Discover the PROMIS* champions working to protect & promote the human rights of migrants during COVID 19

02-11-2020

DAKAR   Across West Africa,  human rights defenders have relentlessly continued to raise awareness of the human rights situation of migrants and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on them.

As community and cultural leaders, or employed in civil society organizations, and national human rights institutions, they never stopped showing their commitment to defending the human rights of migrants and victims of human trafficking throughout the global pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the virus, these Champions have shown leadership skills, resilience and provided quick responses to the new reality on the ground.

Each week, from Monday 2 November until 18 December, the UN International Migrants Day, we will introduce you to seven PROMIS champions and learn about the indispensable work they do on the ground.

*The PROMIS Project is a joint initiative between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that aims to strengthen the capacities of West African states to develop a human rights-based response to smuggling of migrants and to effectively respond to human rights violations related to irregular migration. The initial project implementation focuses on Mali, Niger, Senegal, The Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire with further expansion to other West African countries.

 

Meet the PROMIS champions! Every week we introduce you to a new champion:

 

  Hamadou Boulama Tcherno, founding member and programme director of the association Alternative Espaces Citoyens (AEC) in Niger. Since 2012, Hamadou has devoted most of his journalistic work to the protection of the rights of migrants
    Papa Meissa Gueye is the coordinator of the association Rester et Réussir, which works to bring artistic solutions to the various problems facing young people. For him, in Senegal, the main difficulties encountered by migrants since the COVID-19 pandemic are mostly economic 

 

   Ibrahima Dieng is the Communication Officer and Programme Officer of the Peace and Security Network for Women in the ECOWAS Region (REPSFECO), which is a regional organisation working on issues of gender, migration, political participation, peace and security.

 

 

   Oumy Sya Sadio is particularly interested in everything that revolves around the promotion and protection of human rights. She works for Amnesty International Senegal. 

 

   Commissioner within the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in Niger, Mr. Brah Mamadou Ali chairs the working group that deals with migration issues, the fight against discrimination and slavery practices. 
    Nana-Jo Ndow is a founder and executive director of the African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED). 
    Adama Mbengue, President of ADHA – Action Pour Les Droits Humains Et L’Amitié (Sénégal)