and create a platform for discussion and
interaction among the citizens. The two most developed communication
platforms are the radio program on meselna delina, Magazine Meseley
and of course this website.
The EMDHR ultimately hopes to serve as a sphere of
interaction between Eritrean citizens and all active Eritrean
political powers, which is manifested in norms of community
cooperation, structure of voluntary association, and networks of
public communication with the sole intent of empowering one another.
TO JOIN, DONATE
TO, AND MORE ON EMDHR PLEASE GO TO: http://www.emdhr.org/
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