“The continent must unite in condemnation of apartheid, racism and prison atrocities,” said Constitution Hill CEO Petal Thring.
According to Thring, the AU reaffirmed its commitment to uphold human rights by acknowledging and learning from past violations through the memorial project.
“Constitution Hill and Justice Africa [will convene] a consultation in Johannesburg on 28 and 29 January to support this endeavour. The… meeting [will take] place under the auspices of the [memorial] interim board and its chair, Professor Andreas Ashete,” she said.
The meeting is part of a series of civil society dialogues, designed to gather views and experiences from experts on memorialisation, human rights, and survivor groups around the continent.
The information gathered will be fed back into the AU Commission.
“Previous meetings were held in Kigali, Rwanda, on genocide; in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the Red Terror; and in Dakar on slavery,” said Thring.
“This meeting [will bring] together South Africans and visitors from around the continent. It will also give a platform to North African participants after a similar consultation, planned for Abu Salim Prison in Libya, was cancelled due to security concerns.”
The South African government took a leading role in the launch of the initiative.
In January 2012, President Jacob Zuma joined presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Yayi Boni (Benin) to lay the foundation stone for the memorial at the AU conference centre in Addis Ababa.
The Constitution Hill meeting will offer participants presentations on Making memorials work, and talks on approaches to education and dialogue from Constitution Hill and District Six Museum staff.
Details: www.constitutionhill.org.za
