The Installing Committee of the Mozambican Network of Human Rights Defenders (RMDDH) will continue to lead the establishment of the organization, including the creation of conditions for the election of its governing bodies. Prof. Adriano Nuvunga chairs the Committee, and Simão Tila, Alda Salomão and Benilde Nhalivilo serve as the Committee’s vice chairs. The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) serves as the secretariat for the Installing Committee.
The decision to extend the mandate of the RMDDH Installing Committee was taken yesterday during the organization’s annual meeting, an event that brought together dozens of human rights defenders from all over the country. After noting that the establishment of the RMDDH still needs to be consolidated, the participants unanimously agreed that there were no conditions for the election of the governing bodies, and that the Installing Committee should continue to lead the Network.
Thus, starting next year, the RMDDH Installing Committee will work on several fronts to bring together all human rights defenders in a single cause; promote collective action for the defense of the civic space; protect human rights defenders, and give due legal support in case of need. Human rights defenders are all people who, individually or in groups, intervene to promote and protect human rights – which include civil and political rights, and for the promotion, protection and realization of economic, social and cultural rights.
“Today we hold the first assembly of the RMDDH after its creation this past October, a year after the barbaric and macabre murder of human rights defender Anastácio Matavele. It has been a long journey and there is still much to be done.
But we have already launched a new space for the struggle for democracy and human rights; a new space for a collective struggle for the defense of civic space, for the protection of human rights defenders and their families and, so to speak, a space for the struggle for the political, democratic and socio-economic development of Mozambique,” Adriano Nuvunga, chairman of the RMDDH Installing Committee said.