On February 2, the Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Bamako Andrew Young and the representative of the Malian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights kicked off the first ever USAID-funded human rights support program in Mali. The project is implemented by Freedom House and the American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative (ABA-ROLI), and will work with Malian civil society and human right defense organizations to monitor and publicize the Government of Mali’s implementation of Mali’s 2013 Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Under the 15-month project, Freedom House will train 50 members of civil society organizations and 60 Malian human right defenders to advocate for greater adherence to these commitments by enhancing their capacity to conduct advocacy and subsequently leverage the results of human rights and trial monitoring through intensive tracking of the Government’s implementation of the UPR recommendations and impact litigation.
The project will advocate for the rights of victims of human rights violations, increase the public’s awareness of Mali’s human rights related reforms and contribute to national reconciliation effort by protecting, promoting and advocating for universally recognized human rights in Mali.
Over 50 members of Malian civil society and human right defense organizations, and representatives from the Ministry of National Reconciliation attended the opening which was followed by the first in a series of training sessions.

By U.S. Mission Mali | 2 February, 2015 | Topics: Events