NewsCDDI Applauds UN's Recognition Of Election Observers As Right Defenders

CDDI Applauds UN’s Recognition Of Election Observers As Right Defenders

December 17, (THEWILL) – The Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity (CCDI), a non-governmental organisation with Consultative status of the United Nations and registered in Nigeria and United States, has applauded the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders and the right to freedom and peaceful assembly and associations.

The UN Special Rapporteurs had issued a statement on October 27, 2022, explicitly recognising citizen and international election observers as human rights defenders.

ln the statement made available to the media by the CCDI President, Olufemi Aduwo, he said the statement marks the first time election observers have been explicitly defined as human rights defenders and comes in light of restricting space for and rights of election observers.

He said this follows advocacy by international observers, led by the Organisation for American States (OAS) and the Global Network for Domestic Election Monitors, GNDEM, of which CCDI is a member.

“GNDEM, in partnership with NDI, earlier this year, conducted research on threats to citizen observer rights and brought together leaders of groups that are under threat to discuss common challenges. Going forward, GNDEM looks to introduce a publication on the “state of citizen observation.

“The UN Special Rapporteurs directly call on UN Member States to provide election observers the same protections afforded to other human rights defenders. As such, Member States “should, therefore, enable independent and impartial election observation by all monitors, including from abroad.

“The Special Rapporteurs further explicitly urged Member States to “take all necessary steps to establish conditions that allow national and international election observers to effectively do their work, and to protect them from any violence, threats, retaliation, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of the legitimate exercise of their rights and freedoms,” he said.

Aduwo said the statement was issued to mark the 17th anniversary of the first commemoration of the Declaration of Principles (DoP) for International Election Observation and 10 years since the commemoration of the Declaration of Global Principles (DoGP) for Nonpartisan Election Observation and Monitoring by Citizen Organizations.

He said the CCDI and the wider election observer community are encouraged by this explicit recognition of the importance of the work of election observers and the risks they face in promoting election integrity and democratic norms.

“While this statement does not mean that election observers will not continue to face challenges, it provides important support and opportunity for redress for citizen election observers,” Aduwo said.

About the Author

Homepage | Recent Posts

AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

Ayo Esan, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

More like this
Related

Bayelsa Journalists Call On Gov Douye Diri To Appoint Easterday As Commissioner

March 28, (THEWILL) - As Bayelsa State Governor,...

FAAN Shuts Down KFC Outlet At MMIA Over PRM Discrimination

March 28, (THEWILL) - The Federal Airports Authority...

FirstNews Editor Segun Olatunji Regains Freedom From DIA Custody

March 28, (THEWILL) - The Editor of FirstNews,...