By Fatoumatta K Jallow
National Youth Council in collaboration with the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Study (ACDHRS) on Sunday 21 October 2018, commemorated ‘African Human Rights Day’ with the theme “Fighting corruption and advancing Human Rights: Our Collective Responsibility” – Combatting Corruption a sustainable path to African’s transformation.
Alhagie Jarju of NYC said “this is a day celebrated every year to fight corruption and promote the advancement of human rights which are very vital since fighting corruption is a thing that young people should understand because usually when we hear about corruption one thing comes to mind, which is misuse of funds, basically that’s the simple mentality.”
“Corruption is far beyond that, so if we want to fight against corruption we have to know what it is and we have to be the example of our own people, because we the young people are the future leaders and occupants of this position, so if we know what corruption entails when we get their one day it can be avoidable.”
He noted that in the fight for human rights we need to know and fight for them as young people.
Acting Chairperson of the African Youth Commission Natalie Sonia said the commission is a youth body that was founded to help the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Union achieve their Objectives; that they are bodies led by youths and for youths so that they can take the Agenda 2063 to give the youths open platform to share their views and opinions.
She opined that, “we are here to fight against human rights violation and fight against corruption because they are one of the biggest barriers for youths achieving success.”
She pointed out that because of corruption youths are not getting jobs and adequate health care which is leading to the death of many young people. She added that education system is bad and there are so many hindrances in youths achieving their fullest potentials.
Marr Nyang of ‘Gambia Participate’ and head of “Follow the Money” said in order to fight against corruption with partners from Nigeria they introduced what is called “Follow The Money” which is meant to track what is meant for rural communities in order to make them have a good health care system and agriculture which is their main source of livelihood. Fight against corruption and human rights violation is their main priority and they say they will surely achieve their goals.
