DSRSG Carmignani highlighted that "once Guinea-Bissau ratifies the Convention on the Protection from Enforced Disappearance, and its two Optional Protocols, this United Nations member-state will be the first one to integrate the entire architecture of international human rights.”

The Head of UNIOGBIS Human Rights section and Human Rights High Commissioner representative, Guadalupe de Sousa Reis, considered this year's celebration "very special", since it coincides with the 50th Anniversary International of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and 76 years of the entry into force of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"These two agreements are the foundation of international human rights law and have already been ratified by 164 - most of the Member States of the UN - and most of these states have already integrated the contents of the two documents in their legal systems," said Guadalupe Sousa Reis, adding that these treaties "can help find solutions within the international law to deal with terrorism issues, ethnic, religious, cultural intolerance, etc." that exist in the world today.

Guinea-Bissau has ratified these covenants and almost all international human rights instruments, however president of the Guinean Human Rights League (LGDH), Augusto Mario, makes a negative assessment of the human rights situation in the country: "the picture is too negative, there are fragilities at all levels." "We have a great vulnerability in our rights and freedoms protection system, lack of guarantee of the rights to demonstrate and limitations and restrictions on the exercise of other certain freedoms," he noted, pointing out as evidence, the recent order by the Prosecutor -General – “which has no legal grounds,” - to suspend a weekly talk radio show on the national radio (RDN).

This human rights activist cited several cases of human rights violations committed by security forces in recent years, such as beatings in police stations, for which no one has been held accountable so far. "Violent actions perpetrated by police officers, whose mission is to guarantee the physical integrity and safety of persons. In 2015 we changed our paradigm: if before, it was members of the armed forces who committed these acts now it’s the security forces, which brings the situation back to the same level as in the past," he said.

Finally, with regard to economic and social rights, Mario Augusto said: “I think the result is in sight, the extreme poverty we live in and the lack of access to employment, which is shocking in Guinea-Bissau. "

A series of academic, recreational and cultural activities preceded the celebration of Human Rights Day in particular training sessions on Human Rights, a conference at the Bissau law Faculty, devoted to "50 Years of the International Covenants on Human Rights, a march promoted by the National Commission for Human Rights, and concerts, among others.

The celebrations were organized by the Government, in partnership with the United Nations Integrated Office in Support of Peacebuilding for Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and civil society organizations.

PIU / UNIOGBIS