Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR)

EMDHR is an autonomous and non-profit civic movement that makes creative use of a Web site hosted on Kabissa. It is independent of any government, political affiliation, economic interest or religion. It is founded in December 2003 by Eritrean students and exiles in the Republic of South Africa in response to the absence of civil and democratic rights of citizens and lack of rule of law in Eritrea. The foundation of the movement is the principle that Eritreans should join their efforts in order to realize their dreams of sustainable democracy and lasting peace in Eritrea and the Horn of Africa.




The organization is 2 years old now with growing members and supporters all over the world exponentially. Most of its members are Eritreans in tertiary institutions and qualified professionals who are willing to educate and empower the Eritrean grassroots.

It is the belief of EMDHR that a sustainable democracy, rule of law and respect of human and democratic rights can only be achieved through non-violent, indigenous and positive reform based on full comprehension, awareness and participation of the general public.

To achieve this, EMDHR had to implement all possible means of communications and discussion forums. Given the current reality in Eritrea, however, creating such a platform inside Eritrea is utterly impossible and dangerous. More over a great portion of the Eritrean population is living in Exile dispersed around the glob.

These two factors make the job of EMDHR rather difficult in terms of reaching out for the intended audience. This is where the magnificent power of ICT comes.

EMDHR employs ICT to engage the dispersed Eritrean public in the discussions and debates so as to bring out the best of every concerned Eritrean in the journey to Sustainable democracy and respect of basic rights. EMDHR have a website (www.emdhr.org) which include 'EMDHR reads and writes' to post views and opinions, and 'ZETE' which basically means discussion in Tigrinya language. More over, the organization employs mailing lists, e-mail accounts, chat service to enhance exchange of information and expression. Topics are forwarded in the discussion forum where people would pour their ideas and pose their questions. More over, online polls and surveys are employed to wrap up discussions and collect views and opinions of the general public.

Apart from the day to day legal consultations and guidance offered to Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees, EMDHR is also actively involved in advocacy. This ranges from collecting and disseminating information to signing petitions, letter writing campaigns and lobbying.

One of the success stories is the CIVIC AWARNESS project. EMDHR is currently running a project where it is striving to develop a manual on non-violent struggle.

Based from its founding principles and the ongoing discussions and communications, EMDHR is convinced that active non-violent struggle by the people is the best way to promote peace, justice and sustainable democracy in Eritrea. On this regard, the logical question that follows would be: 'what are the theories, principles and practices of active non-violent struggle? How can these theories and practices be related to the Eritrean cause?. This project therefore aims to completely interpret and integrate the values and principles of active non-violent struggle in to the African context and Eritrean reality by developing an educational manual. To accomplish this, there needs to be involvement of the general public in the form of discussions, debates and exchange of information, opinions and views.

It has being only six months since EMDHR launched its website, however the geographical coverage and speed with which the ideas are exchanged and discussions mature is phenomenal.

To address the grassroots who do not have internet access and literacy, EMDHR is launching a newsletter in the coming two weeks which will be printed in one of the Eritrean languages.

As we all know the youth is the change agent, the future of a nation and the lungs of the present generation. Empowering the young could safely be equated with securing a comfortable future Africa, where the respect of human and civil rights is abundantly enjoyed. Fortunately, ICT is attractive enough to most of us young Africans.