CHRI calls for renewed commitment to Human Rights as everyday essentials come under threat

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office has called on leaders, institutions, and citizens to reaffirm their commitment to the rights that safeguard everyday essentials.

A press statement issued by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office, said only by upholding these rights can Africa build just, resilient, and inclusive societies where every individual lived in dignity and reached their full potential.

CHRI Africa Office joined the global community to commemorate Human Rights Day 2025, celebrated under the theme “Human Rights: Our Everyday Essentials.”

Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10th December, marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, a landmark document affirming the inalienable rights of every individual.

The statement said this year’s theme underscored that human rights were not distant principles but essential safeguards that shaped daily life by guaranteeing safety, dignity, equality, and freedom.

The CHRI said food security continued to deteriorate as climate change, land degradation, and illegal mining destroyed arable lands and undermined sustainable agriculture.

“Livelihood losses, particularly among farmers, fishers, women, and rural households have become a pressing human rights concern, with pollution and unsafe working conditions pushing vulnerable communities further into poverty,” it added.

It said the destruction of forests, wetlands, and farmlands continued to intensify climate risks and jeopardised the rights of present and future generations to a safe and healthy environment.

CHRI stressed that protecting everyday essentials was not only an environmental or development issue but a human rights imperative.

The statement further observed that across Africa, climate-induced food insecurity, water scarcity, shrinking civic space, weak governance, and conflict continued to undermine rights and livelihoods.

It said from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, millions faced droughts, floods, insecurity, and economic instability, adding that weak environmental enforcement, corruption, and limited access to justice continued to erode public trust and delayed progress toward inclusive development.

CHRI urged governments across Africa to strengthen environmental protection and invest in climate resilience, enforce laws against illegal mining, pollution, and deforestation supported by transparent natural resource governance, and expand access to justice for vulnerable and rural communities.

It also urged them to guarantee the right to information through proactive disclosure and transparency, integrate human rights into national development planning and budgeting, and enhance regional cooperation on climate change, migration, environmental protection, and human rights reporting.

The statement called on the government of Ghana to expedite the repeal of the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462), to protect the country’s remaining forest reserves and natural resources.

It further urged the government of Ghana to implement the recent recommendations of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), including the establishment of an independent, high-level investigation into the illegal mining network.

The statement said such an investigation must expose and hold accountable the political, economic, and criminal actors sustaining the practice and must be supported by anti-corruption safeguards, transparency, and full public reporting.

Source: GNA

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