By Amara Thoronka
In December 2021, I did a civic education related article for The Fatu Network, a leading online news outlet in The Gambia. It’s titled, “Human Right Trilogy: Where Campaigners Are Getting It Wrong”. There, I emphasized the need for campaigners or advocates of human rights to be unbiased and holistic in their advocacies because, many a times, such campaigns are exclusively limited to just telling people their rights and the local and international instruments that guarantee such rights.
Going through that piece, one would realize that it is generic in terms of context and setting. This article, however, shares similar thoughts but differently specific context, setting and emphasis.
This piece is inspired by a civic education stakeholders’ engagement held on Wednesday, 20thDecember, 2023, at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education in which I represented my news outlet – Expo Media. The engagement, jointly supported by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Government of Sierra Leone, focused on the development and enhancement of civic education infrastructure in Sierra Leone to foster a robust national identity, explore challenges and opportunities in civic education, defining Government and UNESCO’s role in these areas and collaboratively devise a roadmap for implementation.
During the engagement, much emphasis was placed on human rights and the role of the media and civil society in letting people know their rights. We in the media and those into right activism should be whole in our human right messaging. There is what I call ‘right trilogy’, the three parts of a right: right recognition, right limitation, and right responsibility. The right recognition component is the exercise or enjoyment of a given right without interference. Because a right is a claim of freedom, privilege or opportunity recognised and guaranteed by law, people should be made to understand the difference between emotions and legality. The right limitation component is the reasonable restriction of the same right in the interest of public order, public safety, public health, public morality and the protection of other people’s reputation. Remember, absolutely unguided freedom to do anything could be dangerous, hence the need to reasonably restrict rights. The last component, right responsibility or obligation, is the consciousness of the person to own up for anything adverse arising from the exercise or enjoyment of their rights.
Mark you, without laws to somehow restrain the conduct of people and make them take responsibility for their deeds and words, society according to the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” There will be impunity for gross violation of rights or freedoms. This brings to mind the popular saying, “Your right stops where another man’s right begins.” During my undergraduate program in mass communication at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, our esteemed media law and ethics lecturer, Justice Dr. Abou Bakarr Binneh-Kamara would always say, “Your right to swing your hand stops where the face of another person begins. Hitting the face of a person while enjoying the right to swing your hand infringes on that person’s right and you should take responsibility for that your act.” Going further, the whole of Part III of our Constitution [Constitution of Sierra Leone, Act No.6 of 1991], which recognizes and protects fundamental human rights, gives right on the one hand and takes it on the other. The Constitution emphasized that such right restriction is ‘reasonably justifiable’ to uphold social essentials like peace, orderliness and rights of others within the jurisdiction of Sierra Leone.
It is against this backdrop I urge human rights campaigners, defenders or advocates to be informing people about their rights, freedoms and privileges on the one hand and equally be telling them about the corresponding restrictions and responsibilities that go with such rights. Because of the one-sided way of just telling people their rights and ignoring limitations and responsibilities, in a poor society with high illiteracy rate like ours, where civics is still challenging, many have imbibed a self-centred right mentality where the rights of others and the orderliness or sanity of society are given little or no consideration.
You will see someone, who has violated the right of another, vehemently asserting that it was their right to do or say what they did or said.
So, as we campaign for children’s right to education, let’s equally inform them of their responsibility to attend classes, take notes, do their assignments, focus on their studies, prioritize learning over everything and respect school authorities.
As we campaign for men and society to respect the rights of women, let’s also inform women about the limitations of their rights and the obligations they owe to their husbands, kids, families and society in general. The same could be said for husbands.
As we advocate for employees’ rights, let’s also enlighten them on their obligations to their employers, workplaces, and society.
As we campaign for the government to uncompromisingly protect and defend the rights of citizens, let’s equally so inform citizens on why and how their rights are reasonably restricted. We should also encourage ourselves to embody the spirit of patriotism and to honour our individual and collective civic obligations to our beloved nation.
As we hold government accountable and responsible in using state resources and providing jobs, let’s also make young people know that they owe Sierra Leone a sacred duty, as encouraged by the National Pledge, to always defend her honour and good name; always work for her unity, peace, freedom and prosperity; and put her interest above all else.
The list goes on and on. The emphasis is that people [young or old, male or female, employer or employee, leader or subject, the government or the governed] should be made to understand their rights, their limitations and corresponding responsibilities. When this is adequately done and sustained in all walks of life, sustainable peace and development would be realized.
In his first term in office, President Julius Maada Bio established the National Council for Civic Education and Democracy (NaCCED). Also, after his re-election in June 2023, the President disintegrated the erstwhile Ministry of Information and Communication into the Ministry of Information and Civic Education and the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation. Establishing such national civics infrastructure shows that the President Bio government sees the relevance of civic education and its impact on national peace, cohesion and development. However, in achieving such a goal, key stakeholders like the media, civic society and learning institutions are to be technically and financially capacitated in having and rolling out a national policy on civic education through engagements and behavioural change communication.
Copyright –Published in print in Expo Times Newspaper on Friday, December 24th, 2023 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
