Members of the Commonwealth forum National Human Rights Institutions (CFNHRI) have approved the ‘Kigali Declaration on keeping human rights during a pandemic’. The declaration was adopted on Friday, June 17, during the closing of the two-day Biennial Conference of CFNHRI held in Rwanda ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) slated to take place next week. The meeting was held under the theme “Human Rights for All at the Heart of Recovery Efforts During and After COVID-19.” According to the officials, the Kigali declaration is expected to address all issues related to how to fight various pandemics and crises while assuring human rights. Speaking to The New Times, Meng Foon race, the relations commissioner of the New Zealand human rights commission said that the good thing about this declaration is about looking forward. “We have learned from the past and we know that there would be a framework developed for that declaration,” he said In addition, he revealed that going forward covid-19 will not be the last disaster or crisis but the world would be more prepared mostly from a human rights perspective. “We need to be front footing on the issue of human rights in embedding the government to make sure that they include it in their policy and actions decision making,” he added Commenting on the meeting in general he said that the conference was productive through building the relationship with other members worldwide as well as sharing ideas with others and also to conclude the Kigali declaration among others. The Kigali Declaration will focus mainly on vulnerable groups during any outbreak of a pandemic or crisis. Scader Louis, the chairperson of the Human Right Commission in Malawi, also reiterated the role of the Kigali Declaration in pandemics as well as not leaving anyone behind. She called upon her fellow member states to implement the commitment made under the declaration. In addition, she revealed that the big issue with declarations is that they often end in papers. “To avoid that’s to happen, we need some resourcing such as an action plan to implement the declaration as well as allocate resources and in the future, there can be some review on the progress and share experiences and challenges among others,” she added Commenting on the meeting in general, she said that it all went well but she was surprised to be the only person with a disability in that forum. “I was surprised to see myself alone while I expected to see other people with disability as human rights institutions,” she said. However, she revealed that she had used the opportunity to advocate for the rights of people with disability and all issues concerning people along with amplifying their voice across the world. Marie Claire Mukasine, the chairperson of CFNHRI and NHCR said that the Kigali declaration is all about upholding human rights during pandemics and leaving no one behind. In addition, she said that the role of such a crisis is to make sure the government or other stakeholders while putting measures into place should consider human rights. Mukasine revealed that each member’s country commitments to the strengthening human rights as well as do advocacy and being the watchdog on where needs to be some improvement and focus Speaking on the challenges which might have been faced by some countries she said that mostly during measures to prevent the spread of Covid there was the use of technology while the infrastructure was still an issue and Vaccines distribution issue among others. She expressed optimism that the Kigali Declaration would be implemented to the letter.
