St Helena one of the four Territories situated in the South Atlantic and is renowned for its historical past; it was a vital refuelling point for shipping, it provided an initial home for slaves freed from slave ships on the abolition of the slave trade and has been visited by historical figures such as Cook, Darwin and Wellington. It also became the home of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Zulu Chief, Dinizulu both of whom were exiled to the Island.
Today the island is home to around 4,000 people, the majority of whom are Saints. With the adoption of its new Constitution in 2009 which for the first time contains a chapter on rights of the individual, St Helena has embraced this development, through its active participation in the project’s activities and the work of the St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee.
Most of the rights in its Constitution are found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), both of these Treaties have been extended to St Helena. Rights other UN Treaties; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention against Torture (CAT) and Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) also apply in St Helena. The St Helena Government has also made a commitment to have the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) extended to St Helena. In addition to this, individuals can bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights where no other remedy exists in St Helena.
Message from Vijay Krishnarayan, Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Foundation at the launch of the St Helena “Rights and Responsibilities” Booklet by the St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee
>> click here to download the booklet
Project activities 2008-2010
St Helena has benefited from two rounds of human rights awareness training, the first 5 day training programme was delivered in October 2009 where around 109 people attended the training. Participants came from 13 government offices and public agencies and 6 civil society organisations. Members of the public and prospective candidates for the national elections also took part in the training. The second 5 day training programme which was held in June 2010, was equally well attended with participants from 18 government offices and public agencies and 12 civil society organisations as well as elected members and individual members of the public.
Under the Technical assistance and International Learning and Networking facilities, the project has identified suitable pro bono assistance for the Public Solicitor acting on behalf of the Citizenship Commission and a link to a UK based environmental organisation providing legal advice to a community group on St Helena. It also provided assistance in enhancing resources for the teaching of rights in the schools for secondary and primary school teachers during the first training round.
The St Helena Capacity Building Committee has nearly completed its Challenge Fund project to produce a booklet in plain English explaining the rights in the Constitution. The planned launch for this booklet is due on St Helena Day 2011.
The Citizenship Commission is starting work on its Challenge Fund project to examine the type of National Human Rights Institution suitable for St Helena and the required resources to set up such an institution. The project will involve wide consultation with all sectors of society and will set out its finding in a report which will be presented to Government.
Following the completion of the second round of training, St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee started work on developing a national human rights action plan. The work is being led by Councillor Derek Thomas who is a Member of the Legislative Council and it is hoped to be completed by August 2011.
The project works closely with the St Helena Human Rights Capacity Building Committee, which was set up to assist in the planning and delivery of the project’s activities and is chaired by Mrs Cathy Hopkins. Mrs Hopkins can be contacted by e-mail on speaker@cwimail.sh