Kisangani, April 30th, 2025(CPA) – A human rights defense association based in Kisangani, the main town in Tshopo, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has organized a training session to prepare a new generation of human rights defenders (HRDs), CPA learns from an association source on Tuesday.
‘This two (2) day training session for young people is part of the preparation of a new generation of human rights defenders, who will be part of the Association of Friends of Nelson Mandela (ANMDH)’, said Charles Balonga, team leader of this organization. This human rights organization, which has been in existence for more than 30 years, has an ageing staff.
It is with this in mind that it is preparing the next generation of staff. ‘We need young people who can be taught the basics about investigations, human rights mechanisms, how to observe public demonstrations and so on’, added the team leader. With this in mind, the facilitator of the first day of this training session, held on Tuesday, spoke with the participants on the theme: ‘Fundamental principles of citizen vigilance, as well as citizen observation of human rights: issues and methods’. ‘We talked to the young people about the fundamental principles of citizen vigilance, which is one of the techniques we use to defend human rights. It’s an active and responsible attitude on the part of the citizen who watches over the defense of human rights’, said facilitator Claudine Bela.
According to her, the aim of citizen vigilance is to prevent, but also to alert, any situation. It also means respecting the laws of the Republic. ‘We have a good up-and-coming generation of human rights activists,’ said Claudine Bela.