CHRI Africa Marks Human Rights Day, Urges Action on Climate, Mining, and Access to Justice
International Human Rights Day 2025. Photo credit Unsplash
Accra, Ghana- The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office, has joined the global community to mark International Human Rights Day 2025, calling on governments across the continent to protect what it described as “everyday essentials” that sustain life and dignity.
The day, celebrated annually on December 10, marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. This year’s theme, “Human Rights: Our Everyday Essentials,” highlights that rights such as access to food, clean water, justice, education, and a safe environment are not distant ideals but part of daily human survival.
In a statement released in Accra, CHRI said worsening food insecurity, climate change, and illegal mining (galamsey) are destroying livelihoods and threatening fundamental rights in Ghana and across Africa.
The group warned that polluted rivers, deforestation, and unsafe working conditions have become major human rights concerns, pushing vulnerable communities especially farmers, fishers, women, and rural households deeper into poverty.
“When rivers are polluted, when fertile lands are destroyed, when communities lose their income sources, when information is withheld, and when justice becomes inaccessible, the fundamental rights of individuals and communities are violated,” the statement said. CHRI stressed that protecting these “everyday essentials” is not only an environmental or economic issue but a human rights imperative.
The human rights organization urged African governments to take stronger steps to restore public confidence and protect people’s rights. It called for tougher enforcement against illegal mining, pollution, and deforestation, greater access to justice for rural communities, transparency and proactive disclosure of public information, and integration of human rights into national development planning. CHRI also emphasized the need for regional cooperation on issues such as migration, environmental protection, and human rights reporting.
In its Ghana-specific appeal, CHRI urged the government to repeal the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462), arguing that the law threatens forest reserves and natural resources.
The group further called for an independent, high-level investigation into the illegal mining network, in line with recommendations from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). The probe, it said, should identify and hold accountable the political, economic, and criminal actors involved in the practice, supported by anti-corruption safeguards and full public reporting.
Marking the 2025 Human Rights Day, CHRI urged citizens, institutions, and leaders to renew their commitment to protecting rights that guarantee dignity and survival.
“Only by upholding these rights can Africa build just, resilient, and inclusive societies where every individual lives in dignity and reaches their full potential,” the organization stated.
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