Nice drills volunteers in human rights

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has drilled area civic education coordinators in Karonga District in human rights.

Speaking on Monday during the orientation, Nice district civic education officer for Rumphi, Chitipa and Karonga Freency Mapanga said knowledge of the law is crucial to promoting human rights.

“We have trained 12 volunteers to promote human rights in their communities. We expect them to disseminate the information to people,” she said.

Mapanga also said they expect the volunteers to collect data of human rights that are being violated by either the police or prison warders and report to Nice for appropriate action.

In an interview after making her presentation, Karonga third grade magistrate Maria Mkochi said the training provided an opportunity for the volunteers to teach people about the law.

She said: “As noted from comments during the meeting, it seems poverty is a main barrier that prevents people from accessing justice.

“Our expectation is that the situation will improve after the training because the volunteers will take the message to the community that justice is for both the poor and the rich.”

One of the participants, Estery Nyirenda, commended Nice Trust for the training.

“We will relay the message that everyone has rights when arrested by the police or remanded to prison,” she said.

Nice Trust conducted the training with support from the European Union under the Chilungamo Project.