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Representatives
of Eritrean Civil Societies meet in London
London, 13 Sep 2003
Civil
societies play a vital role in any society in creating an atmosphere of
understanding. Europe has a
long and proud history of various civil societies which contributed and
still are contributing to the well being of the democratic institutions.
Unfortunately, Eritrea's experience in this area was very short but
they nonetheless played a vital role in bringing about some crucial
changes during the colonial era especially during the British Military
Administration.
Our
society has been polarised over the last few decades and this has created
a number of problems. The
first victim of such polarisation is tolerance.
The attitude "if you are not with us 100%, you are against
us" has become the norm in Eritrean politics.
It is to address these intellectual, social and political deficits
that Eritrean Civil Societies started to emerge in the last two years.
The ground work for a tolerant, knowledge based and respectful
political dialogue has now started and is progressing well.
The
natural next step was for the civil societies to get together and work for
a common good and a people-blessed ideal.
This ideal is based on truth and morality and is flanked by a theme
called 'National Salvation'. Eritrea
is in peril. The range of abuses is extensive and the government's
security services have become insidiously dangerous.
Regrettably, persecution, imprisonment and disappearances of
citizens have been further intensified.
Respectable Human Rights groups and international organisation
repeatedly verify the fact on the ground - a gloomy assessment of the
current situation in Eritrea.
In
a follow-up to last year’s meeting, during which
Network of Eritrean Civil Societies – Europe was formed, representatives
of twelve Eritrean civil societies in Europe conferred for three days in
the London last week (5-7 Sep). The
meeting was hosted by EHDR-UK.
The
conference helped to solidify the inter-societal relationship and paved a
strategy to shape a better organised community, based on the promotion of
our people’s rights. The representative came from Germany, Italy,
Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the Benelux and the United Kingdom.
They re-drew strategies based on this year’s new developments
inside and outside the country and successfully managed to ratify a common
constitution. Press HERE
to read NECS-Europe’s press release.
The
participants expressed their confidence in carrying out the newly laid out
strategies with vigour and timeliness. It is believed that NECS-Europe’s
strategy, together with the commitment and enthusiasm of affiliated
societies and individual members involved, have put the organisation well
on the way to making a real difference.
Board
of Directors,
EHDR-UK
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