Ouagadougou: The Association for Religious Tolerance and Intercommunity Dialogue (ATR/DI) equipped its members on Friday and Saturday in Bobo-Dioulasso on civics, citizenship, advocacy and human rights.
According to the president of the ATR/DI Issaka Sourwema, this involves equipping the focal points and members of the regional units of the association with a view to the successful implementation of ‘the citizenship and social cohesion”.
‘Once our members are equipped, they will in turn be able to support and strengthen the capacities of traditional, customary and religious leaders, to enable them to further carry out their actions for social cohesion within their communities,’ he said. he assures.
The general secretary and permanent secretary of the ATR/DI Drissa Modeste Sessouma led a communication on the theme ‘civility and citizenship’.
He explained that ‘eco-citizenship is a set of individual and collective behaviors aimed at ensuring the protection, preservation and promotion of the environment for
sustainable development.’
He also underlined that ‘citizen participation in the life of the community is the fact of taking an active and conscious part in the life of one’s municipality or region’.
Participation is therefore, according to him, a civic duty which concerns all stakeholders: men, women, young people and children.
Concerning good citizenship, he indicated that it is respect for the laws and rules in force.
The communication on ‘the issue of human rights in a security crisis: Challenges and solutions’ was delivered by the regional delegate of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) Olivier Kabré.
He noted three generations of rights: the first is civil and political rights, the second is economic, social and cultural rights and the third is solidarity rights.
In times of crisis, Olivier Kabré stressed that ‘restrictions as well as exemptions are legal adjustments to human rights’.
‘They infringe on fundamental rights and yet are essential for the proper functioning of States,’ he said.
However, he clarified that “the restriction must be provided for by law and it must have legitimate aims and be necessary in a democratic society.”
The training of ATR/DI members is part of the implementation of the ‘education for citizenship and social cohesion project within traditional, customary and religious actors in the thirteen regions of Burkina Faso’.
The project is a sub-component of the ‘Civic Space’ project which is implemented by a consortium of civil society organizations led by the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF).
Source : Burkina Information Agency